Fan Changjiang (; 6 October 1909 – 23 October 1970), born Fan Xitian (范希天), was a Chinese

journalist A journalist is a person who gathers information in the form of text, audio or pictures, processes it into a newsworthy form and disseminates it to the public. This is called journalism. Roles Journalists can work in broadcast, print, advertis ...

war correspondent A war correspondent is a journalist who covers stories first-hand from a war, war zone. War correspondence stands as one of journalism's most important and impactful forms. War correspondents operate in the most conflict-ridden parts of the wor ...

, and writer. One of the most famous wartime reporters during World War II, he had become well known for his reporting during the 1936 battles in Inner Mongolia and his interview with

Mao Zedong Mao Zedong pronounced ; traditionally Romanization of Chinese, romanised as Mao Tse-tung. (26December 18939September 1976) was a Chinese politician, revolutionary, and political theorist who founded the People's Republic of China (PRC) in ...

in 1937. Fan was persecuted during the

Cultural Revolution The Cultural Revolution, formally known as the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, was a Social movement, sociopolitical movement in the China, People's Republic of China (PRC). It was launched by Mao Zedong in 1966 and lasted until his de ...

and committed suicide in 1970.

Biography

Early life

Fan was born in

Sichuan Sichuan is a province in Southwestern China, occupying the Sichuan Basin and Tibetan Plateau—between the Jinsha River to the west, the Daba Mountains to the north, and the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau to the south. Its capital city is Cheng ...

Province and educated at

Peking University Peking University (PKU) is a Public university, public Types of universities and colleges in China#By designated academic emphasis, university in Haidian, Beijing, China. It is affiliated with and funded by the Ministry of Education of the Peop ...

Journalism career

Fan started his career as a journalist in 1933. He was sent to the northwest of China by ''

Ta Kung Pao ''Ta Kung Pao'' (; formerly ''L'Impartial'' in Latin-based languages) is a Hong Kong-based, state-owned Chinese-language newspaper. Founded in Tianjin in 1902, the paper is controlled by the Liaison Office of the Central People's Government i ...

'' as a string correspondent in 1935. At that time, he editorialized a series of news which sensationalized the public. These pieces of news were later anthologized in a book called ''Northwest China'' (). In this book, he described the

Chinese Communist Party The Communist Party of China (CPC), also translated into English as Chinese Communist Party (CCP), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Founded in 1921, the CCP emerged victorious in the ...

(CCP), the activities of

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

and the

Long March The Long March ( zh, s=长征, p=Chángzhēng, l=Long Expedition) was a military retreat by the Chinese Red Army and Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from advancing Kuomintang forces during the Chinese Civil War, occurring between October 1934 and ...

. Besides that, Fan Changjiang showed his determination and strong animosity towards

feudalism Feudalism, also known as the feudal system, was a combination of legal, economic, military, cultural, and political customs that flourished in Middle Ages, medieval Europe from the 9th to 15th centuries. Broadly defined, it was a way of struc ...

warlords, rich landowners and bad scholars in this book. Meanwhile, he concerned with the development of China's future and also sympathized those who suffered from the political turmoil. In 1936, when the political scene became chaotic and the

Chinese Civil War The Chinese Civil War was fought between the Kuomintang-led Nationalist government, government of the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic of China and the forces of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Armed conflict continued intermitt ...

began, he went to the

Inner Mongolia Inner Mongolia, officially the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, is an Autonomous regions of China, autonomous region of China. Its border includes two-thirds of the length of China's China–Mongolia border, border with the country of Mongolia. ...

. In December, when the famous

Xi'an Incident The Xi'an Incident was a Chinese political crisis that lasted from 12 to 26 December 1936. Chiang Kai-shek, the leader of the Nationalist government of China, was arrested in Xi'an by soldiers of the Northeastern Army under the command of Ge ...

broke out, Fan grasped the opportunity to interview

Zhou Enlai Zhou Enlai ( zh, s=周恩来, p=Zhōu Ēnlái, w=Chou1 Ên1-lai2; 5 March 1898 – 8 January 1976) was a Chinese statesman, diplomat, and revolutionary who served as the first Premier of the People's Republic of China from September 1954 unti ...

