Rewi Alley
Encyclopedia
Rewi Alley, 路易•艾黎, Lùyì Àilí, QSO
, (2 December 1897 - 27 December 1987), was a New Zealand
-born writer
, educator, social reformer, potter, and member of the Communist Party of China
.
Rewi Alley was a prolific western writer about 20th century China
, and especially about the Communist revolution. He dedicated 60 years of his life to the cause of the Communist Party of China
, and was a key figure in the establishment of Chinese Industrial Cooperatives
, and technical training schools, including the Peili Vocational Institute
in Beijing
.
in inland Canterbury, New Zealand
. He was named after Rewi Maniapoto
, a Māori chief famous for his resistance to the British military during the New Zealand Wars of the 1860s. Alley's father was a teacher, and Rewi attended primary school at Amberley
; then Wharenui School in Christchurch
, where his father was appointed headmaster in 1905; and finally Christchurch Boys' High School
. His mother, Clara, was a leader of the New Zealand women's suffrage
movement.
The parents' keen interest in social reform and education influenced all their children:
In 1916 Alley joined the New Zealand Army
and was sent to serve in France
where he won the MM. While there he met some Chinese men who had been sent to work for the Allied Armies. During the war he was injured and caught in no man's land. Lyall McCallum and another man rescued him and took him back to safety. After the war, Alley tried farming in New Zealand. In 1927 he decided to go to China. He moved to Shanghai
with thoughts of joining the Shanghai Municipal Police
, but instead he became a fireman. During this period he gradually became aware of the poverty in the Chinese community and the racism in the Western communities. His politics turned from fairly conventional right-wing pro-Empire sentiments to thoughts of social reform. In particular, a famine in 1929 made him aware of the plight of China's peasants. Using his holidays and taking time off work, Alley toured rural China helping with relief efforts. He adopted a 14-year-old Chinese boy, Duan Si Mou, in 1929, whom he named Alan. He also adopted another Chinese boy, Li Xue, whom he named Mike.
After a brief visit to New Zealand, where Alan experienced public racism, Alley became Chief Factory Inspector for the Shanghai Municipal Council in 1932. By this time he was a secret member of the Communist Party of China and was involved in anti-criminal activities on behalf of the Party. At one time he was given the job of washing the blood off criminals' money confisticated by the Red Army in raids. He adopted another Chinese son, Mike, in 1932. After the outbreak of war with Japan in 1937, Alley set up the Chinese Industrial Cooperatives
. He also set up schools, calling them Bailie Schools after his American friend Joseph Bailie. Edgar Snow
wrote of Alley's work in CIC: "Where Lawrence brought to the Arabs the distinctive technique of guerilla war, Alley was to bring China the constructive technique of guerilla industry...." In 1945, he became headmaster of the Shandan
Bailie School following the death of George Hogg
.http://www.nzchinasociety.org.nz/rewi.html
. This was reflected in his increasing isolation from the mass of China's population as he lived in a special neighborhood and was specially looked after by the Party. Indeed one of his main problems was coping with his increased obesity in this period. Although imprisoned and "struggled with" during the Cultural Revolution
, Alley remained committed to communism and bore no grudges.
In 1973 New Zealand civil servant Gerald Hensley
and the new New Zealand Ambassador to China, Bryce Harland
, called on Alley. He was in his seventies, a bald, pink-faced man with bright blue eyes, and an inexhaustible flow of conversation. We sat and talked for most of an afternoon, with Rewi occasionally jumping up to fetch a book or check a point. He had, he said, lost the best of two libraries, once to the Japanese and again to the Red Guards, who had thrown out his collections and torn up his pictures in front of him. He was still bitter over their behaviour. He was living in the old Italian Legation which had been converted into flats for the leading foreign friends, which were allocated on the bleak basis of seniority. On the death of the previous occupant Anna Louise Strong
, Rewi moved downstairs into the best front apartment and everyone else moved on one place.
Unlike most of the friends of the Communist Party of China who remained in Beijing, Alley had little trouble travelling around the world, usually lecturing on the need for nuclear disarmament. The New Zealand government did not strip Alley of his passport and remained proud of his ties to important Party leaders. In the 1950s he was offered a knighthood but turned the honour down.
His house in Beijing is now the offices of the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries
.
, Canterbury, New Zealand. It contains a large stone carving and a number of panels giving details of his life.
Queen's Service Order
The Queen's Service Order was established by Queen Elizabeth II on 13 March 1975, awarded by the government of New Zealand "for valuable voluntary service to the community or meritorious and faithful services to the Crown or similar services within the public sector, whether in elected or...
