踏着先辈的足迹前行
——记“读习近平总书记给国际友人亲属复信有感座谈会”

文/马克·力文（Mark Levine，美）

2005年来中国后，我有幸见到了几名年长的国际友人，他们曾在中国抗日战争以及中华人民共和国成立的过程中作出贡献。遗憾的是，当时已仅有极少数国际友人仍在世上。但好在我仍有机会见到这些国际友人们的中国配偶、子女，甚至是第三代。

后来，我有幸为这些国际友人的亲属们提供平台，让他们在几所大学讲述其先辈们对中国发展所作出的贡献。此外，我自己也作了一些关于他们的演讲。

After my arrival in China in 2005, I had the good fortune to meet a few of the old foreign experts who had contributed to China’s struggle in the War of Resistance to Japanese Aggression and in the founding the the People’s Republic of China. Unfortunately, by the time of my arrival, only a very few were still alive. But I have also been able to meet many of the Chinese spouses, children and even some of the grandchildren of these international friends.

Later I had the honor of helping to provide platforms for these relatives to speak about their ancestors’ contributions to China’s development before audiences at several universities. I have also had the opportunity to do some presentations about them myself.

收到习近平主席回信

8月下旬，包括埃德加·斯诺与海伦·斯诺夫妇、乔治·海德姆（马海德）、路易·艾黎、伊斯雷尔·爱泼斯坦、大卫·柯鲁克、汉斯·米勒、爱娃·桑德伯格·萧（叶华）在内的13位已故国际友人的16位亲属，联名致信中国国家主席习近平，祝贺中国共产党成立100周年。为纪念中国人民抗日战争和反法西斯战争胜利76周年，他们进一步表现出参加纪念活动的渴望，以纪念为取得这些胜利而献出生命的人们。

Reply from President Xi Jinping

In late August of this year, 16 relatives of 13 of these nowdeceased experts including those of Edgar and Helen Snow, George Hatem (Ma Haide), Rewi Alley, Israel Epstein, David Crook, Hans Mueller, Eva Sandberg Xiao and others wrote to Chinese President Xi Jinping, extending their congratulations to the 100thanniversary of the founding the Communist Party of China (CPC) . In memory of the 76thanniversary of the victory of the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the War Against Fascism, they further stated their interest in joining in the commemoration of those who had given their lives to achieve these victories.

在谈到国际友人们为中国作出的贡献时，亲属们表示，为他们选择同中国共产党和中国人民站在一起感到骄傲，并表达了自身继续发扬国际主义精神，为推动构建人类命运共同体、促进中国人民同各国人民友好交往作出贡献的意愿。

Speaking of their relatives contributions to China’s struggles, they expressed great pride that their family members had chosen to stand with the CPC and the Chinese people and expressed their own willingness to continue carry on the spirit of internationalism, to contribute in the building of a shared future for mankind and participating in working towards friendship between the people of China and those of other countries.

9月14日，也就是在信件寄出后的短短几周，国际友人的亲属们收到了来自习近平主席的回信，他们感到非常高兴。

在回信中，习近平主席强调：20世纪上半叶，国际友人们远道而来，他们同中国人民和中国共产党并肩前行，并作出了重要贡献。习近平主席还赞扬了他们为中国的革命和进一步发展所作出的贡献。他写道：“你们亲人当年的选择是完全正确的。”

“读习近平总书记给国际友人亲属复信有感座谈会”现场

All of the signatories to this letter were quite pleased when they received President Xi’s September 14thresponse dated only a few weeks after their initial letter.

In his response letter, President Xi acknowledged the important contributions made by these international friends who had traveled great distances during the first half of the 20thcentury to ally with the Chinese people and the CPC. He applauded their contributions to the revolution as well as to China’s further development. “Indeed, the choices that your loved ones made decades ago are all worthy and honorable,” he wrote.

习近平主席进一步指出，在中国共产党领导中国实现第二个百年奋斗目标、建设社会主义国家与促进世界和平的进程中，国际友人们所展现出的这种精神将会代代相传。

“希望你们以亲人为榜样，为增进中国人民和世界人民的友谊和合作，为推动构建人类命运共同体作出贡献！”

He further noted that with the CPC leading the country in its goals for its second 100 years of building a socialist country and promoting world peace, he believes that the spirit showed by their ancestors would continue from “generation to generation”.

