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I picked up William Hinton’s Fanshen and it was a signed copy!
Hinton was a staff member for the US Office of War Information working in China in a village called “Long Bow” in 1948. He witnessed firsthand the social changes & land reform brought about by the Communist Party of China & documents it all in this book.
A farmer himself, he becomes convinced of communism & becomes an English teacher in China & even meets with Mao & Zhou Enlai while there. Upon his return to the USA in 1953, his papers & notes were seized, turned over to the Senate Committee on Internal Security.
His passport was also confiscated, faced consistent harassment from the FBI, & was barred from all teaching jobs. He becomes an automechanic, but is barred from legal employment altogether & so returns to farming to make a living.
Hinton’s notes & papers were returned back to him in the 1960s, & Fanshen was eventually published in 1966 for the first time. He eventually became chairman of the US-China Peoples Friendship Association.
This dedication page is quite somber since we are even longer overdue for a better world.
Hinton was one of many Americans who documented the events of the Chinese Revolution. Edgar Snow is perhaps the most famous, but others like Anna Louise Strong & Agnes Smedley would also write many accounts & conduct numerous interviews w/ Chinese leaders https://twitter.com/josejumarti/status/1271181330072698883?s=21 https://twitter.com/josejumarti/status/1271181330072698883
