Abstract

Rayna and her husband Bill edited the Kuomintang's English-language newspaper in Wuhan. Rayna's account of her intimate involvement in the Chinese Revolution brings to life the eventful Wuhan years of 1926-27, which shaped the revolution's course. Her letters illuminate from a personal angle the battle for China's future and include remarkable portraits of some of the people who shaped the Communist and Nationalist movements of the time.

The book consists of letters Prohme wrote to her closest friend and her husband in the period immediately before, during and after the Wuhan interlude. Her reporting brought her into contact with many major political figures including Madam Sun Yat-sen (a prominent figure in the opposition to Chiang Kai-shek) and Mikhail Borodin (a chief Soviet advisor in China).

This book provides an unusual and often moving insight into a fascinating period in modern Chinese history.
'This collection of her letters evokes a lost world of revolution, intrigue and uncertainty. Despite the difficulties and dangers through which Rayna Prohme was living, she remains courageous, humorous and full of fun'
Delia Davin, Emeritus Professor of Chinese Studies, University of Leeds
Rayna Prohme's letters wonderfully convey the excitement of the Nationalist Revolution of 1926-27. A woman of passion and conviction, Prohme threw herself into the revolution'
S. A. Smith, Professor of History, University of Essex, and author of A Road is Made: Communism in Shanghai, 1920-1927
'This is a wonderful evocation of a fascinating, yet largely forgotten, time at the very beginning of the Chinese revolution'
A. Tom Grunfeld, Distinguished Teaching Professor, Empire State College, State University of New York