China and the West

Ernest Hemingway and Martha Gellhorn in China.
Jeffrey Meyers : The uncomfortable, exhausting and often boring trip to China was a disappointing experience for Ernest Hemingway. He had no real interest in the country and went only to accompany Martha Gellhorn. He had a good time in Hong Kong, did his duty at the tedious official functions and tried to ignore the horrors that made Martha writhe with discomfort. He never actually saw the war – or anything else of extraordinary interest – during this quiescent period in China. He did not feel he knew enough to write fiction about China.
After his experience in Spain and China, he believed that the lies, propaganda and censorship necessary in wartime made it almost impossible to be an honorable correspondent.
Peter Moreira : Martha Gellhorn interpreted the situation in China as fitting cleanly into the same pattern as the other conflicts she had covered. The evil aggressors were the Japanese and the noble defenders were the Chinese led by Chiang Kai-shek. She wanted to cover this war so her crusading journalism could shed light on the plight of the beleaguered Chinese and bolster American support for what was then known as Free China.
Both Hemingway and Gellhorn realized that China under Chiang Kai-shek was not a democracy.