At the end of 1947, on the eve of the revolution in Chinese mainland, Jack Birns, a 28-year-old photojournalist who was on the rise in his career, was sent to China by Life magazine to interview and contribute to Roy Rohn, and he became a part of the legend that created and led half a century of narrative photography.
In 17 months in China, he used up more than 3,000 rolls of film, and for two years, he and Ron held the record for the highest share of space in Life magazine. However, most of the more than 3,000 films did not fall within the designated shooting range, and for more than 50 years, they have not been published.
伯恩斯（Jack Birns，1919-2008）
Some of these dusty photographs were only made public a few years ago, and some of them have already been published in China, namely "The Eve of the Civil War: China Through the Lens of American Life Magazine Reporter", and recently another 2,482 photos have been published under the title "Burns's China Photography Collection. By Jack Birns. American Life Magazine.1947-1949" appeared. Among these photographs, many are photographs of famous people of the Republic of China taken by Burns, and many of them are images of Chiang Kai-shek on various occasions. The original photo collection is not marked with a date, and it can only be roughly judged here in combination with some historical records. The following photos are supposed to be from the autumn and winter of 1948.
In this group of photos, Chiang Kai-shek should be in October 1948, "supervising the war" in Beiping.
At that time, the Kuomintang had already lost the northeast, and on September 24, Jinan was liberated, and the Kuomintang army was in full decline in eastern China, and the final major war was inevitable. At this time, when Chiang Kai-shek went to Beiping, he actually wanted Fu Zuoyi to go south, attack Shandong with the southern army, and keep Huaihai. After the meeting, Burns took this very interesting set of photos.
Above, on Chiang Kai-shek's right hand is Fu Zuoyi, commander-in-chief of the North China "Suppression Chief", and on the left hand side is Wei Lihuang, the commander-in-chief of the Northeast "Suppression Chief". Wei Lihuang is the most capable of fighting Chiang Kai-shek's "Five Tiger Generals", but he is not Chiang Kai-shek's Whampoa lineage, and he is the most intimate. Not to mention Fu Zuoyi, who was originally Yan Xishan's army and had no friendship with Chiang Kai-shek. In this group photo, only Chiang Kai-shek smiled politely, and the other two were absent-minded, showing that the relationship was not harmonious.
Soon after, Wei Lihuang was dismissed from his post for losing the northeast, and Fu Zuoyi, the leader of the Sui army, refused Chiang's request to "retreat south", and his troops were eliminated and reorganized in the Pingjin Campaign.
This photo also shows that the two are incompatible, Fu Zuoyi put his hands behind his back and looked at the camera coldly.
This is a group photo of Chiang Kai-shek and Du Yuming, after the Liaoshen Campaign, Du Yuming and Wei Lihuang went to Beijing. After the Huaihai Battle kicked off, Du Yuming was appointed as the deputy commander-in-chief of Xuzhou's "Suppression Chief", and was finally captured.
It was a little chilly in Beiping, and the guards were putting on an overcoat for Chiang Kai-shek. Fu Zuoyi didn't move, just stared at Burns.
This set of photos is also very storytelling. From left to right, the four are Paul Hoffman, director of the US Economic Cooperation Administration, Chiang Kai-shek, Li Zongren, and US Ambassador Stuart Leiden.
At the end of 1948, Chiang Kai-shek's government was overwhelmed by a series of offensives launched by the People's Liberation Army. In order to obtain economic and military aid from the United States as soon as possible, Chiang Kai-shek sent Soong Meiling to the United States to carry out public relations activities, and personally wrote a letter to President Truman, asking the United States to send high-ranking generals to China to help direct the operation in addition to providing economic and military assistance.
In order to cope with the pressure from Congress, Truman decided to send Hoffman, director of the General Administration for Economic Cooperation, as a "special presidential envoy" to China to learn about China's economy and the use of US aid in the past before making a decision.
On the evening of December 11, 1948, Hoffman and his entourage arrived in Shanghai and then in Nanjing, and this group photo should have been held at a welcome dinner hosted by Chiang Kai-shek. Li Zongren was the vice president elected in the The President of the Republic of China election that year.
The above set of photos should be from this dinner. From the photographs, there is no discord between Hoffman and Chiang Kai-shek. However, in fact, at this dinner reception, Hoffman and Chiang Kai-shek did not talk speculatively, but told the truth to reporters and implicitly ridiculed the Kuomintang for corruption and wasting US aid, which made Chiang Kai-shek feel deeply humiliated, and ordered Foreign Minister Wang Shijie to urgently meet with US Ambassador to China Stuart Leiden to express his protest against Hoffman's insulting remarks against Chiang Kai-shek and the Government of the Republic of China, and strongly demanded that Hoffman apologize to Chiang Kai-shek and the Chinese Government, triggering a diplomatic storm that was not small or small.
Chiang Kai-shek, who believed in Christianity, held a Bible in his hand, faced the statue of Jesus, and prayed devoutly.
This set of photos is also interesting. As we all know, under the influence of Soong Meiling, Chiang Kai-shek was baptized as a Christian, and it naturally became Chiang Kai-shek's daily activity to pray in church.
This picture is also supposed to be December 1948, perhaps a pre-Christmas prayer. Looking at the layout of the church in this photo, it should be in Meiling Palace.
After that, Chiang Kai-shek announced his resignation and resignation, and Vice President Li Zongren assumed the responsibility of the president. returned to his hometown Fenghua, lived behind the scenes, and controlled the situation.
Finally, a few photos of Song Meiling are attached, and two are Jiang Weiguo. Also from the Burns Album.