"Fifty Days in the Soviet Union" ("Chronicles of the Soviet Union")

Preface to the Russian translation

The 50-day trip to the Soviet Union was the most memorable event of my life. How exciting it is that my long-cherished wish has come true. What was even more exciting was that I saw with my own eyes in the Soviet Union that my dreams had been realized. It is difficult for anyone who has not been to the Soviet Union to imagine the kindness, bravery, loyalty, and joy of the Soviet people in their work and in everything, and it is difficult to imagine the depth and intensity of these excellent qualities.

I am grateful to the Soviet people for the fraternal affection they have given me during these fifty days.

It's been two years since then, but I feel like it happened yesterday. All the dear and lovely friends I had met before me reappeared. I am sure that my memory of them will always be the same.

Unfortunately, I don't speak Russian. As a result, there are many valuable things I have learned along the way, and I have not been able to fully express my gratitude. I was always greeted warmly by the leaders of collective farms, factories, schools, institutes, museums, libraries and other cultural and educational institutions that I visited. They taught me many things; I believe that these hospitable teachers are looking to know how well this knowledge is being grasped and applied by me.

Thankfully, there are two things that can alleviate my guilt.

First of all, I would like to thank Mr. B.H. Rogov for translating my book "Chronicles of the Soviet Union" into Russian. This made it possible for my friends in the USSR to learn about the results of my fifty days of study of the USSR and also enabled me to express once again my deep gratitude. Whether my teachers will be satisfied, I dare not say. But I, an old student, was doing my best.

Secondly, after me, the writer Mao Dun and his wife visited the Soviet Union. Although Mr. Mao Dun did not speak Russian as well as I did, he was better off than me in many other respects; He stayed in the USSR much longer and visited many places. It is possible that he understood a lot of things that I did not understand in the USSR. In particular, the achievements of the USSR over the past two years. I'm longing to know that, too. Mao Dun will soon be back in Shanghai. His diary and articles about the USSR will be more detailed than my chronicle. They will be my second lesson in understanding the Soviet Union.

I would like to take this opportunity once again to express my deep gratitude to the people of the Soviet Union and to all my friends who taught me and helped me during my visit. In particular, once again I would like to pay my sincere tribute to the late President of the USSR Academy of Sciences, V.L. Komarov.

Guo Moruo

Shanghai, April 15, 1947