Hill briefed Xinhua on the primary purposes for the foundation: to preserve the memory and legacy of Edgar Snow and to collect his scholarly papers and all information on his China reporting and other reporting.
"We want to preserve the memory and work of Edgar Snow for future scholars, and at the same time, we want to preserve Snow' s life and goal of creating a kind of friendship between U.S. and Chinese citizens," Hill said.
"Edgar Snow wanted the two peoples to be friends, that has been a big goal of the Edgar Snow Foundation, to introduce the Chinese people to United States people, and vice versa."
For this purpose, the foundation is hosting Edgar Snow symposiums every other year, and they rotate between Kansas City and Beijing. "We' re going to Beijing this October for the 17th Snow Symposium," Hill told Xinhua.
Hill talked to Xinhua about her experiences of looking for the treeless landscape in Shaanxi Province that Snow has described in great detail in his book, "It is not there anymore. There are trees, I was so surprised, I kept looking for these hills and there were these beautiful forested hills and trees everywhere."
Compared to the Snow era, earthshaking changes have been taken place in China. Hill noticed these changes, and said "China has become so rich."
The fact is China has grown from an impoverished, falling-apart country into the second largest economy in the world. Khairy Tourk, associate member of the Center for East Asian Studies of the University of Chicago and professor of Stuart School of Business of Illinois Institute of Technology, described Chinese economy as "a rising sun whose brightness is impossible to hide" .
But Tourk also admitted that China faces multiple economic, social, and foreign policy challenges at present, and most of these issues need to be tackled simultaneously.
"These challenges are formidable, and could only be compared with those China faced during Mao's Long March," said Tourk. "It is Xi Jinping's destiny to be the leader of China's 'Second' Long March."
Tourk told Xinhua that China aims to achieve sustainable economic growth while reforming the economy, "carrying out reforms is not easy during a time of global economic weakness."
In the meantime, Xi aims to "achieve the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation not only economically, but also morally and culturally" , Tourk said. For the purpose, "the Chinese leadership is pushing the rule of law, fighting corruption and strengthening the CPC so that it could provide the kind of moral leadership that the country needs."
The success of the "Second" Long March requires China to follow the same principles that underpinned the success of the First Long March. "They include patriotism, strong leadership, courage, perseverance, dedication, cooperation, boldness and last but not least, sacrifice," Tourk said.
Snow has been attached to China for his whole life. After moving to the Switzerland as a result of persecution in the U.S., he still wrote to friends in the U.S., encouraging them to go to China.
Hill agreed with Mr. Diamond: "Chinese people are a civilization. They' re a proud, intelligent, wonderfully effective race of people." Hill echoed Mr. Diamond, saying the Chinese people and American people have a similar industriousness, "they' re hardworking, have a similar sense of humor, like to laugh, and have a similar love of art and music. There are more things that we have in common than our differences."
Having influenced generations of Chinese people since its publication, "Red Star over China" is also a window for many American people to better understand Chinese Communist Party and the Long March.
