Research On Harrison Forman’s Journalism Activities In China(1930-1973)

Harrison Forman was born in Wisconsin on June 15,1904 and died in New York on January 31,1978.Believing in justice,adventurous and casual,he has multiple identities.He is a photojournalist,a writer,a pilot,an explorer,and is also known as the “photo-catcher” and“the most magical explorer in the world”.During the World War II,he visited and interviewed in many countries and regions as a reporter of the New York Times,the Times of London,as well as National Geographic,and recorded many precious historical materials using both the pens and the cameras.In 1930,Forman,at the age of 26,came to China as the Shanghai manager of L.E.Gale Company which sold aircrafts to the Chinese government.From 1932 to 1937,he visited the Tibetan areas in Qinghai and Gannan for three times.Taking these experiences as the main content,Forman published “Through Forbidden Tibet: An Adventure into the Unknown” and “Horizon Hunter: the Adventures of A Modern Marco Polo”.Consequently,his exploration has attracted widespread attention in the American society.In August 1937,Forman became famous by filming the bombing of the Shanghai Cathy Hotel at close range during the Battle of Shanghai.In 1944,Forman joined the northwest visiting delegation of Chinese and foreign journalists as a reporter.He interviewed Mao Zedong,Zhu De,He Long,and other Communist Party of China(CPC)leaders in Yan’an,and then conducted field interviews in the North China anti-Japanese base areas led by the CPC.These made him the first batch of journalists to enter Yan’an and the anti-Japanese base areas under the blockade of the Kuomintang after the breakout of the full-scale Anti-Japanese War.Based on these interviews,Forman,ahead of all foreign journalists in the visiting delegation,published “Report From Red China” in 1945,which introduced “Red China” to the world with a large number of vivid photos and exquisite narratives.This book confirmed the fact that “the Chinese Communists have always been fighting”,and became strong evidence for the Chinese Communists to fight against various slanders of the Kuomintang at that time.With great academic research value,this book,together with Snow’s “Red Star Over China”,are called “sister books” among the book series of “China in foreign journalists’ eyes”.In1949,when New China was about to be founded,Forman came to China again and witnessed the liberation of Shanghai.After the founding of New China,in 1973,with his family,Forman returned to China,which has influenced him deeply during his lifetime.Ye Jianying,Qiao Guanhua and Wang Zhen received him cordially and recalled the past together,calling him “a good friend of the Chinese people”.Besides "Introduction",the main part of this thesis consists of seven chapters:Chapter 1 is a general introduction to Harrison Forman’s characters and experiences.It mainly analyzes the experiences and characteristics of Forman from three aspects.First of all,Forman is an explorer.In university,he majored in Eastern philosophy,and his curiosity about the East was rooted in his heart.He was also influenced by the literary works such as “The Lost Horizon”,which motived him to explore Tibet three times.These behaviors reflect the commonness of the Eastward crossing group at that time.Secondly,Forman is a journalist.After exploring the Tibetan area and witnessing the Battle of Shanghai,he became a journalist by following both his own heart and the call of the times.In 1940,Forman led the establishment of the "Corps of Foreign journalists stationed in Chongqing" in Chongqing,the wartime capital of China.In 1943,he was the first to apply for an interview in Yan’an.Then,under the collective application of reporters,Chinese and foreign journalists,including Forman accompanied by Epstein,Stein,Votaw and other famous journalists,visited the northwest.Thirdly,Forman is a writer.In his contact with China,he wrote and published four books including “Through Forbidden Tibet:An Adventure into Unknown”,“Horizon Hunter : The Adventures of a Modern Marco Polo”,“Report From Red China”,and“Changing China”.Chapter 2 is about Forman’s personal experience of the War in China.The beginning of this chapter focuses on Forman’s journalistic activities in China and studies the contents of Forman’s reports and records,in order to restore the course and show the contents of his journalistic activities in China.There is no doubt that the most important and main theme is war.The War of Resistance against Japan was not only the most important and main theme in China in the 20 th century,but also the focus and main line of Forman’s attention during his stay in China.Forman first came to China because China was in urgent need of aviation equipment and power during the war.So he,who worked for Gaelic Airlines in the United States,was arranged to sell aircraft in China,and then he became a famous war reporter,recording the smoke of the battlefield in words and images.In 1937,Forman made a retrograde entrance into Shanghai and witnessed the beginning of the Battle of Shanghai;after going to Chongqing in 1940,he saw the state of Chongqing after bombing;in 1944,he visited the Shansi-Suiyuan Border region together with Epstein and Votaw,where he witnessed the army and people resisting the enemy in the base areas;in 1949,during the critical period when the civil war was coming to an end,he recorded the liberation war of Shanghai.Chapter 3 is Forman’s “Life in China”.The word “life” can be an all-embracing grand theme,or it can