아리랑- 조선인 혁명가 김산의 불꽃 같은 삶

by Nym Wales, San Kim, 송영인 (translator)

This book vividly describes the Chinese Revolution and the Korean Independence Movement from the inside, as seen, felt and experienced by a revolutionary who wonders about the meaning of life and shares mankind's urge to set things right in societies where the moral order has been smashed.

In a compound in Yenan, soon after the Japanese onslaught of July 7, 1937, 'Num Wales'Helen Foster Snowtook down the words of 'Kim Sam', the former a young American journalist who knew she was in on one of the scoops of the century, the latter a Korean who has decided to struggle against the Japanese occupiers of his homeland by joining the Chinese Communists. He was old beyond his 32 years due to sickness, imprisonment, torture and private brought on by voluntary participation in the struggles against the decaying social system and the rising new order of foreign imperialism. In a moment of truth, this revolutionary revealed his innermost thoughts in a way few human beings do.

As a Korean member of the Chinese Communist party, Kim San was in a unique position to observe and report on the Chinese Revolution and its relation to movements in neighboring Korea and Japan.

But as important as this book is to those interested in the history of revolution in Asia, it directly alerts modern radicals to some of the questions any movement on the left must face: the relation between study and practice, love and revolution, ends vs. means. Beyond that, as a gripping tale of adventure it can enthrall even the most politically disinterested.

Genres: History, China, Nonfiction, Politics, Theory, Asia, Biography

512 pages, Hardcover

First published June 1, 1973

About the author

Helen Foster Snow (1907–1997) was an American journalist who reported from China in the 1930s under the name "Nym Wales" on the developing revolution in China and the Korean independence movement. While, like her husband, Edgar Snow, she was never a member of the Chinese or American Communist Party, she was sympathetic to the revolutionaries in China, whom she compared favorably to the Nationalists under Chiang Kai-shek. In the late 1940s, critics grouped her with the China Hands as one of those responsible for the "loss of China" who went beyond sympathy to active support of Mao's revolution.

Reviews

[Amy Norigon · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Original 1941 English Edition. I read the eBook version of it, available on barnes and noble, and also on lulu, kobo, and apple itunes. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in the modern history of Asia. This is a truly remarkable book, a vivid recollection of the life events and thoughts of a Korean revolutionist, nationalist and communist, struggling against the Japanese occupying his country, as spoken to an American journalist Helen Foster Snow, who published it after his death under the pen names of Kim San and Nym Wales. The story started in 1905 and ended in 1937. Kim San (Chang Chi-rak) participated in the communist activities of China in the 1920's and 1930's in the hopes of eventually delivering his country Korea from the cruel hands of the Japanese occupiers. He witnessed too many acts of cruelty, genocide, terrors, tortures, combats, and executions in his short life. He was a philosopher at heart and an idealist, a puritan really. He was one of the earliest communists, pure and democratic, wishing for "human emancipation" in all nations. His lofty goal was to fight for: minimum subsistence wage, maximum working hours, maximum rent, protection of human rights, equality for women, freedom of religion, and maintaining world peace against aggressors, the very kind of things that we still strive for ourselves in this century! How disappointed he would have been, had he survived to see what became of the next generation communists in the ussr, china, and north korea!

[kelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

I just can’t believe Kim San is a real person. To read a first person account of someone who actively resisted Japanese imperialism, colonialism, and communist suppression, it was an honor. Read this if you need hope for liberation and also to just learn more about what it was like to be a Korean proletariat in the early 1900s.

[Jaime · Rating 5 out of 5]

Learning historical events through a first person narrative is never perfectly functional, but it is enlightening for people like me who only ever heard about the Canton commune in passing and were until recently pretty ignorant to Japanese imperialism. I was vaguely aware of Korea being a Japanese colony but this puts this history into focus through a peasant's upbringing and radicalization.

I'm not sure if the protagonist is actually someone that is relatable to all readers, but personally I felt a lot in common with Kim as an idealist.

Probably a good primer for anyone wanting to learn about the Chinese revolution and the Korean peoples involvement against Japanese imperialism.

[Sydney Sherry · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although I only gave this book three stars, I really feel that it is a valuable book to read. I think it has a really interesting perspective on the period. The most fascinating part of this book is the process of radicalization Kim San undergoes, which demonstrates to me that it is important for those who are politically minded to be aware of how their views change over time and to monitor themselves to avoid taking things in a bad direction.

[Peter A · Rating 4 out of 5]

As noted by the author and also by the website mentioned below, this work grew out of repeated interviews between the author Nym Wales (Helen Foster Snow) and the subject of the book, Kim San.

The book covers Kim San’s life, focusing majorly on his involvement as a member of the Chinese Communist Revolution and as a Korean resistance fighter to the Japanese occupation of Korea.

The book provides a unique insight into the activities of some Koreans in China, having been forced to flee their native Korea during the Japanese occupation. One sees some activities of resistance, and how, after the Kuomintang fought the communists, the resistance changed. The book also discusses the increasing dysfunction among the Communists, as one faction vies for power of the others, often based on doctrine rather than pragmatism.

