Snow (right) is on his way to an interview in northern Shaanxi in 1936. Image source: Xinhua News Agency
On July 13, 1936, during the years of war when the artillery was rumbling, Snow and Mao Zedong saw each other as they were, and Snow told Comrade Mao Zedong about the fact that he had witnessed the 12.9 Movement. Mao Zedong told him about the most revolutionary "chili pepper theory" of people who love chili peppers, so he had the privilege of hearing Mao Zedong sing "Chili Song".
One day, in Yan'an, when Snow was interviewing Mao Zedong, just as the Japanese planes came to bomb, the guards asked Mao Zedong to hide, Mao Zedong talked about Xingzhengnong, insisted on not leaving, and then Peng Dehuai ordered Mao Zedong to be carried out. At the shelter, Mao Zedong also talked about the bombs dropped by the planes to make hoes and the like, and finally asked humorously: Are our guests (Japanese planes) gone?
In the humble cave dwellings of Bao'an County, Mao Zedong and Snow talked all night long, answering questions about the strategy and tactics of the CHINESE Communists' war against Japan, the timing of the war, and the cooperation between the Red Army and the Kuomintang troops. They talked about the political situation in the world at that time, about the New Deal of the United States and Roosevelt's foreign policy, about the twenty-five thousand miles long march that amazed the world, and at Snow's request, told him about his origins in order to clarify all kinds of strange speculations from the outside world...
Snow slowly learned that Mao Zedong was "an accomplished scholar who was well versed in old Chinese studies, who had extensive books, who had in-depth studies of philosophy and history, who had a talent for speech and writing, whose memory was unusual, whose ability to concentrate was unusual, whose personal habits and appearance were uninhibited, but who was meticulous in every detail of his work, who was energetic and tireless, and who was a rather talented military and political strategist."
On October 1, 1970, the 21st anniversary of the Founding of the People's Republic of China, Chairman Mao and Snow held cordial talks on the upper floors of Tiananmen Square, accompanied by Snow's wife, Lois Wheeler Snow.
"Am I really the first American to be invited to the Tiananmen Tower?" Snow's brown eyes shone with excitement.
"Chairman Mao asked me to invite you here." You are a sincere friend of the Chinese people. Zhou Enlai said enthusiastically, "Under the situation that China and the United States are isolated from each other, you have visited New China three times and today you have gone to Tiananmen Square to participate in the celebrations of the People's Republic of China, which is also a unique thing for an American." ”
Zhou Enlai made elaborate arrangements for the layout of the People's Daily the next day, and the photographs of the Snows and his wife on the upper floor of Tiananmen Square were prominently placed on the front page. This was Chairman Mao's signal to the United States welcoming Nixon to China. This subtle and profound photograph was ignored by the always shrewd Americans, who did not realize China's attitude toward the United States until China invited the American table tennis team. Sino-US relations began to break the ice.
"A part of me will remain forever with the brown mountains of China, the jasper terraces, the temples of the island shrouded in morning fog; with those sons and daughters who have trusted me and loved me, with those children who are dark-faced, ragged and bright-eyed, with my peers and friends whom I know, especially with the lowly, unpaid, hungry, despised, peasant-born infantrymen..." This is the first time Snow was forced to leave China.
Edgar Snow died in Geneva on 15 February 1972. Snow said, "I love China," so some of his ashes were transported to Beijing on October 19, 1973, and buried on the shores of The Unnamed Lake at Peking University. The base of the tomb is rectangular, uncarved cyan rock, and on the upper side lies a white jade tombstone, temporarily affixed with black tape: "The Tomb of Edgar Snow, the American Friend of the Chinese People."
(Source: Runzhi Thought Exchange Club)