Far East Reporter
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The ''Far East Reporter'' was a magazine or newsletter published in
New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
on an irregular schedule from 1953 to 1989 by
Maud Russell Maud Muriel Russell (August 9, 1893 – November 8, 1989) was an American social worker, educator, and writer. She is best remembered for her work as a social and political activist for the YWCA in China from 1917 to 1943. Returning to New York, ...
. It took the form of pamphlets that mainly talked sympathetically about China under
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 ...
.


History

Maud Russell was the executive director of the ''Far East Spotlight'' magazine, which was published from 1946 to 1952 by the
Committee for a Democratic Far Eastern Policy The Committee for a Democratic Far Eastern Policy (CDFEP) was an organization that was active in 1945–52 in opposing US support for the Kuomintang government in China. History The CDFEP was founded in August 1945, towards the end of World War I ...
(CDFEP). She founded the ''Far East Reporter'' in New York City in 1953, and published it until her death in 1989. The newsletter was published on an irregular schedule. Russell had lived in
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 ...
for 26 years when it was dominated by other countries, and had seen the development of revolutionary nationalism. She used her magazine and speaking tours to explain why the US should recognize the Communist government of China and disengage from Korea, Taiwan and Vietnam. Russell published the views of "experts" on other East and Southeast Asia countries including Vietnam and India, but her main focus was on publishing positive articles about social, political and economic development in China for American readers. Russell wrote some of the issues herself. Some of the other issues, which were essentially pamphlets on specific topics, were written by well-known people. Russell drew on newspapers and magazines including
The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...
,
Far Eastern Economic Review The ''Far Eastern Economic Review'' (FEER or The ''Review'') was an Asian business magazine published from 1946 to 2009. The English-language news magazine was based in Hong Kong and published weekly until it converted to a monthly publication ...
and
China Reconstructs ''China Today'' (), until 1990 titled ''China Reconstructs'' (), is a monthly magazine founded in 1952 by Soong Ching-ling in association with Israel Epstein. It is published in Chinese language, English, Spanish, French, Arabic, German and ...
, and used material sent by CDFEP supporters in the US and China. Russell had been one of a very small group of "progressive" Westerners in 1930s China, and had returned to the US in 1942. Her regular correspondents from the People's Republic of China included Nan Green,
David Crook David Crook (14 August 1910 – 1 November 2000) was a British communist who spent most of his life teaching in China. A committed Marxist from 1931, he joined the International Brigades to fight against the Spanish nationalists in the Spanis ...
, Elsie Fairfax-Cholmeley,
Israel Epstein Israel Epstein (; 20 April 1915 – 26 May 2005) was a Polish-born Chinese journalist and author. He was one of the few foreign-born Chinese citizens of non-Chinese origin to become a member of the Chinese Communist Party. Early life and educ ...
,
Talitha Gerlach Talitha A. Gerlach ( – Geng Lishu; 6 March 1896 – 12 February 1995) was an American YWCA worker who spent most of her life as a social worker in Shanghai, China, where she died. She received various awards from the Shanghai and Chinese governm ...
,
Rewi Alley Rewi Alley (known in China as 路易•艾黎, Lùyì Aìlí, 2 December 1897 – 27 December 1987) was a New Zealand-born writer and political activist. A member of the Chinese Communist Party, he dedicated 60 years of his life to the cause an ...
and (after 1958)
Anna Louise Strong Anna Louise Strong (November 24, 1885 – March 29, 1970) was an American journalist and activist, best known for her reporting on and support for Communism, communist movements in the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China.Archives Wes ...
. Often their long letters to Russell were not much more than verbatim copies of ''
Xinhua 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 media, state news agency of the China, People's Republic ...
'' articles. In March 1963 the
House Un-American Activities Committee The House Committee on Un-American Activities (HCUA), popularly the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), was an investigative United States Congressional committee, committee of the United States House of Representatives, created in 19 ...
(HUC) called on Russell to testify in a closed session. She had been named as a
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 ...
"publicity agent." Russell defended herself vigorously before the committee and in a letter to her subscribers in which she denounced the attempted intimidation by the HUAC. A 1967 description said, "While some readers may be inclined to classify the journal as "
Marxist Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflic ...
" in content, the publisher, Miss Maud Russell, does not wish to have her views classified as "Marxist". In the 1960s the magazine was praised by the Radical Education Project of the
Students for a Democratic Society Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) was a national student activist organization in the United States during the 1960s and was one of the principal representations of the New Left. Disdaining permanent leaders, hierarchical relationships a ...
, which helped publicize her speaking engagements. 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 ...
the Epsteins were accused of spying for the West, and from 1968 to 1973 were held in solitary confinement. In May 1971 Russell's old friend
Talitha Gerlach Talitha A. Gerlach ( – Geng Lishu; 6 March 1896 – 12 February 1995) was an American YWCA worker who spent most of her life as a social worker in Shanghai, China, where she died. She received various awards from the Shanghai and Chinese governm ...
wrote from Shanghai to Russell asking her not to defend the imprisoned foreigners against charges of spying, but to remove works by Israel Epstein, his wife Elsie Fairfax-Cholmeley and
David Crook David Crook (14 August 1910 – 1 November 2000) was a British communist who spent most of his life teaching in China. A committed Marxist from 1931, he joined the International Brigades to fight against the Spanish nationalists in the Spanis ...
from lists of past publications in the ''Far East Reporter''. The last issue of the ''Far East Reporter'' appeared in September 1989. In it Russell criticized
Deng Xiaoping Deng Xiaoping also Romanization of Chinese, romanised as Teng Hsiao-p'ing; born Xiansheng (). (22 August 190419 February 1997) was a Chinese statesman, revolutionary, and political theorist who served as the paramount leader of the People's R ...
's Four Modernization policies, which she blamed for the May–June protests.