“I hope you will follow the steps of your loved ones, and contribute your fair share to the strengthening the friendship and cooperation between the Chinese people and people of the world, and to building a community with a shared future for mankind.”

国际友人亲属忆往昔

为深入学习领会习近平主席给国际友人亲属复信的重要精神，9月25日，中国人民对外友好协会（简称“全国对外友协”）举办了“读习近平总书记给国际友人亲属复信有感座谈会”。座谈会在位于北京市的全国对外友协大院内的礼堂举行，约100人参加，其中包括给习近平主席致信的大部分国际友人亲属，其他在华工作和生活的国际友人，以及中外学者与记者。全国对外友协美大工作部主任沈昕主持了此次活动。

座谈会上，全国对外友协会长林松添宣读了习近平主席的亲笔信，并进一步阐述了国际友人们的重要贡献。

Families of International Friends Recall the Past

As follow-up to President Xi’s letter, on September 25th, the Chinese People’s Association for Friend with Foreign Countries (CPAFFC) hosted a symposium entitled “Symposium on President Xi Jinping’s Reply to Families of International Friends”. The symposium was held at the CPAFFC auditorium located within the grounds of the association’s compound in the center of Beijing. Approximately 100 people were in attendance including most of the authors of the letter to President Xi, other International friends who are currently working and living in China as well as both Chinese and foreign scholars and journalists. Shen Xin, the director of the Department of American and Oceanian Affairs of CPAFFC, chaired the event.

At the symposium, Lin Songtian, the CPAFFC president, began his presentation with a reading of the letter from President Xi and provided further details on the importance of the contributions made by China’s international friends.

随后，与会的国际友人亲属逐一发表感言。中村京子是来自日本的国际友人，也是中国人民的老朋友，她回忆了初到中国时的往事，那时她还是一名年轻的护士，同她的丈夫——来自德国的汉斯·米勒医生一道，致力于拯救抗日战争中被日本军队所伤及的生命。她承诺，今后将继续发扬这种国际主义精神，因为几十年来，正是这种精神为自己和丈夫的人生指引着方向。

Then, one-by-one, many of the signatories of the initial letter to President Xi spoke. Nakamura Kyoko, an old international friend from Japan, spoke of coming to China as a young nurse and, alongside her husband, Dr. Hans Mueller from Germany, working to save the lives of those injured by the Japanese military in the War of Resistance. She pledged herself to continue to carry out the spirit of internationalism that guided her own and her husband’s lives for many decades.

新西兰友人路易·艾黎在中国工作和生活了60年。作为艾黎的四位养子之一，聂广涛说，艾黎经常对自己进行国际主义精神教育。之后的发言中，英国友人大卫·柯鲁克和加拿大友人伊莎贝尔·柯鲁克的儿子迈克尔·柯鲁克称，艾黎是工合运动的中坚力量。

Nie Guangtao, one of the four adopted sons of Rewi Alley, the New Zealander who worked and lived in China for 60 years, spoke of Alley’s constant teachings of internationalism. Later in the symposium, Michael Crook, the son of David Crook from Britain and the Canadian Isabel Crook, described Alley as the backbone of the Gung Ho movement.

理查德·傅莱的遗孀江国珍，谈到丈夫在德国入侵其祖国奥地利后，来到中国参与重要工作的经历。作为一名犹太人与共产主义者，年轻的医科学生傅莱离开奥地利来到中国。在这里，他深受欢迎，并加入了反对法西斯主义的斗争。无论是在战争期间，还是在傅莱的晚年，他都在医学领域为中国作出了许多贡献，包括建立了中国第一个医学信息计算机数据库。

Jiang Guozhen, the widow of Richard Frey, spoke of the significant work of her husband who had come to China when Germany invaded his native country of Austria. As a Jew and a Communist, Frey a young medical student left Austria and was welcomed to China where he joined in the fight against fascism. He made many contributions to China in the field of medicine both during the war and in his later life including founding the first computer data base for medical information in China.