at the risk of his life. Zhou was amazed by his studies and analyses when he read his journals. Later on, he went to

Shaanxi Shaanxi is a Provinces of China, province in north Northwestern China. It borders the province-level divisions of Inner Mongolia to the north; Shanxi and Henan to the east; Hubei, Chongqing, and Sichuan to the south; and Gansu and Ningxia to t ...

province

Yan'an Yan'an; ; Chinese postal romanization, alternatively spelled as Yenan is a prefecture-level city in the Shaanbei region of Shaanxi Province of China, province, China, bordering Shanxi to the east and Gansu to the west. It administers several c ...

to have a personal conversation with Mao Zedong. This interview paved the way for Fan's future career as a journalist. When he returned to

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

, he published his viewpoints on the anti-Japanese movement and it was well accepted by the public. At that time, he was the first journalist who reported on the

Red Terror The Red Terror () was a campaign of political repression and Mass killing, executions in Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic, Soviet Russia which was carried out by the Bolsheviks, chiefly through the Cheka, the Bolshevik secret police ...

in China. On November 8, 1937, Fan established the Chinese Young Journalists Association () with Yang Zao () and Xu Maijin () and was elected as the chief executive officer of the association. In the same year, he co-founded the International News Association (國際新聞社) with

Hu Yuzhi Hu Yuzhi (; September 9, 1896 – January 16, 1986) was a Chinese politician who served as a vice chairperson of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference and the acting chairman of the China Democratic League The China Democrat ...

Changsha Changsha is the capital of Hunan, China. It is the 15th most populous city in China with a population of 10,513,100, the Central China#Cities with urban area over one million in population, third-most populous city in Central China, and the ...

. In 1939, he joined the CCP and was one of the people who established '' Hua Shang Daily'' (華商) in

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

. He also took up the posts of the principal of Huangzhong Journalism College (), chairman of Huangzhong Branch of the

Xinhua News Agency Xinhua News Agency (English pronunciation: ),J. C. Wells: Longman Pronunciation Dictionary, 3rd ed., for both British and American English or New China News Agency, is the official state news agency of the People's Republic of China. It is a ...

and Huangzhong Post of '' Xinhua Daily''. In July 1949, he established the All-China Journalists Association with Hu Qiaomu and many other famous journalists. He was the chief editor of the Xinhua News Agency, chairman of ''

Jiefang Daily ''Jiefang Daily'' ( zh, s=解放日报, p=Jiěfàng Rìbào), also translated as ''Liberation Daily'', is the official daily newspaper of the Shanghai Municipal Committee of the Chinese Communist Party. History ''Jiefang Daily'' was first publish ...

'' and

People's Daily The ''People's Daily'' ( zh, s=人民日报, p=Rénmín Rìbào) is the official newspaper of the Central Committee of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). It provides direct information on the policies and viewpoints of the CCP in multiple lan ...

. In 1991, the "Fan Changjiang Journalism Awards" were established by the Chinese Journalists Association Committee in order to encourage young journalists in China.

Fan's posts and his careers

In addition to being an award-winning journalist, Fan was also considered a good leader by others. He held various official posts, such as: # President of Huangzhong Journalism College in 1939 # Chairman of Huangzhong Branch of

in 1939 # Chairman of Huangzhong Post of ''Xinhua Daily'' in 1939 # Chief editor of Xinhua News Agency in 1949 # President of ''

'' and ''

'' in 1949 # Vice-chancellor of the

General Administration of Press and Publication A general officer is an officer of high rank in the armies, and in some nations' air and space forces, marines or naval infantry. In some usages, the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colonel."general, adj. and n.". OED Online ...

# Vice-secretary of the State Council Committee of Culture and Education (政務院文化教育委員會副秘書長) # Second director of office of the

State Council of the People's Republic of China The State Council of the People's Republic of China, also known as the Central People's Government, is the chief administrative authority and national cabinet. It is constitutionally the highest administrative organ of the country and the e ...

# Vice minister in charge of the Commission for Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense

Ideology

Ideology in newspaper aspect

In the book, ''Communication and essay'', Fan believed that newspaper was a political tool. It was the basic principle of journalism. A journalist should not fear to discuss politics, should not tend to avoid politics. More importantly, journalist should not violate era. In addition, Fan suggested that if there were correct politics to make instructions, the news work would be an important power to accelerate the advancement of the society.