Selected issues

Issues included: *1983 June. ''The Kampuchean Struggle for National Survival. Pertinent Historical and Current Facts about Vietnam’s Presence in Kampuchea'' by Thiounn Mumm *1978 August. ''Historical Perspective. China and the Olympics'' by Phillip K. Shinnick *1978. February. ''Answers to Some Question about Cancer, Mental Illness, the Handicapped, Schistosomiasis, Family Planning, Venereal Disease, and the Application of the Mass Line in the People’s Republic of China'' by
Han Suyin Rosalie Matilda Kuanghu Chou (; 12 September 1917 or 1916 – 2 November 2012) was a Chinese-born Eurasian physician and author better known by her pen name Han Suyin (). She wrote in English and French on modern China, set her novels in East an ...
, Li Ping, a report by the American Cancer Society, Carl Ratner, Victor & Ruth Sidel, Julian Schuman, and Dan Schwartz. *1976 August. ''The Mass Line in the Chinese Revolution'' by Dr. Boon-Ngee Cham *1976 June. ''Some Observations on Law in China'' including. ''Criminal Justice in China'' by George W. Crockett, Jr., and ''People’s Courts in China'' by Maud Russell *1976 April. ''Back Home in China'' by Lee Yu-Hwa *1976 January. ''What About Workers in China?'' by Janet Goldwasser, Stuart Dowty and Maud Russell, including a reissue of "Chinese Factories are Exciting Places" by Goldwasser & Dowty. *1975 undated. ''What About Religion in China? Some Answers for American Christians'' by Maud Russell *1975 March. ''Marxism and the Cultural Revolution in China. A New Kind of Revolution'' by Ruth Gamberg *1974 September.''The Making of the New Human Being in the People’s Republic of China'' three articles by Dr. K. T. Fann *1974 May. ''Chinese Traditional Medicine'' conversations and observations by
Rewi Alley Rewi Alley (known in China as 路易•艾黎, Lùyì Aìlí, 2 December 1897 – 27 December 1987) was a New Zealand-born writer and political activist. A member of the Chinese Communist Party, he dedicated 60 years of his life to the cause an ...
and an old Chinese doctor *1974 February. ''Building a Socialist Educational System in China'' includes 3 articles. ''China’s Cultural Revolution in Education'' by Rewi Alley; ''Observations of an American Educational Consultant'' by Annie Stein; and, ''The Ongoing Building of China’s Socialist Educational System'' (Hsinhua) *1973 April. ''The New Human Being in the People’s Republic of China'' includes 3 small articles. ''Free to Be Human'' by
Felix Greene Felix Greene (21 May 1909 – 15 June 1985) was a British journalist who chronicled several communist countries in the 1960s and 1970s. Greene stood as a National Labour candidate in the 1931 election while still a law student. Greene was defe ...
; ''Psychiatric Treatment'' by Leigh Kagan; and ''Living Together in a Community'' by Lucilee Stewart Poo *1973 February. ''Chinese Factories are Exciting Places!'' by Janet Goldwasser and Stuart Dowty *1972 July. ''The ‘Why?’ of Nixon’s Trip to China'' by Maud Russell. Includes the joint Chinese/U.S. communiqué of Feb. 27, 1972 *1972 May. ''Hand and Brain in China, and other essays'' a reprint of an Anglo-Chinese Educational Institute pamphlet which includes. ''Hand and Brain in China'' by
Joseph Needham Noel Joseph Terence Montgomery Needham (; 9 December 1900 – 24 March 1995) was a British biochemist, historian of science and sinologist known for his scientific research and writing on the history of Chinese science and technology, initia ...
; ''China’s Economic Policy'' by
Joan Robinson Joan Violet Robinson ( Maurice; 31 October 1903 – 5 August 1983) was a British economist known for her wide-ranging contributions to economic theory. One of the most prominent economists of the century, Robinson incarnated the "Cambridge Sc ...
; ''The Open Door'' by
Edgar Snow Edgar Parks Snow (July 19, 1905 – February 15, 1972) was an American journalist known for his books and articles on communism in China and the Chinese Communist Revolution. He was the first Western journalist to give an account of the history of ...