, (2 December 1897 - 27 December 1987), was a New Zealand
New Zealand
New Zealand is an island country in the south-western Pacific Ocean comprising two main landmasses and numerous smaller islands. The country is situated some east of Australia across the Tasman Sea, and roughly south of the Pacific island nations of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga...
-born writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
, educator, social reformer, potter, and member of the Communist Party of China
Communist Party of China
The Communist Party of China , also known as the Chinese Communist Party , is the founding and ruling political party of the People's Republic of China...
.
Rewi Alley was a prolific western writer about 20th century China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
, and especially about the Communist revolution. He dedicated 60 years of his life to the cause of the Communist Party of China
Communist Party of China
The Communist Party of China , also known as the Chinese Communist Party , is the founding and ruling political party of the People's Republic of China...
, and was a key figure in the establishment of Chinese Industrial Cooperatives
Chinese Industrial Cooperatives
Chinese Industrial Cooperative Association "gōngyè hézuòshè , that is, the Chinese Industrial Cooperatives, known as INDUSCO, was formally established in August,1938 in Hankow, then the wartime capital of China...
, and technical training schools, including the Peili Vocational Institute
Peili Vocational Institute
The Peili Vocational Institute , now known as Beijing Bailie University, is a private three-year school located in Beijing, founded by Rewi Alley. Its history dates back to the anti-Japanese war. Its current form was formally established in 1983.- External links :* official Website...
in Beijing
Beijing
Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...
.
Early life and influences
Rewi was born in the small town of SpringfieldSpringfield, New Zealand
Springfield is a small town in the Selwyn District of Canterbury, in the South Island, of New Zealand. In 2001 it had a population of 219. At the foot of the Southern Alps, west of Christchurch, it is the most westerly town of the central Canterbury Plains...
in inland Canterbury, New Zealand
Canterbury, New Zealand
The New Zealand region of Canterbury is mainly composed of the Canterbury Plains and the surrounding mountains. Its main city, Christchurch, hosts the main office of the Christchurch City Council, the Canterbury Regional Council - called Environment Canterbury - and the University of Canterbury.-...
. He was named after Rewi Maniapoto
Rewi Maniapoto
Rewi Manga Maniapoto was a Maniapoto chief who led rebel Kingitanga forces during the New Zealand government Invasion of Waikato during the New Zealand Wars...
, a Māori chief famous for his resistance to the British military during the New Zealand Wars of the 1860s. Alley's father was a teacher, and Rewi attended primary school at Amberley
Amberley, New Zealand
Amberley is a town located in the Hurunui District of north Canterbury, on the east coast of the South Island of New Zealand. It is located on State Highway 1 approximately 50 km north of Christchurch...
; then Wharenui School in Christchurch
Christchurch
Christchurch is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand, and the country's second-largest urban area after Auckland. It lies one third of the way down the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula which itself, since 2006, lies within the formal limits of...
, where his father was appointed headmaster in 1905; and finally Christchurch Boys' High School
Christchurch Boys' High School
Christchurch Boys' High School is a single sex state secondary school in Christchurch, New Zealand. It is situated on a 12 hectare site between the suburbs of Riccarton and Fendalton, 4 kilometres to the west of central Christchurch. The school also provides boarding facilities for 130 boys, in a...
. His mother, Clara, was a leader of the New Zealand women's suffrage
Suffrage
Suffrage, political franchise, or simply the franchise, distinct from mere voting rights, is the civil right to vote gained through the democratic process...
movement.
The parents' keen interest in social reform and education influenced all their children:
- brother GeoffreyGeoffrey Thomas AlleyGeoffrey Thomas "Geoff" Alley was a New Zealand All Black rugby player, No 327. He was a lock. He played in 3 tests and 16 other matches for the All Blacks, including tours of Australia in 1926 and South Africa in 1928. He played for Southland and Canterbury provinces...
(1903–1986) became an All BlackAll BlacksThe New Zealand men's national rugby union team, known as the All Blacks, represent New Zealand in what is regarded as its national sport....
and worked as a travelling WEA (Workers' Educational AssociationWorkers' Educational AssociationThe Workers’ Educational Association seeks to provide access to education and lifelong learning for adults from all backgrounds, and in particular those who have previously missed out on education. The International Federation of Workers Education Associations has consultative status to UNESCO...
) tutor sponsored by the Carnegie FoundationCarnegie Corporation of New YorkCarnegie Corporation of New York, which was established by Andrew Carnegie in 1911 "to promote the advancement and diffusion of knowledge and understanding," is one of the oldest, largest and most influential of American foundations...
