President Xi Jinping offered a tribute in a reply letter sent on Tuesday to the families of some international friends who made invaluable contributions to China's revolution, construction and reform, including Edgar and Helen Snow, George Hatem, Rewi Alley and Israel Epstein.

Who is Israel Epstein?

As a veteran journalist and writer, Epstein was one of the few foreigners who served as an outstanding member of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and an eminent internationalist fighter.

The young Epstein and his mother Sonia in Harbin

Born in 1915 into a Jewish family in Warsaw, Epstein moved to China with his parents at the age of two. After graduating from a junior middle school, Epstein began his journalist career at the "Beijing-Tianjin Times" in 1931.

After the Lugou Bridge Incident, also known as the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, in 1937 and Japan’s full-scale invasion of China, Epstein's parents decided to leave China and migrate to the US. Faced with an important life choice, Epstein chose to stay in China and served as a correspondent with United Press International (UPI).

In April 1938, Epstein went to the front lines to cover the Battle of Taierzhuang. He saw with his own eyes how the Eighth Route Army stood with the people.

Chairman Mao Zedong meeting six foreign journalists in Zaoyuan, Yan'an (back row right to left: Chairman Mao, Günther Stein, Cormac Shananhan; front row right to left: Harrison Forman, Israel Epstein, Proshenko, Maurice Votaw)

In May 1944, Epstein set foot on the land of Yan'an, Northwest China's Shaanxi Province. Over three months, he had many face-to-face interviews with Mao Zedong, Zhu De, Zhou Enlai and others. He recalled that he was impressed that Mao knew a lot about the outside world while living in a cave in Yan'an, that Zhu was an amiable old man who didn't look like a battle-seasoned general, and that Zhou treated everyone as equals and cared little about himself.

During his stay in Yan'an, Epstein wrote numerous reports which enabled the world to know more about Yan'an and the CPC.

In a letter to his family, he wrote, "I see a completely different China which is totally different from the China under the rule of Kuomintang leader Chiang Kai-shek. This China is full of hope and free from starvation and defeatist sentiment. Yan'an makes people feel that the future of China has emerged today."

Group photo of Zhou Enlai, Zhu De, Epstein and other Chinese and foreign journalists

Epstein was granted China's citizenship in 1957 and became a member of the CPC in 1964. During his lifetime, he served as a standing committee member of the sixth to 10th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), honorary editor-in-chief of the English-language magazine China Reconstructs (now China Today), vice-chairman of the International Council of the China Industrial Cooperation Association and member of the China Welfare Institute.

On May 26, 2005, Epstein passed away in Beijing at the age of 90.

(Compiled by Xie Wanrong)