Lost memoirs throw new light on Chinese history
university-of-canterbury
Fri Jun 18 2010 12:00:00 GMT+1200 (New Zealand Standard Time)
Lost memoirs throw new light on Chinese history
Friday, 18 June 2010, 9:46 am
Press Release: University of Canterbury
Lost memoirs throw new light on Chinese history
The eye-witness account of a New Zealand missionary kidnapped and held hostage by the Chinese Communist Party’s Red Army during the infamous Long March has been brought to light thanks to a University of Canterbury academic.
Political scientist Associate Professor Anne-Marie Brady has discovered the memoirs of Arnolis Hayman (1890-1971), a New Zealand-born missionary with the China Inland Mission who was taken hostage by the Red Army in 1934 as it evaded the Chinese Nationalist Party army, the Kuomintang, during what became known as the Long March.
Hayman was held captive by the CCP’s Sixth Army for 413 days and forced to trek thousands of miles during the Red Army’s retreat. After he was released in 1935 Hayman wrote about his experiences but his memoirs, thought to be lost, remained unpublished for more than 70 years.
However, Professor Brady came across the account while visiting Hayman’s family in Australia during research into Hayman’s life. After editing the document, she has had it published in a book titled A Foreign Missionary on the Long March: The Memoirs of Arnolis Hayman of the China Inland Mission.
“It’s a historically significant document,” she said.
“It shows us what the CCP was like before 1949 and before Mao came to prominence. It doesn’t follow the party line so gives us a different view of the CCP from what is understood today – and it gives us a very different view of the Long March, which is seen as a heroic struggle and a victory but, in reality, it was a rout,” said Professor Brady.
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“It is a moving account and it is gruelling to read – Hayman witnessed a lot of violence – but this is someone speaking to us from 1936 and showing us what things were really like in China at that time.”
Professor Brady said during the 1920s and 1930s foreigners in China were frequently captured by bandits because of the international attention they received and the money they could get for their release.
“Foreigners were being aggressively rooted out in China in this period and held for ransom. But the foreign missionaries didn’t have the money to pay ransoms and a number of them died in captivity. It’s in this context that Hayman was captured.”
Professor Brady said Hayman wrote his account while fellow missionary Rudolf Bosshardt, taken hostage at the same time as Hayman, was still in captivity. Bosshardt went on to write his own memoirs which were published 1936 as The Restraining Hand.
“One of the reasons Hayman and Bosshardt were given for their capture was that they were spies for the Kuomintang, so Hayman was careful not to write anything that could be harmful to Bosshardt. He avoided describing troop movements, instead focusing on his own experiences. But he still wanted to share information so the way he reveals it is through biblical quotes and references.”
Professor Brady said Hayman’s code revealed information about opium use among the Red Army’s soldiers, that is was used as currency as the army retreated, and that it was tolerant of homosexuality.
“After 1949 the CCP became very conservative and such activities were no longer allowed but these are just some of the interesting bits of information Hayman reveals.”
Professor Brady said Hayman’s experiences were overshadowed by those of Bosshardt whose memoirs became a bestseller.
“Bosshardt became renowned after his book was published and went on a tour to promote it, whereas Hayman didn’t receive any international attention at all. He did try to get his memoirs published but he just didn’t have the resources. But I find that Hayman’s account is more factual, which is why I think it’s a more valuable resource for scholars,” said Professor Brady.
“Hayman lived an exciting life and didn’t get any recognition for it. I’m pleased that what he went through can now be acknowledged and people can know more about his story and his New Zealand connections.”
The book will be launched at the National Library on 24 June, during which Professor Brady will also donate archival material given to her by Hayman’s family. These include communist propaganda pamphlets and a hand annotated map of the route taken on the Long March.
• A Foreign Missionary on the Long March: The Memoirs of Arnolis Hayman of the China Inland Mission, edited and with an introduction by Anne-Marie Brady, published by Merwin Asia, June 2010.
ENDS
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