He also talks about his treatment at the hands of the Japanese, and the torture he endured, which led to his weakened health later in life. It is gruesome. But he remained true to his beliefs and did not betray any of his colleagues. He also adamantly denied being a Communist.

It also portrays an unusual individual. Intellectually very bright, self-taught. Also, someone rigid in beliefs, and open about expressing his opinion. This won him friends and enemies, which, as the website points out, cost him his life, framed by a different faction on the Communists.

Also, he shies away from women, fearing they will distract him from his revolutionary zeal. He creates in his mind the ideal revolutionary wife. The first woman that interests him is too strong; the next too young, but he marries her because of her devotion and his hope of shaping her into his ideal.

Part of the book reflects his philosophy, which might be interesting to some readers.

The book ends in 1937, the year of Kim San’s interview with Nym Wales. A year later, he is dead, betrayed by fellow Communists in factional differences.

While a fascinating character, Kim San is also a tragic one, partially self-inflicted with his adherence to beliefs. At times, I felt depressed reading this story, feeling and later knowing it does not end well for Kim San.

This is more about a Korean’s involvement in the Chinese revolution than about Korean activity against the Japanese occupying Korea.

The book was originally published in 1941, translated to Japanese in 1953 and into Korean in 1984, a time where it affected the Korean readers (see second reference). I read the second edition of the book, published by Ramparts Press in 1972. It has a Foreward by George O. Totten, and a Preface to the Second Edition by Helen Foster Snow. Kaya Press is supposed to republish this book. However, the publication date slipped from 2021 to 2022.

FB. A story of a fascinating and tragic Korean patriot, with insights into early communists’ activities in China, Korean involvement in that movement, and Korean resistance to the Japanese occupation of Korea.


See https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jang_Jirak for more about the life of Kim San, whose real name was Jang Jirak.

For the impact of the book on Korea, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Son....

[Ryan Day · Rating 5 out of 5]

Song of Ariran reminds me of the immense historical value of biographies. It is a beautiful book, recounting Jang Jihak’s life from peasant in an impoverished, occupied Korea to leader of the Korean partisan movement within the war-time Chinese Communist capital Yan’an.
Jihak’s life was not a fun one. His trajectory is understandable only after reading of the crushing poverty and domination under which the Korean and Chinese people lived. Many quotes in the book point to this, that when life has such little value, it is a logical outcome for the best of us to choose revolutionary action that almost surely ends in death.
​The book also makes clear how much I, or anyone I personally know, could never engage in such action. Jihak’s reward for his noble choice of revolutionary activism is torture, a body physically crippled by living a guerrilla fighter’s life on the run, and crippling depression that comes whenever the movement’s power wanes. The only upside to this is that Jihak’s struggle was not in vain. Though he would never live to see it, the Chinese really did overthrow their oppressors, and, even more unbelievable for the time, Korea really did take their independence. In no small part can these achievements be attributed to the actions of men like Jihak, and for this I see in his struggle a deeper meaning to life, one we never see in wealthy nations.
Two other points about the book:
1. Jihak’s recounting of Japanese policy in Korea and Manchuria. The modern colonial experience is always similarly brutal, no matter the oppressor or oppressed.
2. His never-ending internal conflict over love and women, which is both very amusing to read about and deeply humanizing. Even for a man who committed everything, including his life, to revolution, he was always nervous around the girls he liked.

[Gautam Bhatia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Song of Arirang recounts the life of a Korean revolutionary, Kim San, who fought for Korean and Chinese liberation in the 1920s and 1930s. In the late 1930s, the journalist Nym Wales found Kim San at Yan'an, recuperating from illness, before setting out again on his revolutionary endeavours. She took down his complete life story over several interviews, and Song of Arirang is the result. And not a moment too soon: very soon after, Kim San would be murdered on the orders of his own communist comrades, on (unproven) charges of being a Trotskyite.

The eponymous song of Arirang refers to a Korean dirge that began as a song sung by prisoners on their way to the scaffold, but turned into an anthem against Japanese imperialism. Through Kim San’s eyes, we see the anti-colonial struggles - primarily against Japan, but against European imperialism as well - that roiled East Asia in the first half of the 20th century. San himself was a participant in some of the most momentous events - the Guangzhou Commune (which is a fascinating story in its own right) and the Hailufeng Soviet. This is a story of suffering, but it’s also a story of incredible - almost inhuman resolve - through torture, through deprivation, through violence and betrayal, all for the ideal and the reality of national liberation. It’s also a window into a revolutionary history that - for various reasons - we don’t get to read about much.

[Isabella Richter · Rating 2 out of 5]

Had to read for class. Unenjoyable.

[Fidel Castro · Rating 5 out of 5]

HOT STUFF ❤️‍🔥

[Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

good, but worth remembering that the man who told the story was looking for an audience and the woman recording it was looking for her big writing break. still, at worst a window into a revolutionary's mind

[Cheol Kang · Rating 3 out of 5]

책의 가치를 생각하면 4점 이상, 5점을 주어도 아깝지 않지만
내게는 그렇게 의미있는 책은 아니었다.