BEIJING LETTER
Foreign Minister Wang Yi’s annual press conference is drawing to a close. Just one last question. It comes back to a young journalist from the China Daily, the daily newspaper of the Communist Party in English language. This is the spokesperson “Internet users from all over the world”. “We have noticed that foreign media, especially Western media, tend to have a selective approach when covering China. People remember the time when, in Yan’an, the American journalist Edgar Snow, with his book Red star on China, brought the Chinese Communist Party to the world. Do you think it’s possible to have another Edgar Snow today? “.
This is good: the minister just wants to discuss this subject. “Snow was not a Communist. But when it came to the Chinese Communist Party, it had no ideological bias, it spoke the truth, was objective. (…) With admirable professionalism and ethical morals, he dedicated his life to improving mutual understanding between Chinese and Americans. (…) Even if the world changes, the media should keep their professional ethics. (…) China hopes to see and welcome more Edgar Snow of this new era among foreign journalists. “
This exchange obviously owes nothing to chance. A few weeks later, on April 18, in an interview with the Associated Press, Le Yucheng, deputy foreign minister, drives home the point: “Friends of the media, I hope you all go on to become Edgar Snow of the new era. “
Welcomed like a head of state
Born in 1905 in Missouri, Edgar Snow arrived in China in 1928. There he led a life of bobo, rubbing shoulders with the intellectual and artistic circles of Shanghai and Beijing. At the end of the Long March, in 1935, Mao established his headquarters in the interior of the country, in Shaanxi, in Yan’an. He will stay there for more than ten years. Besieged by the nationalists, the Communists have a brilliant idea: to invite a Western journalist in order to prove that they are far from having capitulated. Their choice fell on Edgar Snow, known by communist networks for his leftist ideas. The man will be welcomed in Yan’an with the honors of a head of state. He will spend dozens of hours with Mao, chatting with him until the dead of night. The book he will take from these interviews – reread by Mao’s entourage before publication – describes the Communists as “Idealistic patriots and equality-loving democrats”, according to historian Julia Lovell. Even today, we find Red star over China in all bookstores across the country.
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