be a small and piecemeal theme.But no matter big or small,life is the most intelligent and reflective theme.This chapter focuses on the “life” described by Forman from two aspects.The first aspect is what Forman saw and heard through the interview in the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border region.The five months in the Border region is an important part of Forman’s journalistic activities in China,which he recorded in detail through reports and “Report From Red China”.Forman is one of the important historical figures who witnessed and told the story of “Red China”.Through the cross-verification of Forman’s research and the existing historical data,we demonstrate the military and civilian life of“another China” in wartime;The second aspect is the life of the wartime capital Chongqing presented by Forman.Chongqing played an important role during the Anti-Japanese War,from which we can see the phenomena and problems of all walks of life during the AntiJapanese War,including people’s tenacious resistance,optimism,government corruption,soaring prices and so on.At the same time,Chongqing is also a gathering place for foreign journalists.Through a large number of on-site conversations and detailed descriptions recorded by Forman,we can restore the life of the Border region and Chongqing,and compare the real state of the “two worlds” objectively.Chapter 4 is the “Chinese characters” described by Forman.Forman had many contacts with the wartime Chinese politicians and ordinary people.He observed them,recorded them,communicated with them and left us countless precious images.This chapter restores the political figures,ordinary people and soldiers recorded by Forman.It shows Peng Dehuai and He Long during the period of the Red Army headquarters,the CPC leaders such as Mao Zedong,Zhu De and Wang Zhen in Yan’an,as well as ordinary militias and guerrillas of the Kuomintang in the base areas behind the enemy lines.The characters recorded by Forman are vivid.He pays attention to the “non-divine” side of the CPC leaders,focuses on the happy life of Wu Manyou who is a model worker in the base area,and excavates and judges the future of the Chinese revolution from ordinary soldiers,reflecting the multifaceted picture of China during the war through a series of fresh characters.Chapter 5 is Forman’s “China images”.Forman’s important achievements in his journalistic activities in China also include a large number of unpublished and unstudied images.Starting from more than 10,000 images taken by Forman about China,this chapter analyzes the lens “frame” of Forman’s records and reports.As the narrative subject,the study of visual rhetoric,discourse and symbols of images not only embodies the structural images of external forces such as politics,society and culture,but also assists the reproduction of factual forms and values.Forman’s image is a diachronic picture across the period of the AntiJapanese War and after the founding of the People’s Republic of China.This chapter classifies Forman’s photos into three categories: the suffering and pain of the old China,the tenacity and optimism of the old China,and the rise and development of the new China.Through the images taken by Forman,we restore the picture of Chinese history and study the interaction between images and society.Chapter 6 is the transformation of Forman: the production logic of “Report From Red China”.This chapter jumps out of the articles and images presented by Forman’s news activities in China and study the reasons why Forman changed from a politically neutral journalist to a “pro-communist” journalist.Forman’s personal change is closely related to the international and domestic background at that time,the relationship between Chinese foreign journalists and the Kuomintang and the Communist Party of China,as well as the Chinese war,Chinese life,Chinese figures and Chinese images shown by Forman in the previous chapters of this thesis.Among them,Forman’s interview trip to the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border region recorded in the “Report From Red China” is the key to his transformation.In the study of Forman’s transformation,it also revealed CPC’s extreme confidence when the CPC speaks well of “Red China”.It was under active planning and struggle that the Communist Party of China creatively opened up a path to voice outward under the blockade.And foreign journalists,including Forman,showcased “Red China” to the Chinese and Western again and again,smashing all kinds of demonized remarks concocted by the Kuomintang and making Yan’an a “holy place” which countless revolutionary youth yearned for.Chapter 7 is the enlightenment of Forman’s journalistic activities in China.Through connecting Forman’s journalistic activities with the current reality,this chapter studies how to tell Chinese stories well.From Snow to Forman,foreign groups played a very important role in the propaganda and image building of the Communist Party of China in wartime,and the importance of the “third person statement” is obvious.Through the historical practice of Forman’s “third person statement” about China,it is clear that we still need to pay attention to the role of “third person statement” in telling a good Chinese story.But at the same time,we should also realize that the international situation has changed.On the premise of recognizing who and who he is,the narration of “China Story” needs to learn from successful historical experience,and relocate the object accurately and adopt appropriate ways and methods.