《紅星照耀中國》曾在《北平新聞》首發(fā)

巫少飛

造訪杜新一先生時，他正在整理其父杜瑰生先生（1915年—2015年）遺留下的史料，其中一張1937年5月10日出版的英文版《北平新聞》報，引起了筆者的濃厚興趣。

眾所周知，《紅星照耀中國》（即《西行漫記》）是美國著名記者埃德加·斯諾的不朽名著。據(jù)衢州地方志載，這部作品的英文初稿，是在《北平新聞》上刊出的，它首次向全球報道了延安的真實情況。

一張《北平新聞》上的內(nèi)容

這張1937年5月10日出版的《北平新聞》有3至4版，長約54厘米，寬約39厘米。3版為“星期畫刊”，4版為“書評專欄”。根據(jù)徐龍華、巫文一的翻譯，內(nèi)容大致如下。

“星期畫刊”刊登有19張圖片。主要內(nèi)容是國軍第29軍軍長宋哲元（1885—1940）在張家口檢閱部隊、發(fā)表演講、慰問孤兒等。圖片中，宋哲元將軍或持槍、或視察、或眺望遠方……

1917年7月，張勛在北京擁戴清朝廢帝溥儀復(fù)辟，馮玉祥興兵討伐，宋哲元率部進攻北京擊敗張勛的部隊。宋哲元是西北軍五虎上將之一，1931年“九一八事變”爆發(fā)后的第3天，宋哲元即率第29軍全體官兵，向全國發(fā)出“抗日通電”。1933年3月，宋哲元指揮第29軍將士在長城要隘喜峰口、羅文峪與日軍展開血戰(zhàn)。第29軍以大刀隊與日軍展開搏斗，經(jīng)過激戰(zhàn)，獲喜峰口大捷，震動全國。1937年，以喜峰口血戰(zhàn)為背景創(chuàng)作的歌曲《大刀向鬼子們的頭上砍去》唱遍了全中國。

此外，“星期畫刊”上還有當?shù)貙W校的女學生運動會、為前線籌款、舉辦畫展等圖片消息。

《北平新聞》上的“書評專欄”，第一篇文章是介紹意大利作家伊尼亞齊奧·西洛內(nèi)的小說《面包和酒》。伊尼亞齊奧·西洛內(nèi)是意大利作家和政治家。伊尼亞齊奧·西洛內(nèi)致力于抨擊法西斯主義，1931年流亡瑞士?！睹姘途啤肥?0世紀最重要的小說之一，描寫了法西斯在意大利的崛起過程。

“書評專欄”第二篇文章介紹《列寧信札》一書?！读袑幮旁肥占肆袑幍?40封信件，由伊麗莎白·希爾和多麗絲·米迪譯自俄文并進行注釋、編輯，加了傳記評論。其中一篇是列寧在柏林寫給其母親的信，在信中列寧講：“我定居此地，感到非?？鞓贰５贍柤与珗@離我的住處只有幾碼遠（它是一個漂亮的花園，是柏林最大最好的公園）。還有我每天要去游泳的施普雷河和火車站?！笨闪袑師烙谡Z言不通：“唯一的麻煩是語言。我聽不大懂德國人之間的交談，水平遠不如法語。德國人的發(fā)音總是很特別，我甚至不懂他們在公眾演講中使用的詞匯。而在法國，我?guī)缀鯊囊婚_始就聽得懂同樣的演講?！碑斎?，列寧也很好學：“前天，我去劇院看戲，他們在演出霍普特曼的戲劇《織工們》。為了跟上演出，我在演出前再次閱讀了劇本。盡管如此，我還是抓不住只言片語?！?/p>

“書評專欄”第三篇文章介紹了美國杰出的記者威斯·威廉姆斯的書《帝國的黃昏》。威斯·威廉姆斯當時判斷，和平遭受了暴風雨般的打擊，歐洲舊世界已經(jīng)衰落。

衢州人創(chuàng)辦了《北平新聞》

《北平新聞》積極宣揚抗日，經(jīng)?？翘K聯(lián)塔斯社電訊和各種抗日消息。

據(jù)《衢州市志》《衢縣志》載：民國二十四年（1935），衛(wèi)士生回國，與戈定遠等人創(chuàng)辦北平新聞社及英文報《北平新聞》，任社長兼總編輯。

衛(wèi)士生（1899—1990）是衢州市區(qū)人，在清華大學期間，吳宓、朱自清等曾是他的老師。1933年、1934年，衛(wèi)士生分別獲得美國哥倫比亞大學、紐約大學兩所大學的哲學博士學位。留學期間，衛(wèi)士生加入中國農(nóng)工大同盟和反帝大同盟，與共產(chǎn)黨人徐永英、章漢夫等人創(chuàng)辦英文雜志《中國評論》月刊，任總編輯，報道日軍在中國的暴行，反對帝國主義侵略，聲援世界各國人民的革命。1937年7月北平淪陷時，衛(wèi)士生被日軍逮捕，后經(jīng)營救出獄，轉(zhuǎn)入內(nèi)地參加愛國民主運動?？箲?zhàn)期間，衛(wèi)士生曾在重慶八路軍辦事處為周恩來任英文翻譯。

