US scholar's rare Party insight rediscovered

Spiritual charm

In addition to the written records, Bisson and his colleagues also took many photographs, including of the scenery along the way from Xi'an to Yan'an and of daily life in Yan'an.

Because of these experiences, and at the same time impressed by the spiritual charm and firm belief of the Red Army and the communists, Bisson changed from a missionary who believed in God to a staunch Marxist, according to Li.

Unfortunately, Bisson was persecuted in the US in the 1950s as a victim of the Cold War mentality due to his sympathy for the Chinese communists. He lost his position at the University of California, Berkley, and eventually ended up at Renison.

In his book Protestants Abroad: How Missionaries Tried to Change the World but Changed America, David A. Hollinger, emeritus professor of history at UC Berkeley, explored the untold story of how missionaries like Bisson were sent to live throughout the East.

"They expected to change the people they encountered, but those foreign people ended up transforming the missionaries," he wrote. "Their experience abroad made many of these missionaries and their children critical of racism, imperialism, and religious orthodoxy. When they returned home, they brought new liberal values back to their own society."

In 1973, after then US president Richard Nixon's visit to China had warmed relations between the two countries, Bisson had the opportunity to publish the two notebooks he had hidden for more than 30 years.

Touched by Bisson's story and his book, Li wrote a 32,000-character essay, "The American Bud on Campus", and submitted it to Contemporary, a prestigious Chinese literary magazine.

The essay attracted great interest from editors of The People's Literature Publishing House in China. At their request, Li translated June 1937 in Yenan: Talks with Communist Leaders into Chinese. The book was released in June last year and went on to win several awards. It was honored as "a newly discovered Red Star Over China" for providing valuable historical records otherwise buried forever.

"What is especially rare is to capture the style of many CPC leaders in their prime," said Li. "The precious notes and photos in the book show the appearance, spiritual belief and ideals of the early Chinese communists, and from the perspectives of a Western scholar, the book presented the original mission of the CPC objectively and candidly."

Original goals

These historical records could help people understand why the CPC was able to eventually become the Party leading China, Li said.

"Just as Bisson and his friends had felt in Yan'an, readers today could also see clearly from those historical records the ideals and the original goals pursued by the early CPC leaders and the military they led. It self-explains why the Party, from the people and for the people, would eventually win the whole of China," Li said.

Bisson taught at UC Berkeley until the end of the 1953-54 academic year, when his appointment was not renewed, possibly due to political attacks. He later moved to Renison, which is affiliated with the University of Waterloo, where he taught from 1970 to 1973. He passed away in 1979.

Bisson's son, Thomas N. Bisson, the emeritus Henry Charles Lea professor of medieval history at Harvard, told Li that his father had never regretted his decisions in life, even after experiencing so much hardship.

"My father believed that his views were correct all his life," he said."Despite the persecution he went through, and despite the controversy around him, he never gave up his faith in Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai."