The Great Road: The Life and Times of Chu Teh – Agnes Smedley

The Great Road: The Life and Times of Chu Teh, first published in 1956, is the account by American author Agnes Smedley of Chinese military and political leader Chu Teh (now spelled Zhu De). Chu, close associate of Mao Tse-Tung (Mao Zedong), rose from an impoverished peasant family, to eventually becoming a general and one of the pioneers of the Chinese Communist Party. He would later go on to be one of the principle founders of the People’s Liberation Army. The Great Road treats Chu’s life from his humble beginnings in Sichuan province, to his 60th birthday in 1946, soon after the close of World War Two. The book is based on Smedley’s first-hand interviews with Chu, and she spent a great deal of time with Chu and his armies during their fight against Nationalist and Japanese forces. The book also paints a detailed picture of China in the 1930s-40s: the political and military strife, the brutality and atrocities, the plight of the peasants who comprised the vast bulk of the population, the “Long March,” and the efforts of the Communists to win control of the country. Smedley, herself an interesting historical figure (the evidence points to her being involved in pro-Communist spying in China, Russia, and India), passed away in 1950. Chu died in 1976, remaining active in Chinese politics until his death.