From Snow to Ma Haide: Descendants retrace revolutionary sites in Ningxia

This year marks the 90th anniversary of the victory of the Long March. On July 6, descendants of Edgar Snow and George Hatem (Ma Haide) visited Tongxin County in Ningxia, returning to the former sites of the Red Army West Expedition Memorial Hall that Snow wrote about in Red Star Over China.

In 1936, American journalist Edgar Snow crossed the blockade and arrived in Yuwangbu, Ningxia – today's Tongxin County – where he interviewed Red Army troops on the westward expedition and took iconic photographs, including the well-known image of a young bugler. In 1937, Red Star Over China was published, offering the world one of its first firsthand records of the Red Army and the Long March.

Snow's travelling companion, American doctor George Hatem, stayed with the Red Army to treat the wounded and later took the Chinese name Ma Haide. He went on to become the first foreigner to join the Communist Party of China and the first foreigner to obtain citizenship of the People's Republic of China, devoting his life to China.

One recorded China, the other stayed. Ninety years later, their descendants are returning to this historic site of Red Star Over China, carrying forward an international friendship that has endured across generations.