Dates

• Existence: 1907 - 1997

Parallel Names

• Snow, Helen Foster, 1907-1997

Biography

Helen "Peggy" Foster Snow (September 21, 1907-January 11, 1997) was an American journalist who reported from China in the 1930s, under the pseudonym Nym Wales, on the developing Chinese Civil War, the Korean independence movement, and the Second Sino-Japanese War. Born in Cedar City, Utah, Snow moved to China in 1931 after gaining employment there in civil service. She married Edgar Snow on December 25, 1933 in Tokyo, Japan. The couple would later divorce in 1949.

A journalist in her own right, she co-founded Democracy magazine with Edgar in 1937. As Edgar wrote Red Star Over China, Helen worked on the magazine's editorial board. The Snows interviewed Communist leaders and civilians, which she would later publish her findings in her book Inside Red China in 1938. She wrote and published over 40 books, including Inside Red China, My China Years: A Memoir, and Song of Ariran. She returned to the United States, though traveled the world including two return trips to China in the 1970s. In 1993, she was awarded the first China Writer's Association award, and in 1996, she became the first American ever to be honored as a Friendship Ambassador by the Chinese government.

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