60 People, 60 Stories

Vanguards of victory

(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-09-30 07:29

Several things surprised me about the Red Army: their discipline and morale; their equipment and first-rate training; their political consciousness and the high quality of the leadership; their wholesome democracy and immense pride in themselves. And the fact that without doubt they are the happiest people in China while living what is proverbially the hardest "coolie" life in the world, a life on the edge of nothing ... These are all survivors of the fittest, the finest specimens of the human race that China has produced. And for those die-hards who persist in regarding the Chinese as inferior and "fit only to be a nation of slaves", it may be added that these are a new species of what they call "Chinese". They are what they are, struggling to create; revolutionaries, fighting to purify their nation of all the ancient death and colonialism and corruption of the old China. These are Fighting Chinese on crusade, taking history in their stride.

Inside Red China by Nym Wales
(Helen Foster Snow, 1907-97)

I met several Young Vanguards, veterans of the Long March, still in their early teens, who had charges of organizing and training children's dramatic societies in various villages.

"Peasants come from long distances to our Red dramatics," Miss Wei proudly informed me. "Sometimes, when we are near the White borders, Kuomintang soldiers secretly send messages to ask our players to come to some market-town in the border districts. When we do this, both Red soldiers and White leave their arms behind and go to this market-place to watch our performance. But the higher officers of the Kuomintang never permit this, if they know about it, because once they have seen our players many of the Kuomintang soldiers will no longer fight our Red Army!"

Red Star over China – The Rise of the Red Army
(Edgar Snow, 1905-72)