Dec 18 2007
Lost in translation
I’ve my reservation on those China-hands, I wonder just how much do they truly understand China and Chinese, not just the ability to speak the language. I’m amused to read couple of excerpts from The Private Life of Chairman Mao by Dr. Li; and Edgar Snow, one of the earliest if not the biggest China hands or Mao hand:
Page 120:
Mao described himself best. I am heshang dasan, he told Edgar Snow in 1970, literally meaning “a monk holding an umbrella.” But heshang dasan is only the first half of a couplet. The second, most important and meaningful, half, wufa wutian – is always left unsaid. The sound wufa wutian, meaning ‘without hair, without sky,” is the same as an expression that means “without law, without god” – a man subject to the laws of neither man nor god. Mao’s interpreter that day was a young woman without a classical education, and she translated the Chairman’s self-description as “a lonely monk walking the world with a leaky umbrella.” Edgar Snow and numerous scholars after him concluded that Mao had a tragic, lonely view of himself. Nothing could have been further from the truth. Mao was trying to tell Edgar Snow that he was a god and law unto himself, wufa wutian.
I’m surprised at Snow needing a translator - how much had lost in that process? So his bestseller Red Star over China was a fluke, because of uniqueness and relatively uneducated audience at the time - the First? I only read tiny part of the book, more for the antidotes than the historical significance. There isn’t a legit book available, mostly are yeshi. So I tend to view those books by non Chinese - although lack depth or true understanding (you should be able to filter that out - be a sensible reader), but do provide something of value. After all, he did sit face to face with Mao - he had many privilege and access that most Chinese didn’t have or won’t have - even knowing Chinese like to put up a good face to impress the West - silly but it’s true.
Page 532:
By December 18, 1970, Mao’s health had improved sufficiently that he was able to meet with American journalist Edgar Snow, who had first interviewed the Chairman in Baoan in 1936, had written the classic bestseller Red Star over China, and had remained a friend of China’s over all those years. “I think Snow must be working for the Central Intelligence Agency,” Mao told me at the time of the visit. “We have to give him some inside information.”
Believing that Snow would pass the information on to his superiors in the CIA, Mao used the meeting to further U.S.-China relations, conveying his willingness to invite Nixon or any other ranking American official to meet with him in Beijing. He also took the occasion to warn the CIA of the deeper conflict within Chinese politics. “There are three types of people who shout ‘long life’ to me,” Mao told Snow. “The first type really means it. There aren’t too many of these. The second type is just following the crowd. Most people fall into this category. The third type are those who shout the slogan but really want me to die early. Not too many people fall into this category, but there are some.”
I had lived in the United States for some time before realizing that Edgar Snow was a pariah in his own country when he visited China in 1970 and that his message to the American government was delivered too late, well after direct channels between China and the United States had been established. And Snow probably never understood whom Mao was talking about when he said that some people wanted him dead even as they shouted, “Long live.” Mao was referring to Lin Biao.
I have to LOL .. Li’s assessment was right that Snow probably didn’t have a clue whom Mao referred to. Thinking Edgar Snow worked for CIA, made me chuckle just as Putin insisted that Bush had Dan Rather fired - their limited knowledge or bias view on how American journalists or how America in general work. I don’t doubt there are CIA agents under the guise as journalists or other professionals. But Snow was highly unlikely candidate.