肖丽昂是另一位奥地利友人爱娃·桑德伯格·萧（叶华）的儿子。他说，自己的母亲离开德国，先去到苏联，然后去到瑞典，并从那里来到了中国。在中国，她成了一名摄影师，她的作品记录了20世纪的中国历史。

Xiao Li’ang is the son of another Austrian, Eva Sandberg Xiao. He spoke of his mother leaving Germany and going to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics and then to Sweden from where she came to China. Sandberg Xiao became a photographer whose work chronicled the history of 20th century China.

美国友人埃里克·福斯特谈到了他的姑姑海伦·福斯特·斯诺。海伦以尼姆·威尔斯的笔名，撰写了《续西行漫记》（又译《红色中国内幕》）等书籍，与她的丈夫埃德加·斯诺一道，向世界讲述了中国人民的奋斗与硕果。埃里克谈到，在了解自己姑姑对中国的贡献后，他来到这里，并决定写下斯诺夫妇的过往，向世界讲述这些外国朋友的中国故事。

American Eric Foster spoke of his aunt Helen Foster Snow. Under the pen name journalist Nym Wales, she wrote Inside Red China and other books. Along with her husband, Edgar Snow, the couple told the world of the struggles and victories of the Chinese people. Eric talked about learning about his aunt’s contributions to China leading to him coming and deciding to write about the Snows to tell the story of these foreign friends to the world.

大卫·柯鲁克和伊莎贝尔·柯鲁克夫妇均是北京外国语大学的创始人之一，他们的儿子迈克尔·柯鲁克在中国非常有建树。作为中国工合国际委员会主席，迈克尔说，习近平主席在复信中提到的国际友人中有8位是工合的积极参与者，有4位其亲属目前正在参与中国工合国际委员会的工作。他详细介绍了每位友人的具体工作和贡献。此外，他还提到了习近平主席在2017年给中国工合国际委员会、北京培黎职业学院的回信，习近平主席鼓励发扬传承艾老“努力干、一起干”的工合精神，积极开展国际文化交流，谱写国际友谊的新篇章。迈克尔介绍了自己在实践中推动这一事业的努力。

中国人民对外友好协会会长林松添（左七）和与会国际友人亲属合影

Both David and Isabel Crook are among the founders of Beijing Foreign Studies University, while Michael Crook is their son and has other contributions. Micheal is the president of the International Committee for the Promotion of Chinese Industrial Cooperatives (ICCIC) and he noted that eight of the international friends named by President Xi were active Gung Ho participants and another four have relatives who are currently involved in the ICCIC work. He detailed the specific roles and contributions of each. He also spoke of President Xi’s 2017 reply to a letter from the ICCIC and Beijing Bailie Unirersity which encouraged the two organizations to “carry forward Rewi Alley’s Gung Ho spirit of work hard, work together and write new chapters in international friendship”. Micheal noted his own commitment to promote this cause in practice.

其他发言的国际友人亲属包括俄罗斯友人伊丽莎白·帕夫洛芙娜·基什金娜（李莎）的儿子李英南，黎巴嫩裔美国友人乔治·海德姆博士（马海德）的儿子周幼马，以及创作了著名的《中国人民解放军军歌》《延安颂》的朝鲜友人（后加入中国国籍）郑律成的女儿郑小提。

Other relatives of the old international friends who spoke included Li Yingnan, the son of the Russian Elizabetha Pavolovna Kishkina; Zhou Youma, the son of Lebanese-American, Dr. George Hatem (known in China as Ma Heide); and Zheng Xiaoti, the daughter of Korean Jeong Yui-Seong (known in China as Zheng Lyucheng) who composed the famous songOde to Yan’an,the military anthem of the People’s Liberation Army.

