As a college student, I always try to see the history in a different light, especially when I go through the stories happened in the past century. After reading YANAN, CHINA: 1942-1945 (Yan’an Diary, Chinese name) by Peter Vladi- mirov, I did discover many new facts.
Peter Vladi- mirov, former Russian liaison man in China’s communist region on behalf of the Communist International, as well as a correspondent with USSR’s TASS news agency, worked in Yan’an during 1942-1945. He had close associations with China’s communist leaders, including Mao Zedong. He made lots of pointed remarks on those so-called “people’s leaders”, based on his own experiences, mainly about Mao and his aides such as Kang Sheng.
I can’t deny that this book had prejudices against Mao and his supporters in this book, partly for the reason that it was published in need of politics when PRC and USSR were hostile to each other during 1970s. However, it is still worth reading, because it can help us understand Mao and CCP during the war against Japan. Who directed the war? The nationalist KMT or the communist Party? There is no exact answer. Instead of believing the official textbook slavishly, we need to find the materials on our own, particularly from the third party sources, which are more likely to provide a relatively objective insight.