Helen Foster Snow facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Helen Foster Snow
Born	Helen Foster (1907-09-21)September 21, 1907 Cedar City, Utah, U.S.
Died	January 11, 1997(1997-01-11) (aged 89) Madison, Connecticut, U.S.
Resting place	North Madison West Side Cemetery
Nationality	American
Other names	Nym Wales
Education	University of Utah
Occupation	Journalist Author
Known for	Journalism Co-founder of Chinese Industrial Cooperatives
Spouse(s)	Edgar Snow (1932–1949)

Helen Foster Snow (born September 21, 1907 – died January 11, 1997) was an American journalist. She reported from China in the 1930s. She used the pen name Nym Wales. Helen wrote about the Chinese Civil War, the Korean independence movement, and the Second Sino-Japanese War.

Helen's family moved often when she was young. She lived with her grandmother in Salt Lake City as a teenager. In 1931, she decided to move to China. There, she married American journalist Edgar Snow. She became a reporter for several newspapers. Helen and Edgar supported the Chinese revolutionaries. They felt the revolutionaries were better than the Nationalists led by Chiang Kai-shek. However, Helen was never a member of the Chinese or American Communist Party.

While living in Beijing, the Snows became friends with student leaders. These students led the 1935 December 9th Movement. They helped Edgar and then Helen visit Yan'an in 1937. Yan'an was the wartime capital for the Chinese Communists. Helen interviewed Chinese Communist leaders, including Mao Zedong. The Snows also created the idea for the Chinese Industrial Cooperatives. This was known as the Gung-Ho movement. It helped create jobs and bring stability to people. In 1940, Helen returned to the United States. She and Edgar later divorced. She kept supporting the Cooperatives. She also wrote books about her time in China.

Helen Foster Snow: A Journalist's Story

Early Life and Big Dreams

Helen Foster was born in Cedar City, Utah. She grew up as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Her parents, John Moody Foster and Hannah Davis, were both teachers. They met at Ricks Academy. Helen's parents were descendants of Mormon pioneers. These pioneers moved to Utah in the mid-1800s.

Helen's family moved many times when she was young. After she was born, they moved to Chicago. Her father went to law school there. Later, they moved to Idaho. Moving often made Helen outgoing. She always thought about what new friends would think of her. As the oldest child and only daughter, she had many responsibilities. She often helped her mother care for her three younger brothers. She also did chores, especially when money was tight.

When Helen started high school, she moved to Salt Lake City. She lived with her grandmother and aunt. She went to West High School. Helen was very active in school. She worked on the school yearbook. She was also elected vice president of her senior class. Helen wanted to go to Stanford University, like her father. But it was too expensive. Her parents thought that "girls were not considered a good investment in higher education". They believed girls would just get married. However, Helen's father agreed to pay for her to attend the University of Utah. She studied there for several years but did not finish her degree.

Instead, Helen focused on work. She became a secretary for the American Silver Mining Commission in Utah. While working, she decided she wanted to work abroad. She also dreamed of writing her own "great American novel." Helen passed a special government exam. But there were no jobs in Europe, where she first wanted to go. However, her boss knew someone in China. This connection helped Helen get a job with an American company in Shanghai. In August 1931, Helen sailed to Asia. She hoped to become a writer.

Life as a Reporter in China

Arriving in a New World

Helen arrived in China in 1931. Soon after, she met Edgar Snow. He had been in China since 1929. Edgar was planning to return to America. His mother had died, and he was sick with malaria. But meeting Helen convinced him to stay. Helen admired his work. She had collected his newspaper articles. She wanted her career to be like his.

Less than a week after Helen arrived, a huge flood hit. This was the Yangtze flood. It caused terrible damage around Shanghai. Helen was working as a foreign reporter for the Seattle Star. Her job was to send pictures that showed the "glamorous Orient." But the Yangtze flood was the worst in history. It forced 120,000 people from their homes. Over three weeks, the floods killed more than 600,000 people. They also destroyed 12 million homes.

