Baruch Hirson was a prominent activist in South Africa for many years before his imprisonment in 1964. On his release in 1973 he emigrated to Britain, where he taught at Bradford and Middlesex Universities. He was the co-author of Reporting the Chinese Revolution (Pluto, 2007).Arthur J. Knodel was a distinguished scholar at the University of Southern California, best known for his translations and criticism of Nobel Prize-winning poet Saint-John Perse. Knodel died in 2001.Gregor Benton is Emeritus Professor at the School of History, Archaeology and Religion at Cardiff University.

• AcknowledgementsNote on TransliterationDramatis PersonaeIntroduction by Gregor Benton1. Rayna's Wake2. The Road to China3. Peking and Canton4. Hankow5. Shanghai6. Vladivostok to Moscow7. Moscow8. Afterword9. AppendicesNotesBibliography

'This is a wonderful evocation of a fascinating, yet largely forgotten, time at the very beginning of the Chinese revolution'