衛(wèi)士生是民主同盟成員、知名的愛國人士。歷任中央大學、重慶大學、浙江大學等校教授，系教育部留考委員會主委，外交部、經(jīng)濟部顧問，聯(lián)合國中國同志會秘書長等。1949年以后，衛(wèi)士生任中央軍委工程學校英語教授、武漢市人民政府參事等職。

由于衛(wèi)士生曾任武漢市人民政府參事，2014年9月，《長江商報》刊發(fā)了一則啟事——武漢全球?qū)ふ艺畢⑹隆袄瞎适隆薄Ｎ闹刑岬?，衛(wèi)士生這個名字或許不太知名，但美國作家埃德加·斯諾訪問延安后所寫《紅星照耀中國》英文初稿，就是在衛(wèi)士生等人創(chuàng)辦的《北平新聞》上刊出的，為中國首次向全球報道延安的真實情況。

戈定遠（1901—1977）又名卓超，為原衢縣黃家鄉(xiāng)呂宅村人。1923年，戈定遠畢業(yè)于公立法政專門學校，后任北京法律館科員、中國駐蘇聯(lián)特羅巴領(lǐng)事館主事。1926年馮玉祥訪蘇，戈定遠隨同回國，入西北軍，任馮玉祥秘書。1929年，戈定遠任國民政府陸軍署軍法司長。次年馮玉祥反蔣介石失敗，馮部被收編后，戈定遠任29軍秘書長，后隨軍長宋哲元在長城喜峰口抗擊日本侵略軍。1935年，戈定遠任第四屆立法委員，冀察政務(wù)委員會委員、秘書長。

抗戰(zhàn)爆發(fā)后，戈定遠受原西北軍抗日將領(lǐng)派遣，進淪陷區(qū)徐州一帶做抗日工作，策反汪偽軍。抗戰(zhàn)勝利后，戈定遠任第三綏靖區(qū)司令馮治安顧問。1949年后，戈定遠任中國國民黨革命委員會團結(jié)委員、浙江省政協(xié)委員、全國政協(xié)委員。

這張《北平新聞》的來歷

據(jù)葉向陽先生《中國近現(xiàn)代時期北京的英文報》記載，上世紀30年代，中國人在北京創(chuàng)辦過兩份英文報，一份是《英文平西報》，另一份就是《北平新聞》。

據(jù)筆者調(diào)查，衢州市的博物館、圖書館、檔案館等均未收存《北平新聞》，在衢州的民間收藏中也沒出現(xiàn)過此報。筆者在網(wǎng)絡(luò)上搜索，也沒找到關(guān)于《北平新聞》的任何資訊。所以這張《北平新聞》非常珍貴。

《北平新聞》的創(chuàng)辦人衛(wèi)士生、戈定遠，早年就讀于衢縣高等小學（現(xiàn)衢州市鹿鳴小學）及浙江省第八中學校（現(xiàn)衢州一中），是民國期間衢州著名教育家杜寶光先生的學生。任《北平新聞》經(jīng)理的周與九（名志謙）先生是杜寶光夫人的表弟，畢業(yè)于浙江省第八中學校，后曾在商務(wù)印書館工作。在1935年至1937年《北平新聞》發(fā)行期間，周與九陸續(xù)將《北平新聞》從北平寄到衢州。由于歲月久遠，加之戰(zhàn)亂頻仍，現(xiàn)存的《北平新聞》僅此一張。

杜瑰生曾在《北平新聞》的邊欄寫有一段注文，從中可知，《北平新聞》的主編為衛(wèi)士生，經(jīng)理為周與九，社長為戈定遠。而實際主筆亦為衛(wèi)士生，民國期間，報刊主筆是報刊思想的發(fā)源人物，主筆是一家報刊的核心人物。

1937年，周與九曾邀杜瑰生去《北平新聞》工作，終“以倭寇憑陵，未往焉?！?938年1月，出獄后的衛(wèi)士生曾回衢探望母親，然自其母親1948年去世后，衛(wèi)士生再沒回家鄉(xiāng)。晚年的衛(wèi)士生對家鄉(xiāng)衢州非常眷戀，在他于上世紀80年代寫給杜瑰生的20多封信中，多次提及家鄉(xiāng)的故人往事，回想起衢城的水亭街、坊門街、北門街、鐘樓、鼓樓等，“我真想回衢一敘”，其拳拳思鄉(xiāng)之情躍然紙上。1990年衛(wèi)士生去世，武漢市人民政府參事室專門致函杜瑰生并附上衛(wèi)士生生平事略。