Obligation to tell the truth

Fan had a clear political and journalistic stand. When he was young, he was greatly influenced by the revolutionary movement and joined series of anti-imperialism movements. He was almost sent to death in the Chongqing Massacre. But this experience further strengthened his ideology which was to seek and report the truth. He believed that honesty should be the most important element of being a journalist.

Political views

Fan believed that journalists should support the reforms and determine to be loyal to the CC. The public should not fear danger and harshness but have incentive to learn and think. He even became a communist journalist and joined CCP after he left ''Ta Kung Pao''. He was strongly against the

capitalist Capitalism is an economic system based on the private ownership of the means of production and their use for the purpose of obtaining profit. This socioeconomic system has developed historically through several stages and is defined by ...

class and supported

communism Communism () is a political sociology, sociopolitical, political philosophy, philosophical, and economic ideology, economic ideology within the history of socialism, socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a ...

Loyalty to citizens

As described before, Fan wrote a series of articles disclosing the north-west rotten policy, the secret agreements and the hidden side of the red army. What he wanted to show to the people was the urgent need for revolution. He insisted that all his reports and articles should let the people know what was happening in their country.

Views on journalism

Fan claimed that a reporter who intended to write excellent journal articles, one must get himself involved in the public. He thought that journalism was the fact of what people want to know and what people should know but had not known. Fan said "This is a thought which is not very across the board, but it does penetrate a spirit to serve the public. As a reporter or journalist, we should always learn to examine the problems and issues raised up by the public and citizens which means to learn what you report. We should also learn the technique of writing by being aware of the response of the public. If the article is not related to the public, there is always no response or voice. Public is considered as the source of journalism, so newspaper should always think of ways to let reporters and journalists get connected to it."

Fan and journalism in China

As the president of the Chinese Journalists Association Committee, Fan focused on the overall development of journalism in China. He once said, "A

telegraph Telegraphy is the long-distance transmission of messages where the sender uses symbolic codes, known to the recipient, rather than a physical exchange of an object bearing the message. Thus flag semaphore is a method of telegraphy, whereas ...

, a letter or a news article influence the attitude of the readers towards the war. It influences the feeling of soldiers in the frontier and the

morale Morale ( , ) is the capacity of a group's members to maintain belief in an institution or goal, particularly in the face of opposition or hardship. Morale is often referenced by authority figures as a generic value judgment of the willpower, ...

of workers at the back." Fan emphasized that journalism played an extremely important role during war. He requested all the journalists to have respectable personality, important sense of responsibility and outstanding quality in news reporting. Fan also pointed out the importance of strengthening self-education as well as the promotion of noble-quality with combinations of present political, social and journalistic environment for young journalists.

Famous journals of Fan

After his journey to

Xi'an Xi'an is the list of capitals in China, capital of the Chinese province of Shaanxi. A sub-provincial city on the Guanzhong plain, the city is the third-most populous city in Western China after Chongqing and Chengdu, as well as the most populou ...

and

, he was employed by ''Da Gong Bao'' as a reporter. At that period of time, he wrote a lot of articles such as * ''Cong Jiayushuo Dao Shanhaiguan'' ("From

Jiayu Pass Jiayu Pass or () is the first frontier fortress at the west end of the Ming dynasty Great Wall, near the city of Jiayuguan in Gansu province. Along with Juyong Pass and Shanhai Pass, it is one of the main passes of the Great Wall. In the Min ...

Shanhai Pass The Shanhai Pass () is a major fortified gateway at the eastern end of the Great Wall of China and one of its most crucial fortifications, as the pass commands the narrowest choke point in the strategic Liaoxi Corridor, an elongated coasta ...

