Chow Ching-Wen

Chow Ching-Wen (；1908 – August 20, 1985) was a Chinese human rights activist, author and editor. He held high-ranking positions in both the government and in the Chinese Communist Party but defected to Hong Kong in 1957. One of the founders of the China Democratic League, he is particularly known outside China for his book Ten Years Of Storm: The True Story Of The Communist Regime In China published in 1960.

Biography

Early life He was born in Jinzhou, Liaoning Province, China in 1908. Having had his secondary education, he went abroad to study first at Waseda University, Tokyo, and then the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan, United States. His research was carried out at the University of London, England with the focus on political science.

London and the return to China Chow began writing his first book The Theory of State in London, and had finished half the book when the Mukden Incident (or Manchurian Incident) took place in China on September 18, 1931. The Japanese invasion of China interrupted his research work, and brought him back from London to participate in the Second Sino-Japanese War.

In 1933 when the Japanese troops marched into Rehe province, the Northeast Army decided to take a stand. In conformity with the instructions of the Nanjing Government, the Northeast army and local militia were re-organized into two armies. General Zhang Xueliang commanded the first, and General Zhang Zuoxiang the second. Chow Ching-wen joined the second army as Chief of Military Judicial department responsible for political training of the troops and mobilization of the masses. In late 1957 he decided to write a book entitled Ten Years of Storm which depicted his experience with the Communist government. The book was in Chinese, and later translated to English, Japanese and Korean. It received favorable reviews from numerous well known publications such as The New York Times Book Review and Far Eastern Economic Review. He died in Hong Kong on August 20, 1985. His surviving family included his wife, Mon-Ying and five children.

The Golden Era film In 2014, The Golden Era, directed by Ann Hui, included Chow as one of the characters used to narrate the life of Xiao Hong (1911–1942), an important Chinese writer.