Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1962-12-02

is more or less a villain. His
position is established by the
quotation from Pascal that
is the source of the books
title. "A strange justice that
is bounded by a river! Can
anything be more ridiculous
than that a man should have
the right to kill me because
he lives on the other side . :?
In 1860, Mr.. Snow was the
only American to visit China.
The State Department, which
does not recognize China
automatically, is strongly
opposed to any kind Of frater-
nization among the citizenry
of the two countries (Averell
Hartman, sitting at a con-
ference table every day with
Chinese Foreign Minister
Chen vi in Geneva, had to
wire Washington for specific
permission to shake hands
with him). and it was only
the insiStent demands Of
Gardner Cowles, Of Look
Magazine, that finally got for
Snow a grudging passport.
The writer was known per-
sonally to the two top men in
China-Premier Chou En-lai,
and Mao Tse-tung, who al
though he nominally holds no
post in the Chinese govern
ment, being officially the
Chairman of the Central
Committee of the Communist
Party, is clearly the strongest
man in China, the counter
part of Khrushchev. Mr..
Snow, who had spent IL years
in China before 1886 and who
speaks the language, found
many other people with whom
to renew friendship. not only
Chinese but also foreigners,
notably Rewi-Alley, a New
Zealander who has been work.
ing in China for more than
80 years, and George Hatem,
an American doctor from
Buffalo, N. Y, who has done
an incredible job in China
since 1886 in graduating
venereal disease, and who, in
Shows opinion, knows more
about Red China and its lead
ers than any other foreigner
alive.
Although he was given
every assistance by the Chi
nese government in his re-
tracing a 10000 mile trip he
took In 1896, and although
his earlier book, RED Star
Over China" is In part a
biography of Mao, it would
be wrong to consider Mr..
Snow In the present volume
a mouthpiece of. or an apol-
ogist for, Mao. Certainly Mr..
Snow had the advantage of
both on-and-off-the record
talks with the leader, but he
gives the impression Of an
interpreter rather than a
propaganda, sometimes en-
thusiastic in praise, some
times caustic in censure. Also,
except on two points he is
not at all dogmatic, often re-
marking that you can't learn
it all in five months, and con-
ceding the possibility of de-
ception. He does, however,
ridicule the frequent reports
of a collapse in China
brought about by famine.
There is no famine In China,
he says, for the first time in
history which has shown an
average Of almost one fam
inc a year. Food is very
scarce, but 1t Is everywhere
sufficiently available; the
Chinese are healthy and not
hungry. The other point Of
which he has no doubt is that
Chang Kai-shek, even in the
improbable event that he re-
turned to mainland China
victorious, could never come
as a "liberator." Not one in
ten Chinese, in a perfectly
secret and free referendum,
woulf vote for the re-estab-
lishment of Chang Kai-shek.
The book is divided into
three parts: an historical
background Of modern Chi
nese history and the advent
of Marxism in 1920; descrip-
tions Of virtually every aspect
of Chinese life-political. So
cial. intellectual, and artis-
tic-since the Peoples Gov
eminent came into power In
1919; and finally a section
Of opinions and conclusions
concerning the relationships,
OF Soviet Russia on the one
hand and the capitalist ma
tons on the other with what
is today probably one Of the
three most powerful and dy-
manic nations In the world.
China. only q little larger
than the United States, has
about four times as many
people. but even It's TOO mil
lion make II less densely
populated than England. Bel
GUM. the Netherlands. and
Japan. Macs greatest stroke
Of genius was TO consider his
TOO million starving mouths
TO be fed not O liability but
a great strength. He saw that
his revolution could not sue
coed II the people stayed hun
cry, and II they were fed
they would become at home
an unstoppable force for
naturalization and civili-
zation. and abroad a factor
to be reckoned with only
slightly less cogent than the
atomic bomb. MAO, like all
other contemporary leaders.
believes that power comes
from the barrel Of q gun
that ITO throw away the gun