Behind“Two Chinas”:Orientalism in Edgar Snow’s Red Star Over China

With the publication of Red Star over China,Snow became the premier interpreter of 1930s’China for a generation of American readers.Taken it as political travel writing,this essay focuses on the ideological approach of“two Chinas”Snow described in this book.Orientalism is considered as the dominant and only ideology through the comparative reading of Red China and White China.However,Snow complicates Said’s orientalism and adopts Pratt’s“anti-conquest narrative”strategy when describing“two Chinas”.This essay explores the textual representation of“two Chinas”through unpacking issues such as political condition,historical context and ideological approach.It also examines the literary techniques involved in the textual construction of both Red and White Chinas in the same Chinese territory in late 1930s.