A few months later, on January 28, 1932, Japanese forces attacked Shanghai. Helen was in the battle area. She watched the invasion from her apartment tower. Edgar was also in the middle of the fighting. As a foreigner, he could observe the action up close. He had less risk. Helen also wanted to experience the battle herself. She wanted to take better war pictures. Edgar helped her get a press card. Soon, Helen became a war reporter too.

Helen had only planned to stay in China for one year. But over the next year, she and Edgar fell in love. In a letter from 1932, Helen wrote, "I like him better than anyone else I have ever known." Edgar asked Helen to marry him on her 25th birthday. She said no. She was working on a book and worried about her "author psychology." A few months later, Edgar asked again, and Helen said yes. They married on Christmas Day in 1932. The Snows stayed in China for almost ten years.

Student Protests and Helping Others

Many Chinese people were upset with their government. They felt it was not doing enough to fight Japan. The Snows moved to Beiping, which is now Beijing. Edgar taught journalism at Yenching University. Helen took classes there. As foreigners, they had special status. This meant they were not under Chinese law. This privilege allowed them to help students protest against fascism. Helen once said, "We couldn't have done anything if we'd been under Chinese law." She added that a Chinese person would have been executed for doing what they did. The Snows gave students information that the government usually censored. They never joined the Communist party. But they supported Chinese students who wanted to fight Japan.

In 1935, Helen played a big part in organizing the anti-Japanese December 9th Movement. This happened at Yenching after Japan attacked Manchuria. Between 800 and 3000 students marched in the streets on December 9. Helen not only helped lead the protest, but she also reported on it. This protest inspired 65 other demonstrations in 32 cities across China. A week later, on December 16, an even bigger protest happened. Nearly 10,000 students from 28 schools took part. The Snows became friends with many idealistic students. Some were in their journalism classes. Some were secret members of the Communist Party. Edgar and Helen opened their home to these student activists. It was a safe place for them to plan their movement.

The couple helped translate Living China. This was a collection of modern left-wing stories. Helen also created and shared anti-fascist documents with students. In 1937, the Snows started a magazine called Democracy. It aimed to spread Christian ideas. Edgar was supposed to lead the magazine. But Helen took charge while he worked on his book. They had an agreement: Helen would do all the work, and Edgar would be named editor. However, the magazine stopped when the Japanese invaded. They seized copies from the printers that same year.

Meeting Mao Zedong in Yan'an

Edgar was the first to visit the "Red Areas." He came back with information for his famous book, Red Star Over China. Helen, also known as "Peg" to her friends, soon followed. In April 1937, Helen traveled to Yan'an. This was where the Chinese Communist Party had its headquarters. Her trip lasted much longer than she planned. Japan began occupying Northern China in July that year. Bad weather also made travel impossible. In Yan'an, Helen was only the second foreign woman to enter the area. She was the eighth foreign journalist to get such access. She interviewed Mao Zedong. She also got his support for what would become the Chinese Industrial Cooperatives.

According to Yu Jianting, Helen's translator, Mao explained the history of the Red Army to Helen for the first time. This was even though Edgar had interviewed him many times the year before. Chinese Communist leaders had not shared their party's history before. They wanted to be seen as equals, not as "heroes." Mao gave Helen a letter. It introduced her as a war reporter. This gave her access to areas that were usually restricted. Mao also asked Helen to share the Chinese Communist Party's "Ten Guiding Principles to Resist against Japan and Save the Nation" with the world. Helen's work with Mao gave her the chance to interview other important Communist Party figures in Yan'an. These interviews became the basis for her book.

Helen also interviewed Kang Keqing. She was the wife of Zhu De, who would later become a top leader. Kang told Helen about problems the army faced. These included a lack of soldiers and weapons. Helen stayed friends with Kang. They exchanged letters for many years after Helen left China.

