About 200 previously unpublished letters between Soong Ching Ling and Israel Epstein have been released for the first time in a new book Records of a Great Friendship.

Epstein was born in Poland in 1915, and was one of the few Chinese citizens of non-Chinese origin to become a member of the Communist Party of China. He worked as a journalist and writer.

As Soong's sole authorized biographer, Epstein and his family had a long-term friendship with Soong. On the invitation of Soong, he returned China from the United States to work with Soong for a Chinese magazine, which became China Today.

The book collects 265 translated letters between the two friends from 1941-1981, mostly donated to the China Soong Ching Ling Foundation by Huang Huanbi, Epstein's second wife. Thirty photos of the original copies are also included to show Soong and Epstein's handwritten letters, in English.

The letters cover topics from discussion about work, family and friends, in addition to views from the two on domestic and international situations.

The foundation is to launch a new version of the original English letters.