By An-Wei

 Congratulations to Sharon!  I have expressed my congratulations to Sharon many times, but I want to say it again because her book deserves a lot of congratulations!  It is one of the 100 books by the National Administration of Publication in celebration of the 60^th Anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China!

As a longstanding friend of Sharon and a witness to the witness, I just want to share with you how this book was written. Many people nowadays can produce a book in a year or even in a couple of months.  However it has taken Sharon 30 years to complete writing her book Witness to Change.  Why?  This is because that every single chapter, photograph and even every single sentence in her book was what she saw with her own eyes, heard with her own ears and experienced personally by herself. In the past 30 years Sharon has made more than 15 trips to China, each was from 3 weeks to 3 months. She personally witnessed and followed various phases of the change from different aspects.  This book was written by Sharon with a burning and loving heart for China and the Chinese people.

As everybody knows, there are two greatest events in China in the past 70 years.  One is the birth of New China, and the other is the Opening-up and Reform.  Both events were witnessed and documented by our American friends who are very familiar to us.  Seventy years ago, it was Edgar and Helen Snow who witnessed and documented the birth of new China.  Seventy years later, it is Sharon Crain who witnessed and documented the rising of China in its reform and opening up. By using their first hand information and personal experience in China, all three of them told the true story of China, and presented a true picture of China in their books. Like Red Star over China and Inside Red China, Sharon’s Witness to Change will definitely serve as a very important source book for Westerners to learn about the contemporary China.

      Last but not the least, I must say Bill Crain has made a big contribution to this book. Without his strong support, we may not be able to read this book today.  Bill is “a great man standing behind an outstanding woman”.