While in Yan'an, Helen became very ill with severe dysentery. Despite her illness, Helen finished her book manuscript in less than a year. Inside Red China was the first book ever written about Yan'an. It became important reading for students across China. This book was meant to go with Edgar's Red Star Over China. But it never became as famous as Edgar's work. This trip to Yan'an gave Helen material for at least five other books. Helen used experiences from this trip to write her most successful book, The Song of Ariran. She also used her interviews with Kim San, a Korean independence leader she met in Yan'an.

The Gung-Ho Movement: Working Together

In 1937, Japan attacked China. They destroyed or took control of 90% of China's modern industries. Helen and Edgar joined anti-Japanese friends. These included Ida Pruitt, Israel Epstein, and Rewi Alley. They helped organize the Chinese Industrial Cooperatives' Gung-Ho industrial worker cooperatives after 1937. Helen first thought of the idea for Indusco. The goal was to create jobs and income. This would help the Chinese people fight Japan economically. The system was to be run by its own members. "Gung-ho" means "work together" in Chinese. It showed people working together in cooperation. The Nationalist Chinese Government under Chiang Kai-shek agreed to fund the cooperatives. This support continued under Mao Zedong.

In 1938, the first booklet called Chinese Industrial Cooperatives was published. The first Committee for the Promotion of Industrial Cooperatives in China was formed on April 3, 1938. Helen used her writing to get support and money for the Cooperatives in America. The Snows also became good friends with Colonel Evans Carlson. He knew President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Helen believed Roosevelt would support the cooperatives. She thought it fit with his New Deal policy. Later, Eleanor Roosevelt became a member of the American Board of Sponsors for the Cooperatives. Overall, the Cooperatives received money from Americans and Chinese citizens in the Philippines.

After its first year, 1,284 industrial cooperatives were working. They had 15,625 members. By 1940, the number of members almost doubled. As the cooperatives became well-known, Helen decided to write a book about Indusco for American readers. In 1941, she wrote and published China Builds for Democracy. The book not only created publicity but also gained support for the Cooperatives in the United States.

By June 1941, the Indusco system reached its highest numbers. It had 1,867 cooperatives with 29,284 registered members. However, by the end of World War II, the Indusco model was not as strong in China. In December 1945, only 335 Indusco cooperatives with 4,889 members were reported. While Indusco declined in China, the model spread to other nations. These included India, Burma, and Japan. Helen continued to promote the Indusco model. She remained a member and vice chairman of the American Committee to Aid Chinese Industrial Cooperatives until 1951. She started the committee again in 1981. In 1982, people suggested reviving the Chinese Industrial Cooperatives again. The Chinese government allowed this revival in 1983.

Life After China

Helen and Edgar's marriage became difficult. The Japanese occupation of China also made life hard. In December 1940, the Snows decided to move back to the United States. They feared the Japanese would make them prisoners of war. The attack on Pearl Harbor happened exactly one year later. Before they left, Edgar was offered a job as a war reporter for the New York Herald Tribune. Helen encouraged him to take it. She returned to the United States without him. After a short time, Edgar realized he missed his wife. Living conditions were also very hard for him. The Snows had been in China for ten years. They both lacked proper food and vitamins. They rarely ate raw foods to avoid getting sick. Their health was very low. When they first returned to the United States, they lived in California for a short time. Then they moved to a small house in Madison, Connecticut.

While the Snows were settled in America, Edgar continued to travel between home and Europe. His books and reports on China had made him very famous in the U.S. This success made Edgar a valuable war reporter. President Roosevelt often asked Edgar for his thoughts on Asia. Roosevelt personally suggested that Edgar become a war reporter again, and Edgar agreed. He did not want to report on World War II right after his time in China. But his personal struggles with Helen and Roosevelt's encouragement pushed him to travel and cover the war. In 1945, the couple officially separated. Edgar started a new relationship with actress Lois Wheeler. He sought a divorce from Helen. The divorce took several years because they disagreed on the settlement. They officially divorced in 1949. Edgar married Lois less than ten days after the divorce. He lived in Switzerland until he died from cancer in 1972.

