This combo photo shows, from left to right and top to bottom: Edgar Snow, John Rabe, Rewi Alley, Crook family, Hans Müller, George Hatem and Helen Foster Snow     

Eighty-two-year-old Zhou Youma slowly rose, his finger pointing toward the audience with a smile. “Müller is her father,” he said, his gaze landing on Mimi Müller, daughter of German physician Hans Müller. A ripple of laughter swept the room. “Her father spent over 50 years in China, fought in countless battles—a true hero.”

Zhou himself is the son of George Hatem, or Ma Haide, the American physician who adopted a Chinese name. Hatem came to China in 1933 and spent more than five decades in the country saving lives, in wartime and peacetime. Müller too, was among the foreigners who stayed in China to offer medical services to the forces led by the Communist Party of China (CPC) during wartime, and to continue to help Chinese people to prevent and control diseases after the war.

The Japanese invasion of China began with the Mukden Incident in 1931 and escalated into full-scale war with the Marco Polo Bridge Incident near Beijing in 1937. Japan officially surrendered on September 2, 1945, by signing the Instrument of Surrender. China has designated September 3 as Victory Day.

Eighty years after the victory, Zhou and Mimi Müller met at a symposium held in Peking University on August 30 to mark the 80th anniversary of the victory. The seminar also commemorated the 120th anniversary of the birth of renowned American writer and journalist Edgar Snow.

Participants reflected on this history and the enduring spirit forged through the Allied fight against fascism in World War II.

At the symposium, Wang Gang, Vice Minister of the Publicity Department of the CPC Central Committee, recounted how numerous international friends from across the globe supported China and its people in various ways, strengthening China’s resistance efforts and boosting the confidence of the Chinese people during the war.

Wang expressed gratitude and respect for them. “The contributions of these international friends went beyond making China known to the world; they made China understood by the world,” he said.

These international friends include Edgar Snow, Hans Müller, George Hatem, German businessman John Rabe, who co-created the Nanjing Safety Zone during the massacre in the city from late 1937 to early 1938, British journalist David Crook, who documented the events as they unfolded, and New Zealand-born industrial organizer Rewi Alley.

Addressing their descendants attending the symposium, Wang said, “In remembering these international friends, what can we learn? I believe it is the guardianship of human warmth, the reverence for historical truth, the respect for cultural differences and the steadfast belief in the common values of all humanity.”

Friends from afar 

In 1927, Alley first set foot on Chinese soil. Starting as a factory inspector and fire officer in Shanghai, he later spearheaded the Chinese Industrial Cooperatives movement, known as “Gung Ho,” after the outbreak of war. This initiative organized displaced workers and refugees to produce essential goods for self-reliance and for the resistance against Japanese aggression.

In 1928, Snow arrived in China. In 1936, he broke through blockades to reach the Communist-led base area in northwest China (Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region), conducting interviews, and later penned Red Star Over China. Through his reporting, for the first time, the world glimpsed the resolve of those fighting for China’s liberation.

His wife, Helen Foster Snow (who wrote under the name Nym Wales), followed in his footsteps. She traveled to Yan’an in 1937, where she conducted extensive interviews that supplemented his work. She later authored Inside Red China--among other books. Her efforts provided invaluable biographical materials for understanding the Chinese Communist movement.

In 1937, Hatem arrived in Yan’an. He became a frontier doctor and adopting his Chinese name. He later joined the CPC, and became China’s first foreign citizen, dedicating his life to medical causes—particularly leprosy treatment.

That same year, Hans Müller, after earning his medical doctorate from Switzerland’s Basel University, journeyed to China to join the war against Japanese aggression. In Yan’an, he met Mao Zedong and joined the Eighth Route Army. He joined the CPC in 1945 and continued to advance China’s healthcare after the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949. Even on his deathbed, he urged his wife to not leave China.

These friends from afar—with pens, medical kits, factories and unyielding faith—stood shoulder to shoulder with the Chinese nation.

Launch of the Edgar Snow International Scholars Program, the “International Friends Studies” Database and the Global Media Program on “Edgar Snow in the New Era” at a symposium in Peking University in Beijing on August 30 （TAO ZIHUI） 

A joint struggle 

At the symposium, participants reviewed history. “Revisiting this history is not to dwell on grievances, but to affirm that fascism’s defeat is a triumph for all of humanity,” Wang declared. “Every nation and people who bled in this struggle deserves remembrance.”

Wang emphasized that China served as the Eastern main theater of the World Anti-Fascist War.

Over 14 years, the Chinese battlefield tied down a massive portion of Japan’s military--more than 60 percent of its ground force, peaking at 94 percent, Wang said. This relentless resistance shattered Japan’s goal of a quick victory and forced it into a protracted war of attrition.

