'Red Star Over China' book cover trumpets Ningxia's past glory

A red flag flutters in the wind and a trumpeter of the Red Army is holding a bugle. This is the cover photo of the book Red Star Over China, as taken by American journalist Edgar Snow, in Yuwangpu, Ningxia Hui autonomous region.

After Snow finished his interview with Mao Zedong and other leaders of the Communist Party of China in northern Shaanxi in August 1936, he went to Yuwangpu and other places in Ningxia, interviewing officers of the Red Army on the march west. During this one-month visit, Snow completed nearly one-third of the content of Red Star Over China. Besides soldiers and officials, he also mentioned a trumpeter.

This trumpeter is Xie Liquan, a major general of the Red Army. He just led his troops to win a battle in August 1936. Snow invited him to the city wall of Yuwangpu and took a photo for him.

The Red Army passed Ningxia in the Long March. The region is also the base camp and main battlefield of the west march of the Red Army. This trumpeter of the Red Army in Ningxia once inspired countless Chinese people to go to the frontline of the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression (1931-45), creating a wonderful footnote for the centennial of the CPC.

Sun Siyan contributed to this story.

[Video provided by the Ningxia Museum]