; and ''China and the Hungry World'' by Tim Raper. *1971 October. ''The People’s Republic of China Approach to History’s Heritage. Of Territorial and Border Aggressions and to Current Revolutionary Movements'' by Neville Maxwell *1971 August. ''Ping Pong Serves! First-Hand Returns'' quotes from reporters and visitors *1971 May. ''An American Soldier Changes Worlds. Life in China of an Ex-Prisoner of War'' *1971 March. ''The People’s Republic of China. On Becoming 21 — Socialist World Power'' by Maud Russell. *1971 January. ''China’s Centuries of Contributions to World Science and Technology'' two articles by Joseph Needham and Maud Russell *1970 November.''The Liberation Process for Japanese Women'' a book review by Maud Russell *1970 July. ''Education. A Critique From China — Pedagogical Theory. Bourgeois or Socialist?'' *1970 undated. ''Chinese Women. Liberated'' by Maud Russell *1970 undated. ''Revolution Promotes Production'' by Maud Russell *1969 undated. ''The Sino-Soviet Ussuri River Border Clash'' by Maud Russell *1969 undated ''United States Neo-Colonialism — Grave Digger in Asia'' by Maud Russell *1969 undated. ''The Rising National Liberation Struggles of the Peoples in a Key Area of Southeast Asia. Coming Events Cast Their Shadows!'' by Maud Russell *1968 undated. ''The Ongoing Cultural Revolution in China'' by Maud Russell *1967 undated. ''China’s Genuine Democracy'' including. ''Among the Communes of Mao Tien'' by Rewi Alley, and ''Mass Democracy in China'' by
Israel Epstein Israel Epstein (; 20 April 1915 – 26 May 2005) was a Polish-born Chinese journalist and author. He was one of the few foreign-born Chinese citizens of non-Chinese origin to become a member of the Chinese Communist Party. Early life and educ ...
*1967 undated ''China’s Socialism or India’s Neo-Colonialism. A Development Race and its Outcome'' by Curtis Ullerich *1967 undated ''The Great Proletarian Revolution and China’s Economic Health'' by Maud Russell *1967 April. ''The Making of New Man. How the Thinking of Mao Tse-tung Helps a Man Look at Himself and Change Himself'' by Tuan Ping-li *1967 March. ''Some Background on China’s Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution'' by Maud Russell. *1967 January. ''Chinese Traditional Medicine. An Observation on Acupuncture — A Practitioner’s View'' by
Felix Mann Felix Mann (10 April 1931 – 2 October 2014) was a German-born acupuncturist. He devised the system known as Scientific Acupuncture and was the founder and past president of the Medical Acupuncture Society (1959–1980). He was also the first ...
*1966 undated. ''Traditional Medicine in Communist China. Science, Communism and Cultural Nationalism'' by Ralph C. Croizier *1966 undated. ''The Influence of the Thought of Mao Tse-tung'' by
Rewi Alley Rewi Alley (known in China as 路易•艾黎, Lùyì Aìlí, 2 December 1897 – 27 December 1987) was a New Zealand-born writer and political activist. A member of the Chinese Communist Party, he dedicated 60 years of his life to the cause an ...
*1966 October. ''Mass-Line Leaders and Leadership in Rural China'' Chapter XVIII of The First Years of Yangyi Commune by Isabel and
David Crook David Crook (14 August 1910 – 1 November 2000) was a British communist who spent most of his life teaching in China. A committed Marxist from 1931, he joined the International Brigades to fight against the Spanish nationalists in the Spanis ...
*1966 March. ''The Process of Urban and Rural Economy in China'' includes. ''The Role of the People’s Communes'' by Shirley Wood; and ''Self-Reliance'' by
David Crook David Crook (14 August 1910 – 1 November 2000) was a British communist who spent most of his life teaching in China. A committed Marxist from 1931, he joined the International Brigades to fight against the Spanish nationalists in the Spanis ...
*1966 February. ''Seeing Is Believing'' by an American POW in China *1965 October. ''The Past in China’s Present. A Cultural, Social, and Philosophical Background for Contemporary China'' by
Joseph Needham Noel Joseph Terence Montgomery Needham (; 9 December 1900 – 24 March 1995) was a British biochemist, historian of science and sinologist known for his scientific research and writing on the history of Chinese science and technology, initia ...