China’s tenacity came at a staggering cost: over 35 million Chinese casualties, with direct and indirect economic losses exceeding $600 billion (at the exchange rates back then), he said.

But by pinning down the Japanese army, the country prevented Japan from effectively cooperating with its Nazi ally to attack other countries such as the Soviet Union, contributing significantly to the overall defeat of the Axis powers.

International friends contributed to the struggle, not only by reporting what they saw during the war to the world, but also by saving lives. In 1938, Jewish-American journalist Israel Epstein saw an elderly woman with bound feet in Wuhan, Hubei Province, donate her only silver bracelet to a war relief fund. This image, etched in his memory, later inspired his book The People’s War.

Born to a Polish Jewish family, Epstein moved to China at the age of 2—and later became a naturalized Chinese citizen. Following the 1937 Marco Polo Bridge Incident, he began his career as a war correspondent, exposing Japanese atrocities and covering the Chinese resistance efforts. He reported from the front lines in Tongzhou, Wuhan and Xuzhou, providing firsthand accounts of the fierce fight Chinese soldiers were putting up and the brutal realities of the invasion for international readers. He also happened to be a close friend of Alley and extensively wrote about the Gung Ho movement.

In Nanjing, the Nanjing Safety Zone created by Rabe and fellow expats sheltered over 200,000 Chinese. His diaries remain among the most detailed accounts of the carnage.

“My grandfather wrote in his diary: ‘The greatest Christmas gift I ever received was saving over 600 lives,’ I will never forget it,” Thomas Rabe, John’s grandson, told Beijing Review on August 30.

Together, these international voices proclaimed: China is not a relic—it is a living nation resisting invasion with blood and flesh, Wang added.

The power of understanding 

At the symposium, descendants and relatives of several other international friends also shared insights drawn from their unique family perspectives. They not only reflected on the courageous efforts and solidarity their ancestors demonstrated over 80 years ago, but also offered personal accounts of a dynamic and evolving China as they experience it today.

Sarah Stuart, great-niece of Alley, told Beijing Review: “It’s very important to consider other perspectives and also never overlook the difference that one person can make just by looking out for others and being a witness to what you see and to what you know,” For instance, in New Zealand, the legacy of her great-uncle in China is not widely known. “I think it’s important to tell those stories. We can understand a different perspective, a different way of seeing the world,” she said.

The words of Michael Crook, the son of China’s Friendship Medal winner Isabel Crook, carried historical gravity. He noted that Western narratives often date WWII to 1939, sidelining the China theater. “Without our own discourse, one-sided histories persist. Was this a fragmented global war or a collective struggle?”

“This is a story of China and the world—a narrative interwoven with global anti-fascist solidarity, where China’s fight resonated globally and international allies stood by its side,” he declared.

Wang stressed that Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and WWII were no mere temporal overlap but intertwined threads in history’s fabric. International friends like Edgar Snow bridged understanding, earning China international empathy and support.

Be proud of China 

Eight decades have passed since the smoke of the World Anti-Fascist War cleared, but new battles of perception have arisen.

In today’s world, telling authentic, multi-dimensional and comprehensive stories about China and promoting exchange between the Chinese and other civilizations are particularly important, said He Guangcai, Secretary of Peking University Committee of the CPC, in his address at the symposium in Peking University.

Qian Chengdan, a Boya Chair Professor at Peking University, speaking about Edgar Snow’s risky journey to the Soviet area in northern Shaanxi and his writing of the book Red Star Over China, noted that this demonstrated the American journalist’s strong sense of justice and “his ability to see through the fog of history to discern the right direction of the times.” Qian further pointed out that many people in the world today still do not understand China, and some take advantage of this to create a deliberately distorted image of the country.

Wang urged international visitors to emulate Edgar Snow, who breached blockades to witness reality firsthand. “Today, we hope more friends brave such biases, visit China and see its transformations.”

China now opens its doors wider: visa-free access for citizens of 75 countries, transit-free entry for citizens of 55. The nation invites the world to experience its hospitality and progress through firsthand encounters.

The spiritual legacy of wartime endures.

“The really cool thing is the Belt and Road Initiative, which lets so many countries getting the trade going—that also means getting people talking, trading and communicating,” Eric Foster, nephew of Helen Foster Snow, told Beijing Review. This China-proposed initiative aims to boost connectivity along and beyond the ancient Silk Road routes.

“President Xi Jinping said that we want to build a shared future for humankind, which means everyone has the fair chance to survive, and to live life in peace. This is the most important thing,” Thomas Rabe said.

When asked what Helen Foster Snow would think of today’s China? Eric Foster paused for a second, and then replied: “She’d marvel at China’s achievements. With the world’s most efficient government, China has become a beacon. She would be very, very proud of China,” he said.

Comments to taozihui@cicgamericas.com