Isracl Epstein, born in 1915 in Poland, was
brought up in China and there began his jour-
nalistie work, publishing also in the Unlted
States and other countries. His first association
with Soong Ching Ling was in 1938-45 in the
wartime China Defense League In Hong Kong
and Chongqing (Chungking). In 1951 she invit-
ed him and his wife, the late Elsle Fairfax-
Cholmeley (1905-84), to return from the Unit-
ed States, where they then lived, to help set up
the magazine she founded in Beijing, "China
Reconstructs" (now "Chlna Today") of which, at
Soong Ching Ling's death in 1981, Epstein was
edltor-in-chief, havlng, in the meantime, be-
come a citizen of the People's Republic.
From the late 1970s, she had asked him
several times to write her biography after she
dled. Following retirement from the magazine,
he spent several years In researching and wrlt-
Ing this book which appeared on the centenary
of Soong Chlng Ling's birth.
Previous books by Epstein include The Peo-
ple's Ww in China, London, Victor Gollancz,
1939; The Unflnished Revolutlon in China, Bos-
ton, Little Brown, 1947; From Oplum War to
Llberation, Beijlng, New World Prcss, 1956 with
subsequent editions in 1964 and 1980 in Bei-
jing and Hong Kong (by Jolnt Publlshing Co);
and Tlbet Transformed, Beijing, New World
Prass, 1983
Concerning Soong Ching Ling, he has pub-
lished a number of articles and lectured at
symposia in the United States and Japan.

成语是语言演化赛程中不可或缺的精髓。成语蕴藏着极为细腻的文化传统及特有的生活习性。成语的学习是阶段性的。第一阶段应该是主动的。第二个阶段则是被动的。第三个阶段应该也是主动的。时机成熟后，自然而然的流露即是学以致用的呈现。

CONTENTS
AUTHOR'S PREFACE
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
A NOTE ON TRANSCRIPTION
CHAPTER 1 Student in America (1908-13)
CHAPTER 11 Ancestry and Background
CHAPTER III Return and Marriage (1913-15)
CHAPTER IV Sun Yatsen
CHAPTER V To Preserve the Republic:
Shanghai-Guangzhou (1916-22)
CHAPTER VI Guangzhou Transformation (1923-25)
CHAPTER VII From Widow to Sfandard Bearer (1925-27)
CHAPTER VIII Wuhan in 1927, Watershed Year
CHAPTER IX Moscow (1927-28)
CHAPTER X In Berlin
CHAPTER XI A Brief, Stormy Return Home (1929)
CHAPTER XII Once More in Europe (1929-31)
CHAPTER XIII To Save Revolutionaries, Shanghai
(1931-34)
CHAPTER XIV To Rally and Save the Nation, Shanghai
(1935-37)
CHAPTER XV War Years in Hong Kong (1937-41)
CHAPTER XVI War Years in Chongqing (1941-45)
CHAPTERXVII Crisis After Victory, Shanghai (1946-49)
CHAPTERXVIII Building the New China (1949-66)
CHAPTER XIX "Cultural Revolution" Storm (1966-76)
CHAPTER XX Twilight Resurgence (1976-81)
NOTES
INDEX