那些沾滿油墨的文字、圖片，是紙里包著的火。那些遠去的報紙、報人，不但抒寫著歷史，也抒寫著我們民族命運的心路歷程。

Edgar Snow wrote in 1937 after his 1936 visit to Yanan in the west of Shaanxi Province where the Chinese Communist Party operated a central revolutionary base. According to the local annals of Quzhou， a city in the southwest of Zhejiang Province， the first English version of Snows reportage was published in ， an English-language newspaper founded and published in Beiping （now Beijing） by Wei Shisheng and Ge Dingyuan in 1935. Both Wei and Ge were natives of Quzhou.

The other day I visited Du Xinyi at his home in Quzhou. He was sorting out the historical documents of his father Du Guisheng （1915-2015）. I spotted an original issue of dated May 10th 1937. Then I visited the local museum and archives in Xuzhou. The two institutions dont have in their collections. Therefore this newspaper dated May 10th， 1937 in the hands of Du Xinyi is the only existing copy of the newspaper in Quzhou. This copy has page 3 and page 4 of the newspaper， in a format of about 54 cm tall and 39 cm wide.

Though the newspaper in Dus collection doesnt carry any serialized passages of Edgar Snows famous book， it does offer an insight into what it was all about nearly 80 years ago. Page 3 presents 19 photos featuring General Song Zheyuan （1885-1940） visiting Zhangjiakou， a fortress city in near Beiping. Page 4 carries three book reviews.

Wei Shisheng （1899-1990） acquired PhD degrees from Columbia University and New York University respectively in 1933 and 1934. During his studies in USA， he jointly published ， an English-language monthly， in partnership with two communists Xu Yongying and Zhang Hanfu. Wei was editor-in-chief of the monthly magazine. According to and ， Wei set up in 1935 and served as its president and editor-in-chief. He was thrown into prison in July 1937 when Japanese invaders conquered Beiping. He was released thanks to a coordinated rescue operation. During the war years， he frequently acted as an English interpreter for Zhou Enlai at the Chongqing Office of Eighth Route Army， which was under the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party.

Wei taught in Central University， Chongqing University and Zhejiang University in his lifetime. After 1949 he served as a counselor for a while for the Wuhan Municipal Peoples Government. In September 2014， based in Wuhan printed a request asking for detailed information on some counselors that had worked for the city government. The request aimed to find lifetime stories about some counselors who contributed to the development of the city and witnessed its historical changes but whose stories were lacking. In the story printed in the newspaper， Wei Shisheng was mentioned. “The name Wei Shisheng may remain unknown to most people， but ， a reportage penned by Edgar Snow after his 1936 visit to Yanan， was first printed in published by Wei Shisheng and his colleagues. It was Chinas first report about Yanan to the world，” said the newspaper.

Ge Dingyuan （1901-1977） was from Lyuzha Village， Huangjia Township of Qu County. After he graduated from a law school in 1923， he worked as a law officer in Beijing and then at a Chinese consul in the Soviet Union for a while before he worked as a secretary for General Feng Yuxiang in 1926. In 1929， Ge took the position of the military law director of the national government. He worked in the military for years and fought the invading Japanese. After the victory of Chinas War of Resistance against Japanese Aggressors， he acted as a security advisor for a while. After 1949， he served as a deputy of both the CPPCC Zhejiang and the national CPPCC.

Wei Shisheng and Ge Dingyuan went to Xu County Senior Primary School and Zhejiang Number 8 Middle School. One of their teachers was Du Baoguang， a famed educator in Quzhou during the Republican years. Zhou Yujiu， business manager of ， was a cousin of Du Baoguangs wife. Zhou worked at Commercial Press. existed from 1935 to 1937. Zhou mailed copies of the newspaper back to Quzhou. Most of these copies were lost in history. Du Guisheng jotted down a note on the margin of the existing copy. According to Du， Zhou Yujiu was the business manager of the newspaper， Ge Dingyuan was its president and Wei Shisheng was the editor in chief. During the Republican years， the editor-in-chief of a newspaper usually acted as the soul of printed reports. In 1937， Zhou Yujiu invited Du Guisheng to work for ， but Du didnt go to Beijing primarily because of the ongoing war.

Wei Shisheng came back home to visit his mother in January 1938. After his mother passed away in 1948， Wei never visited Quzhou again. In the 1980s， he wrote about 20 plus letters to Du Guisheng. In the letters， he wrote about his memories of the hometown and said how he wished to visit Quzhou and meet Du again. Wei passed away in 1990. The counselors office of Wuhan Municipal Peoples Government sent a special letter to Dui Guisheng after Weis demise. Attached to the letter was a brief biography of Wei Shisheng.