Overview

Rayna and her husband Bill edited the Kuomintang's English-language newspaper in Wuhan. Rayna's account of her intimate involvement in the Chinese Revolution brings to life the eventful Wuhan years of 1926-27, which shaped the revolution's course. Her letters illuminate from a personal angle the battle for China's future and include remarkable portraits of some of the people who shaped the Communist and Nationalist movements of the time. The book consists of letters Prohme wrote to her closest friend and her husband in the period immediately before, during and after the Wuhan interlude. Her reporting brought her into contact with many major political figures including Madam Sun Yat-sen (a prominent figure in the opposition to Chiang Kai-shek) and Mikhail Borodin (a chief Soviet advisor in China). This book provides an unusual and often moving insight into a fascinating period in modern Chinese history.

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9780745326429

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'This is a wonderful evocation of a fascinating, yet largely forgotten, time at the very beginning of the Chinese revolution. It vividly brings back to life the unusual mix of characters and the important historical events of that period. Rayna's story is both compelling and gripping. An important contribution to our understanding of China in the 1920s.'A. Tom Grunfeld, Distinguished Teaching Professor, Empire State College, State University of New York'The young American journalist, Rayna Prohme lived through 'interesting times' first in China and then in Moscow in 1925-7. This collection of her letters evokes a lost world of revolution, intrigue and uncertainty in the years when Chiang Kai-shek came to power and adds to our knowledge of the major political figures of the period. Rayna's personality comes across clearly in all that she writes. Hers is a tragic story yet despite the difficulties and dangers through which she was living, she remains courageous, humorous and full of fun.'Delia Davin, Emeritus Professor of Chinese Studies, University of Leeds'Rayna Prohme's letters wonderfully convey the excitement of the Nationalist Revolution of 1926-27, when the Kuomintang army reunified a China torn apart by warlords. A woman of passion and conviction, Prohme threw herself into the revolution, principally as editor of the People's Tribune in Hankow, the city at the eye of the revolutionary storm. Her letters are especially perceptive about the personalities of M. M. Borodin, Soviet adviser to the Kuomintang, and Sung Ch'ing-ling, wife of Sun Yat-sen, the founder of that party, but they also shed a poignant light on the courageous and vivacious personality of their author, whose young life was cut short by illness shortly after she fled to Moscow in 1927, following Chiang Kai-shek's brutal suppression of his Communist allies.'S. A. Smith, Professor of History, University of Essex, and author of A Road is Made: Communism in Shanghai, 1920-1927

This is a wonderful evocation of a fascinating, yet largely forgotten, time at the very beginning of the Chinese revolution. It vividly brings back to life the unusual mix of characters and the important historical events of that period. Rayna's story is both compelling and gripping. An important contribution to our understanding of China in the 1920s -- A. Tom Grunfeld, Distinguished Teaching Professor, Empire State College, State University of New York The young American journalist, Rayna Prohme lived through 'interesting times' first in China and then in Moscow in 1925-7. This collection of her letters evokes a lost world of revolution, intrigue and uncertainty in the years when Chiang Kai-shek came to power. ... Despite the difficulties and dangers through which she was living, she remains courageous, humorous and full of fun. -- Delia Davin, Emeritus Professor of Chinese Studies, University of Leeds Rayna Prohme's letters wonderfully convey the excitement of the Nationalist Revolution of 1926-27, when the Kuomintang army reunified a China torn apart by warlords. A woman of passion and conviction, Prohme threw herself into the revolution. ... Her letters are especially perceptive about the personalities of M. M. Borodin, ... and Sung Ch'ing-ling, wife of Sun Yat-sen. -- S. A. Smith, Professor of History, University of Essex, and author of A Road is Made: Communism in Shanghai, 1920-1927

This is a wonderful evocation of a fascinating, yet largely forgotten, time at the very beginning of the Chinese revolution. It vividly brings back to life the unusual mix of characters and the important historical events of that period. Rayna's story is both compelling and gripping. An important contribution to our understanding of China in the 1920s -- A. Tom Grunfeld, Distinguished Teaching Professor, Empire State College, State University of New York The young American journalist, Rayna Prohme lived through 'interesting times' first in China and then in Moscow in 1925-7. This collection of her letters evokes a lost world of revolution, intrigue and uncertainty in the years when Chiang Kai-shek came to power. ... Despite the difficulties and dangers through which she was living, she remains courageous, humorous and full of fun. -- Delia Davin, Emeritus Professor of Chinese Studies, University of Leeds Rayna Prohme,s letters wonderfully convey the excitement of the Nationalist Revolution of 1926-27, when the Kuomintang army reunified a China torn apart by warlords. A woman of passion and conviction, Prohme threw herself into the revolution. ... Her letters are especially perceptive about the personalities of M. M. Borodin, ... and Sung Ch,ing-ling, wife of Sun Yat-sen. -- S. A. Smith, Professor of History, University of Essex, and author of A Road is Made: Communism in Shanghai, 1920-1927

Author Information

Baruch Hirson was a prominent Trotskyist activist in South Africa for many years before his imprisonment in 1964. On his release in 1973 he emigrated to Britain, where he taught at Bradford and Middlesex Universities. He published widely on South African revolutionary politics. Baruch Hirson died in 1999.Arthur J. Knodel was a distinguished scholar at the University of Southern California, best known for his translations and criticism of Nobel Prize-winning poet Saint-John Perse. Knodel died in 2001.Gregor Benton is Professor of Chinese History at Cardiff University.

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