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Edgar Snow exemplary in journalism Witness to revolution After returning from Yan'an, Snow introduced the struggle of the CPC and the Red Army to the wider world. Many progressive youths went to Yan'an to attend the Red Army under his advocacy. In 1937, after the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression broke out, Snow wrote extensively on how Chinese people fought the invaders bravely. He visited Yan'an in 1939 again and lobbied the US government to give support to the movement. After major Chinese cities were occupied by the Japanese army, Snow went to Hong Kong to collect money to finance the China Industrial Cooperation Campaign. It was aimed at absorbing displaced workers in order to build small factories in rural areas to produce life essentials and war materials for the Chinese armies. In 1941, Snow returned to his hometown after 13 years. Thanks to his lobby, US President Franklin Roosevelt (18821945) directed several million US dollars to the campaign. In 1950s, shortly after the People's Republic of China was founded, McCarthyism spread across the United States and Snow was persecuted as a friend of the CPC. He lost his job and his books could not be published in the United States. Eventually, Snow had to move to Switzerland with his family but kept his US citizenship. Historians reveal that in mid 1950s, Snow applied to take a trip to New China, but his request was refused by the US Government. His long term struggle to provide independent coverage of China eventually resulted in a visit to the country in 1960. Snow became one of the few Western journalists who truthfully reported the new China to Western readers. During his trips in 1960 and 1964, Snow spent several months investigating and interviewing in cities, factories and the countryside. In 1970, he was invited to inspect the National Day Parade on the Tian'anmen Rostrum with Mao Zedong, which was seen as a signal of friendship by the Chinese Government to the US Nixon Administration. In February 1972, just weeks before Nixon launched his historic visit to
Beijing, Snow died of cancer. In his final hours, Snow said "I love the Chinese
people," according to the memoir of Lois Snow, his then
wife.
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