*1965 September. ''In Southeast Asia Today. The United States, Vietnam, China'' Four Poems by
Rewi Alley Rewi Alley (known in China as 路易•艾黎, Lùyì Aìlí, 2 December 1897 – 27 December 1987) was a New Zealand-born writer and political activist. A member of the Chinese Communist Party, he dedicated 60 years of his life to the cause an ...
*1965 June. ''Some Observations on Education, Trade and the Political Process in China'' by Dr. C. H. Geoffrey Oldham, J. Russell Love and
Anna Louise Strong Anna Louise Strong (November 24, 1885 – March 29, 1970) was an American journalist and activist, best known for her reporting on and support for Communism, communist movements in the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China.Archives Wes ...
*1965 April. ''Some Background on United States in Southeast Asia — MAPHILINDO'' an article by Jose Ma. Sison about the ''Maphilindo'' concept *1965 March. ''Letters from Friends in China'' *1964 June. ''Asians Speak Out on United States ‘Aid’ Policy and Programs'' includes ''US Aid to Pakistan. An Evaluation'' by Hamza Alavi, and ''Why Cambodia Rejected Aid'' by Han Suyin *1964 April. ''China Speaks for Herself. In Interviews Granted by Prime Minister
Chou En-Lai 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 ...
to British, American, Pakistani and Japanese Newsmen'' *1963 undated. ''Some Facts About Today’s Tibet'' excerpts from ''The Truth About Tibet'' by Stuart and Roma Gelder *1963 ''China 1963 — Food — Medicine — People’s Communes'' as seen by
Rewi Alley Rewi Alley (known in China as 路易•艾黎, Lùyì Aìlí, 2 December 1897 – 27 December 1987) was a New Zealand-born writer and political activist. A member of the Chinese Communist Party, he dedicated 60 years of his life to the cause an ...
, Dr.
Wilder Penfield Wilder Graves Penfield (January 26, 1891April 5, 1976) was an American-Canadian neurosurgeon. He expanded brain surgery's methods and techniques, including mapping the functions of various regions of the brain such as the cortical homunculus. ...
,
David Crook David Crook (14 August 1910 – 1 November 2000) was a British communist who spent most of his life teaching in China. A committed Marxist from 1931, he joined the International Brigades to fight against the Spanish nationalists in the Spanis ...
and
Anna Louise Strong Anna Louise Strong (November 24, 1885 – March 29, 1970) was an American journalist and activist, best known for her reporting on and support for Communism, communist movements in the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China.Archives Wes ...
*1963 undated. ''The China-India Conflict'' *1961 June. ''China’s Path to Her New Society'' unsigned article *1961 March ''How the Chinese are Conquering the Food Problem. Letters from China'' *1960 undated. ''Why Do Chinese ‘Refugees’ ‘Escape’ to Hongkong?'' including ''Is This a Valid Question?'' by Maud Russell, and ''The Letter Life Would Not Print'' by
Anna Louise Strong Anna Louise Strong (November 24, 1885 – March 29, 1970) was an American journalist and activist, best known for her reporting on and support for Communism, communist movements in the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China.Archives Wes ...
*1959 undated. ''We Build the Ming Tombs Dam'' by
Israel Epstein Israel Epstein (; 20 April 1915 – 26 May 2005) was a Polish-born Chinese journalist and author. He was one of the few foreign-born Chinese citizens of non-Chinese origin to become a member of the Chinese Communist Party. Early life and educ ...
*1959. ''The Real Tibet'' by Susan Warren *1953. ''What Path for India?'' by Gerhard Hagelberg


Notes


Sources

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Far East Reporter 1953 establishments in New York City 1989 disestablishments in New York (state) China–United States relations Defunct political magazines published in the United States Irregularly published magazines published in the United States Magazines established in 1953 Magazines disestablished in 1989 Magazines published in New York City