Following Edgar Snow into modern China

At the entrance to the Red Army's western expedition memorial hall in Tongxin county, in Northwest China's Ningxia Hui autonomous region, a bronze sculpture of a young bugler gazes skyward. The figure evokes a pivotal moment in Chinese history, first captured 90 years ago by American journalist Edgar Snow.

The image later appeared on the cover of Snow's landmark book Red Star Over China, which introduced the Chinese revolution of the 1930s to readers around the world. This summer, nine decades after Snow photographed the young soldier, his great-grandnephew Samuel Maclean revisited the site with his own camera.

"At this moment, I truly felt the heavy and long history in this place, and that's very meaningful," Maclean says.

Tongxin occupies a significant place in China's revolutionary history. It was where the country's first county-level Hui autonomous government was established, and later became closely associated with the Red Army's activities in Northwest China after the three main Red Army forces united at the end of the Long March (1934-36).

Earlier this month, Maclean joined representatives of the Edgar Snow Memorial Foundation and international scholars for a tour themed Retracing Snow's Route, visiting places tied to both Snow's original reporting and Tongxin's revolutionary past.