My immediate destination was Sianfu — which means “Western Peace.” Sianfu was the capital of Shensi province, it was two tiresome days and nights by train to the southwest of Peking, and it was the western terminus of the Lunghai railway. From there I planned to go northward and enter the soviet districts, which occupied the very heart of Ta His-pei, China's Great Northwest. Lochuan, a town about one hundred fifty miles north of Sianfu, then marked the beginning of Red territory in Shensi. Everything north of it, except strips of territory along the main highways, and some points which will be noted later, was already dyed Red. With Lochuan roughly the southern, and the Great Wall the northern, extremities of Red control in Shensi, both the eastern and western Red frontiers were formed by the Yellow River. Coming down from the fringes of Tibet, the wide, muddy stream flows northward through Kansu and Ninghsia, and above the Great Wall into the province of Suiyuan — Inner Mongolia. Then after many miles of uncertain wandering toward the east it turns southward again, to pierce the Great Wall and from the boundary between the provinces of Shensi and Shansi.

    It was within this great bend of China's most treacherous river that the soviets then operated — in northern Shensi, northeastern Kansu, and southeastern Ninghsia. And by a strange sequence of histoty this region almost corresponded to the original confines of the birthplace of China. Near here the Chinese first formed and unified themselves as a people, thousands of years ago.

 

【 参考译文 】

西行漫记（ 1 ）—— 去西安的慢车

埃德加 · 斯诺

    而我的第一个目的地就是西安府。这个地名有“西方平安”的意思，是陕西省的省会，要从北平向西南坐两天两夜劳累的火车，才能到达陇海路西段的这个终点站。我的计划是从那里向北走，进入位于大西北中心的苏区。在西安府以北大约 150 英里的一个市镇——洛川，当时是陕西红区的起点。洛川以北的地区，除了公路干线两旁的几个狭长地段以及下文将要提到的几个地点外，已经全部染红了。大致说来，陕西红军控制的地区南到洛川，北到长城；东西两边都以黄河为界。那条宽阔的浊流从西藏边缘往北流经甘肃和宁夏，在长城北面进入内蒙古的绥远省，然后曲曲折折地向东流行许多英里，又折而向南，穿过长城而构成陕西、山西两省的分界线。

    当时苏维埃活动的地方，就在中国这条最容易闹灾的河流的这个大河套里——陕西北部，甘肃东北部和宁夏东南部。这个区域同中国诞生地的最初疆界差不多相符，真可谓历史的巧合。数千年前，中国人当初就是在这一带形成统一的民族的。