Agnes Smedley (1892–1950) was a well-known progressive woman writer and journalist in modern America, a friendly figure to the Chinese.
At the end of 1928, she went to China as a special correspondent for the German newspaper Frankfurt, and for most of the next 13 years, she lived in China until she returned to the United States due to illness in 1941.
Because she came from a poor working family, the poverty and suffering experiences of her childhood made her plant a sense of resistance in her soul from an early age, and throughout her life, she continued to pursue the truth and support the liberation of the oppressed people.
She traveled through the Soviet Union from the northeast to China's territory, traversed East China, Central China, North China, Southwest China, northwest China, to Harbin, Shenyang, Beijing, Shanghai, Xi'an, Yan'an, Guangzhou, Chongqing, Wuhan, Hong Kong and other cities, to the North China and Central China Anti-Japanese Front, to cover the reports, write news, and introduce China's revolution and war of resistance to Western countries in large quantities.
She personally experienced the Xi'an Incident and broadcast in English to introduce the real situation of the incident to the outside world.
She understood the suffering of the Chinese people, personally experienced the heroic resistance of the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army, and understood the difficult medical conditions of the wounded soldiers. Appeal to the world organization for relief and raise funds for the Red Cross Society of China. The international medical team that aided China, including Bethune and Ke Dihua, came to China under the appeal of Smedley.
After returning to the United States due to illness, she still cared about the fate of China's country and people, giving speeches everywhere, writing articles, introducing the real situation of China's War of Resistance, and collecting donations for China's War of Resistance. He also wrote many works about China, such as "The Fate of the Chinese People", "The Chinese Red Army is Advancing", "China is Counter-Offensive", "China's Battle Song" and so on.
Smedley wrote in her book The Battle Song of China:
"I've always forgotten that I'm not a Chinese!" "My decision to leave China ended the most important chapter of my life. Looking back, it's hard for me to be satisfied. I know I've made many mistakes, and I've done my best to do something useful. As for the future, I still have one big thing to do, and that is to tell my American compatriots the truth about China, the truth about how the Chinese people fought bravely and still fought. ......”
In 1949, Smedley was called a Soviet spy in the McCarthyist current in the United States and was forced into exile in Britain.
In November 1949, she planned to return to China via Britain to complete her biography of Jude. But soon, her health deteriorated due to stomach ulcer bleeding, and she survived only on milk.
In 1950, during her illness, she said: "I may never see China again, in any case I have known that the new Chinese government has finally become a reality, and the world will never be the same again." ... If one day I can return to China, I must kiss its land. ”
In her last letter to a friend, she wrote: "I have only had one thought in my life, one faith, and that is to work hard to liberate the poor and oppressed. In this endeavour I have seen the achievements of the Chinese revolution in this regard. How happy I will be to see the arrival of the Chinese ambassador and sing the Chinese national anthem next to my body – rise! “
On May 6, 1950, Ms. Smedley died unexpectedly, and before she died, she asked that her ashes be buried in China. "Being buried on the soil of China will put my soul at rest. I hope that my ashes will be placed with many martyrs of the Chinese revolution. ”
On May 6, 1951, the first anniversary of Smedley's death, her ashes were buried in the Babaoshan Martyrs Cemetery in Beijing. On the marble tombstone in front of the tomb, the inscription written by Marshal Zhu De is engraved: "Chinese The Tomb of Ms. Smedley, a friend of the people of the People, the Writer of the American Revolution!" “