''White Snow, Red Blood'' () is a book by Zhāng Zhènglóng (), a colonel in the

People's Liberation Army The People's Liberation Army (PLA) is the military of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the People's Republic of China (PRC). It consists of four Military branch, services—People's Liberation Army Ground Force, Ground Force, People's ...

, that was published in August, 1989 by the People's Liberation Army Publishing House. It concerns the history of the People's Liberation Army during the

Chinese Communist Revolution The Chinese Communist Revolution was a social revolution, social and political revolution in China that began in 1927 and culminated with the proclamation of the People's Republic of China (PRC) in 1949. The revolution was led by the Chinese C ...

. The book was severely criticized and suppressed in the spring of 1990, after about 100,000 copies had been sold.Pomfret, John. Red Army Starved 150,000 Chinese Civilians, Books Says. Associated Press; ''The Seattle Times''. 2009-10-02. URL:http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19901122&slug=1105487. Accessed: 2009-10-02. (Archived by WebCite at https://www.webcitation.org/5kEN5bTlE?url=http://community.seattletimes.nwsource.com/archive/?date=19901122&slug=110548

Based on records of the People's Liberation Army and interviews with surviving participants in the Chinese Communist Revolution the book contains information about events that are not usually included in official accounts of the

Chinese Civil War The Chinese Civil War was fought between the Kuomintang-led Nationalist government, government of the Republic of China (1912–1949), Republic of China and the forces of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Armed conflict continued intermitt ...

such as the Siege of Changchun in 1948.

Corruption Corruption is a form of dishonesty or a criminal offense that is undertaken by a person or an organization that is entrusted in a position of authority to acquire illicit benefits or abuse power for one's gain. Corruption may involve activities ...

in certain units of the PLA is also discussed. Among the controversial contents of the book were that the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army, often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Republic and, from 1922, the Soviet Union. The army was established in January 1918 by a decree of the Council of People ...

had committed atrocities during the Siege of Changchun, that senior Party leader Wang Zhen had smuggled

opium Opium (also known as poppy tears, or Lachryma papaveris) is the dried latex obtained from the seed Capsule (fruit), capsules of the opium poppy ''Papaver somniferum''. Approximately 12 percent of opium is made up of the analgesic alkaloid mor ...

during the Chinese Civil War, and that the "official" Chinese account of the

Lin Biao incident The Lin Biao incident ( zh, c=九一三事件, l=September 13 Incident) was an aircraft accident at 3 a.m. on 13 September 1971 involving Lin Biao, the sole Vice Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party. Everyone on board a People's Liberation Ar ...

was inaccurate.Uhalley Jr., Stephen, and Jin Qiu
"The Lin Biao Incident: More Than Twenty Years Later"
''Pacific Affairs''. Vol.66, No.3, Autumn, 1993. pp.386-387. Retrieved December 15, 2011. Because of its controversial content, the book and its author were attacked by conservative politicians inside China, notably

Yang Shangkun Yang Shangkun (3 August 1907 – 14 September 1998) was a Chinese Chinese Communist Party, Communist military and political leader, president of the People's Republic of China from 1988 to 1993, and one of the Eight Elders that dominated the par ...

and Wang Zhen. Yang, who was then

President of the People's Republic of China The president of China, officially the president of the People's Republic of China, is the List of state representatives of the People's Republic of China, state representative of the China, People's Republic of China. On its own, it is a Fig ...

, claimed that the book "insulted the Communist Party". Zhang was arrested in 1990 for publishing the book, and the book was censored in mainland China. Information about the contents of the book in the West is derived from a copy obtained by the

Associated Press The Associated Press (AP) is an American not-for-profit organization, not-for-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. Founded in 1846, it operates as a cooperative, unincorporated association, and produces news reports that are dist ...

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

in 1990. The book was reprinted in Hong Kong in 1991 as ''Xuě bái xiě hóng: Guó Gòng Dōngběi dà juézhàn lìshǐ zhēnxiàng'' ( ''White snow red blood: A true history of the KMT-CPC battle for the Northeast'') by Tiandi Press.

Notes

{{reflist Book censorship in China Works banned in China 1989 books Chinese-language books Lin Biao Chinese Communist Revolution Works set during the Chinese Civil War