继往开来话合作

上述发言人均位列于习近平主席的回信成员名单，此外，还有多位朋友参加了此次座谈会，他们之中既有中国人，也有外国人。如前全国对外友协副会长李建平，他曾任路易·艾黎的秘书，两人有过密切合作。

来自比利时的让·德尔维尼与来自爱尔兰的肖恩·斯拉特里均为外籍专家，现供职于中央党史和文献研究院。他们都分享了自己来到中国后的经历，德尔维尼来华40年，而斯拉特里也来华约10年。同时，他们在谈到之所以从事现在的工作时，都强调了国际主义的重要性，用斯拉特里的话来说，“我们的工作，是让人们有机会学习关于这个国家及其政府的工作，并帮助他们理解中国所提出的倡议，例如‘一带一路’倡议以及人类命运共同体的愿景。”

本文作者马克·力文在座谈会上发言

Carry on the Past and Open the Future

While the above speakers were among the group to whom President Xi responded, there were others attending the symposium, both Chinese and foreigners. Li Jianping, the former vice president of CPAFFC, had also worked closely with Rewi Alley serving in as his secretary.

Jean Delvigne, from Belgium, and Sean Slattery, from Ireland, are both foreign experts who currently work at the Institute of Party History and Literature of the CPC Central Committee. Each spoke of their coming to China, Delvigne nearly 40 years ago and Slattery about 10 years and their work leading up to their current positions both stressed the importance of internationalism and in the words of Slattery, “Our job is about giving people the opportunity to learn about this country and the work of its government, and to help them understand the initiatives China has put forward, such at the Belt and Road Initiative and the vision of a community with a shared future for humanity.”

美国友人聂子瑞（Erik Nilsson）是《中国日报》记者，他谈到了埃德加·斯诺对全世界了解中国作出的重要贡献，并为自己成为《中国日报》“新时代斯诺工作室”成员而感到骄傲。在谈到自己的贡献时，他不仅有自己的定期报道，还是2021年出版的《太阳升起：“美国小哥”见证中国扶贫奇迹》一书的作者，该书自出版以来便获得了非常积极的反响。

American Erik Nilsson is a journalist atChina Daily. Nilsson spoke of the important contributions to the understanding of China made by Edgar Snow and his own pride of being a member ofChina Daily’sEdgar Snow Newsroom. He spoke of his own contributions, not only through his regular reporting but also as author of his 2021 book,Closer to Heaven: A Global Nomad’s Journey Through China’s Poverty Alleviation, which has been very positively received since its release.

当被应邀发言时，我也介绍了自己的工作——为这些国际友人的亲属提供平台，让他们来讲述家庭与自身的故事。我还提到了我的书籍和歌曲，致力于帮助国际社会更好地认识中国。

As I was invited to speak, I told of my work, mentioned above, in providing platforms for the relatives of these international friends to tell the stories of their families and themselves. I also briefly mentioned my books and songs that are aimed at helping to breakdown the misinformation about China.

英国皇家化学学会的戴伟，谈到了他长期以来在课堂和讲座中为不同年龄的学生教授化学的意义。北京大学中国埃德加·斯诺研究中心主任孙华教授谈到了自己当前正在进行的工作。目前，该中心与美国的斯诺研究中心合作，每年在美国和北京轮流举行关于斯诺研究的座谈会。

David Evans of the Royal Society of Chemistry spoke of his longtime role in teaching chemistry in classes and lectures to students of various ages. Professor Sun Hua talked about the ongoing work of the China Center for Edgar Snow Studies, of which he is the director, at Peking University (PKU). In conjunction with a parallel Snow studies center in the United States, the PKU center holds annual symposiums on the significance of Snow’s work which alternate between the US and Beijing.

其他发言者包括：中国人民大学中东与非洲研究中心特聘研究员、叙利亚裔俄罗斯友人卡里姆·阿尔瓦迪（肖克），中央广播电视总台亚非语言节目中心斯瓦希里语主持人、坦桑尼亚友人法迪利·贾普特·姆鹏杰，北京培黎职业学院院长余临，以及来自培黎的法国留学生。（本文图片由中国人民对外友好协会提供）

Additional speakers included Karim Alwadi, a Syrian-Russian identified as a research fellow at the Center for Middle East and Africa Studies at Renmin University of China; Fadhili Japhet Mpunji, the Tanzanian who works as a Kiswahili language anchorman for the Asian and African Languages Programming Center of China Media Group; Yu Lin, president of Beijing Bailie University; and a Bailie student from France.