Helen spent the rest of her life in Connecticut. She became interested in her family history. She also wrote a novel and short pieces about her experiences in China. During the McCarthy era, Helen was never put on trial. However, her books suffered. People thought she supported Chinese Communists. She often had trouble getting new books published. Many of her books went out of print. Helen returned to China two more times in her life. The first visit was from 1972 to 1973. This was after President Richard Nixon's trip in 1972, which improved relations between China and the United States. Her second visit was in 1978. Helen returned to China for six weeks with a camera crew. There, she was interviewed. She was asked to share her adventures from the 1930s with Edgar. She published her autobiography in 1984.

Her Legacy and Honors

On January 11, 1997, Helen Foster Snow died at age 89. She passed away at the Fowler Nursing Center in Guilford, Connecticut. Memorial services were held in Connecticut and China. An official Chinese memorial service took place in the Great Hall of the People on Tiananmen Square in Beijing. This is a rare honor for foreigners.

Before she died, Helen gave her personal papers, book manuscripts, and photos to the Hoover Institution Library and Archives. This collection has 63 boxes of her papers. After her death in 1997, Helen's family gave her remaining writings and photos to the Brigham Young University library. On October 26–27, 2000, BYU held a special event called the Helen Foster Snow Symposium. It celebrated this donation. They also showed a new film called Helen Foster Snow: Witness to Revolution.

Part of a hospital and a school in Xi'an, China, were named after her. There is also a Helen Foster Snow wing in the Communist Eighth Route Army Museum in Xi'an. A Helen Foster Snow Society exists in Beijing. In 2009, the US–China Cultural Exchange Committee placed a 7-foot tall bronze statue of Helen Foster Snow in Cedar City. It was cast in China. In 2011, students and teachers from Southern Utah University started a project with Chinese artists. They created a dance drama about Helen Foster Snow's life. It was called Dream of Helen.

Awards and Special Recognition

In 1981, Helen Foster Snow was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. She was nominated again in 1982. In her book My China Years, Helen wrote, "The nomination was not for any particular achievement, but for the potential that my ideas and world view hold for peace and progress in the world." In 1993, Helen was the first person to receive the China Writers Association's literary award. In June 1996, the Chinese government honored Helen as a Friendship Ambassador. This is one of China's highest honors for foreign citizens. She was the first American and only the fifth person ever to receive this award.

Her Written Works

Helen Foster Snow wrote under the pen name Nym Wales. Her husband chose this name for her. "Nym" is a Greek word for name. Wales was used because she was partly Welsh. However, this pen name sometimes made people wonder about her nationality. They also wondered if she was an "insider" of the Communist Party. Helen wrote about 40 books and 27 manuscripts.

• Helen Foster Snow, Inside Red China (New York,: Doubleday, Doran, 1939).
• Nym Wales, China Builds for Democracy; a Story of Cooperative Industry (New York,: Modern Age Books, 1941).
• Nym Wales and Kim San, Song of Ariran: A Korean Communist in the Chinese Revolution (New York: The John Day Company, 1941).
• Nym Wales, The Chinese Labor Movement (New York: John Day, 1945).
• Nym Wales, Red Dust; Autobiographies of Chinese Communists (Stanford, Calif.,: Stanford University Press, 1952).
• Nym Wales, Fables and Parables for the Mid-Century (New York,: Philosophical Library, 1952).
• Nym Wales, Notes on the Left-Wing Painters and Modern Art in China (Madison, Conn., 1961).
• Nym Wales, Women in Modern China (The Hague, Paris,: Mouton, 1967).
• Helen Foster Snow, My China Years: A Memoir (New York: Morrow, 1984).