"《從嘉峪說到山海關》 ) * ''Bailingmiao Zhan Hou Hang'' ("The War in Bailingmiao" 《百靈廟戰後行》) * ''Yi Xi Meng''《憶西蒙》 On 7 July 1937, the Marco Polo Bridge Incident broke out. Fan went there to investigate the event. He went to Lugouqiao, Changxindian, etc. Fan wrote plenty of battlefield communications including * ''Beside the Lugouqiao''《盧溝橋畔》 * ''Xi Xian Feng Yun''《西線風雲》 * ''Shiue Bo Ping Jin''《血泊平津》 After ''China Young Journalists Association'' was founded, Fan went to the Tianjin–Pukou railway, where the

Second Sino-Japanese War The Second Sino-Japanese War was fought between the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic of China and the Empire of Japan between 1937 and 1945, following a period of war localized to Manchuria that started in 1931. It is considered part ...

was the most fiercest, to report the event. He wrote a lot of communications to reveal the war situation and front tactical situation in Tai'erzhuang. Those communications were compiled and printed under the headline ''"Breakthrough at

Xuzhou Xuzhou ( zh, s=徐州), also known as Pengcheng () in ancient times, is a major city in northwestern Jiangsu province, China. The city, with a recorded population of 9,083,790 at the 2020 Chinese census, 2020 census (3,135,660 of which lived in ...

"'' (徐州突圍).

China Young Journalists Association

It was established by Fan and other journalists at

in 1937. The aim of this association was to unite all journalists at that time and to spread the message of protecting China against the Japanese. This association later became the All-China Journalists Association. The day of its establishment, November 8, has been proclaimed by the Central government and the CCP as "Journalists' day" (記者節) since 2000. This day serves as a reminder to Chinese people of the devotion and dedication of the former journalists.

International News Association

During the Sino-Japanese War, Fan Changjiang, Hu Yuzhi and other journalists founded the ''International News Association'' at Changsha in 1936. Fan was the president of this association at that time. It was a left-leaning press agency during the period that China was still under the ruling of

Kuomintang The Kuomintang (KMT) is a major political party in the Republic of China (Taiwan). It was the one party state, sole ruling party of the country Republic of China (1912-1949), during its rule from 1927 to 1949 in Mainland China until Retreat ...

. It had a legal news gathering and the right of reporting to release the news and reviews of the Sino-Japanese War to the newspaper publishers in mainland China and the rest of the world, especially the news of the CCP, the

Eighth Route Army The Eighth Route Army (), officially titled as the List of Army Groups of the National Revolutionary Army, 18th Group Army, was a Field army, group army nominally under the banner of the National Revolutionary Army (NRA) of the Republic of Ch ...

and the

New Fourth Army The New Fourth Army (N4A) () was a military unit nominally under the banner of the National Revolutionary Army (NRA) of the Republic of China, established in 1937 as part of the Second United Front against Japan. However, in practice, the New ...

Fan Changjiang Journalism Award

The ''Fan Changjiang Journalism Award'' is one of the three national journalists awards (the other two are the Taofen Journalism Award and Top 100 Journalists) issued by the All-China Journalists Association (ACJA). This is a prize for middle-aged and young journalists. It is named after Fan for his bold and objective coverage of the Chinese Revolution led by the CCP against the Kuomintang regime. The award started in 1991. Since 2000, the award is issued by the ACJA every two years (with the other two awards simultaneously). In the first three ''Fan Changjiang Journalism Awards'', 10 reporters would receive the award and 30 reporters would receive the nominated award each time. But the nominated awards were cancelled starting from the fourth Awards. The nominee should age below 50 and work in the field of formal journals, public newspapers, national press agency, authorized radio stations, television stations and other news agency, with a minimum of 10-years successive reporter experience.

Fan and literature in China

Fan Changjiang is considered as one of the most prominent journalists in Chinese history. He had written a huge number of outstanding news articles and taken up a lot of leading positions in this field. His style of writing are considered as very modern, righteous and vivid.

''Sai Shang Xing''

''Sai Shang Xing'' (塞上行) is a book written by Fan Changjiang in 1937. The

was a turning point in Chinese political history. At that time, Fan's journey to

and

as a reporter had changed his political standpoint from a patriotic ournalist to a communist who fought for the proletariat">communist.html" ;"title="ournalist to a communist">ournalist to a communist who fought for the proletariat. The release of his book ''The Journey to Northern Shaanxi'' (陝北之行) facilitated the understanding of Chinese citizens from different classes about the CCP and Red Army. It also spread out the idea of unity of the nation against Japan. It was the first time Fan got direct contact with the CCP and his mind got changed after talking to

overnight. Later, Mao even wrote two letters to Fan answering his questions concerning the topic about the unity of the nation against Japan. Mao also affirmed Fan's news article on Xiabei. ''Sai Shang Xing'' is a book and a record of Fan's change of his mind.

''Northwest China''

This book revealed the rotten policy in the north-west side. It also showed the hidden side of the red army and exposed all the secret agreements made among the leaders at that time. Fan definitely told people the truth. He wasn't afraid of the pressures from the government and reported it in the book to express his concerns on the country. Hu Yuzhi commented that “it is an excellent work which shocks all the Chinese.”

''Communication and Essay''

In this book, Fan described the use of communications and essays clearly which not only gave a format and spirit to the youth journalists for reporting, but also for the writers have the sense of persuasive communication.

''Collection of Fan Changjiang's News Articles''

"''Collection of Fan Changjiang's News Article''" was published in 1989. It contains some parts of the news articles written by Fan without editing. It focuses and respects on the original face of those records, just like Fan said in the preface that "Journalists must respect history, must respect the reality".

Fan and the Xi'an Incident in China

On December 12, 1936, Xi'an Incident broke out in China during the invasion of Japan and nationalist-communist confrontation (1927-1936), which had great effects on political and military aspects. Fan Changjiang, as a reporter, headed to

in order to unveil the situation to the public. He said, 'I determined to go to Xi'an to unveil the truth of China's politics at all costs.' He gained the insight into the current affairs. Fan went there alone to find out the mysteries of Xi'an Incident. On February 4, 1937, Fan was finally permitted to interview CCP negotiator

, who would become the first premier of People's Republic of China in 1954. Zhou told him all the details about Xi'an Incident, such as the reasons of the incident, the ideas of the CCP and the important issues about defensing the country against Japan. All these information had made Fan's articles even more accurate and in-depth. Later, with the permission of Zhou, Fan went to

with great welcome for further details or even investigation. In Yan'an, he visited the "Red Army University" (紅軍大學) and interviewed some senior and important officers in the CCP, for example,

Lin Biao Lin Biao ( zh, 林彪; 5 December 1907 – 13 September 1971) was a Chinese politician and Marshal of the People's Republic of China who was pivotal in the Chinese Communist Party, Communist Chinese Communist Revolution, victory during the Chines ...

, Liao Chengzhi and

Zhu De Zhu De; (1 December 1886 – 6 July 1976) was a Chinese general, military strategist, politician and revolutionary in the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Zhu was born into poverty in 1886 in Sichuan. He was adopted by a wealthy uncle at ...

, especially the first chairman of

People's Republic of China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

on February 9. Fan told Mao that he wanted to stay in northern

; in order to get more information about CCP, so that he could write a few book on them to propagate the party ideology. However, Mao pointed out that the most important thing was to utilize the important position of ''Ta Kung Pao'' in the public to propagate the ideas and policies of CCP, so the co-operation between the CCP and

could be facilitated. After returning to Shanghai, Fan wrote the news article ''Turmoil in the Northwest'' (動盪中之西北大局) on the ''Ta Kung Pao'' on February 16. This article finally shocked the public and embarrassed Chiang Kai-shek, the leader of Nationalist Government by unveiling the truth in Xi'an. Mao was glad after reading his article and even wrote a letter to Fan to appreciate his efforts. Fan had written a lot of exclusive articles about Red Army March and Xi'an Incident, which acted as a forwarding power to the Chinese history. He was an initial reporter writing about the details of Red Army March in his two articles called "''Minshan Nanbei Jiaofei Zhi Xianshi''" (岷山南北剿匪軍事之現勢) and "''Chenglan Jixing''" (成蘭紀行).

References

Bibliography

External links

The Youth Of Fan Changjiang (in traditional Chinese)

* ttps://web.archive.org/web/20080928105759/http://www.edubridge.com/erxiantang/library/fanchangjiang.htm Fan Changjiang's tragedy (in traditional Chinese) {{DEFAULTSORT:Fan, Changjiang Peking University alumni Suicides during the Cultural Revolution 1909 births 1970 suicides 20th-century Chinese journalists Chinese war correspondents Writers from Neijiang People's Daily people 1970 deaths