, before becoming New Zealand's first National Librarian in 1964; - sister Gwendolen (1894–1988) was a pioneer in primary school education practices, and first president of the New Zealand Federation;
- younger sister Joyce (1908–2000) became a prominent nursing administrator; and
- brother Philip (1901–1978) was a lecturer at the engineering school of the University of CanterburyUniversity of CanterburyThe University of Canterbury , New Zealand's second-oldest university, operates its main campus in the suburb of Ilam in the city of Christchurch, New Zealand...
. He is credited with the idea of moving the university campus from central Christchurch to the suburb of Ilam.
In 1916 Alley joined the New Zealand Army
New Zealand Army
The New Zealand Army , is the land component of the New Zealand Defence Force and comprises around 4,500 Regular Force personnel, 2,000 Territorial Force personnel and 500 civilians. Formerly the New Zealand Military Forces, the current name was adopted around 1946...
and was sent to serve in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
where he won the MM. While there he met some Chinese men who had been sent to work for the Allied Armies. During the war he was injured and caught in no man's land. Lyall McCallum and another man rescued him and took him back to safety. After the war, Alley tried farming in New Zealand. In 1927 he decided to go to China. He moved to Shanghai
Shanghai
Shanghai is the largest city by population in China and the largest city proper in the world. It is one of the four province-level municipalities in the People's Republic of China, with a total population of over 23 million as of 2010...
with thoughts of joining the Shanghai Municipal Police
Shanghai Municipal Police
The Shanghai Municipal Police was the police force of the Shanghai Municipal Council which governed the Shanghai International Settlement between 1854 and 1943, when the settlement was retroceded to Chinese control....
, but instead he became a fireman. During this period he gradually became aware of the poverty in the Chinese community and the racism in the Western communities. His politics turned from fairly conventional right-wing pro-Empire sentiments to thoughts of social reform. In particular, a famine in 1929 made him aware of the plight of China's peasants. Using his holidays and taking time off work, Alley toured rural China helping with relief efforts. He adopted a 14-year-old Chinese boy, Duan Si Mou, in 1929, whom he named Alan. He also adopted another Chinese boy, Li Xue, whom he named Mike.
After a brief visit to New Zealand, where Alan experienced public racism, Alley became Chief Factory Inspector for the Shanghai Municipal Council in 1932. By this time he was a secret member of the Communist Party of China and was involved in anti-criminal activities on behalf of the Party. At one time he was given the job of washing the blood off criminals' money confisticated by the Red Army in raids. He adopted another Chinese son, Mike, in 1932. After the outbreak of war with Japan in 1937, Alley set up the Chinese Industrial Cooperatives
Chinese Industrial Cooperatives
Chinese Industrial Cooperative Association "gōngyè hézuòshè , that is, the Chinese Industrial Cooperatives, known as INDUSCO, was formally established in August,1938 in Hankow, then the wartime capital of China...
. He also set up schools, calling them Bailie Schools after his American friend Joseph Bailie. Edgar Snow
Edgar Snow
Edgar P. Snow was an American journalist known for his books and articles on Communism in China and the Chinese Communist revolution...
wrote of Alley's work in CIC: "Where Lawrence brought to the Arabs the distinctive technique of guerilla war, Alley was to bring China the constructive technique of guerilla industry...." In 1945, he became headmaster of the Shandan
Shandan County
Shandan County is a county in Gansu Province, the People's Republic of China. It is one of 58 counties of Gansu. It is part of the Zhangye prefecture, with the city of the same name being the prefecture seat. Its postal code is 734100, and in 1999 its population was 194,901 people. It is famous...
Bailie School following the death of George Hogg
George Hogg (adventurer)
George Aylwin Hogg was an English adventurer. He was a graduate of Oxford University in economics. He is known as a hero in China for saving 60 orphaned boys during the Second Sino-Japanese War, including leading them through dangerous mountain passes, escaping the approaching Japanese secret...
.http://www.nzchinasociety.org.nz/rewi.html
After the Communist victory
Following the Communist victory over the Nationalists in 1949 Alley was urged to remain in China and work for the Communist Party of China. He produced many works praising the Party and the government of the People's Republic of China, including Yo Banfa!, Man Against Flood and China's Hinterland in the Great Leap Forward. Some of his published works have historic interest. Alley remained unaware of China's problems, or at least he was uninterested in criticizing the Party. He never mentioned the deaths of tens of millions of Chinese peasants from famine during the Great Leap ForwardGreat Leap Forward
The Great Leap Forward of the People's Republic of China was an economic and social campaign of the Communist Party of China , reflected in planning decisions from 1958 to 1961, which aimed to use China's vast population to rapidly transform the country from an agrarian economy into a modern...
. This was reflected in his increasing isolation from the mass of China's population as he lived in a special neighborhood and was specially looked after by the Party. Indeed one of his main problems was coping with his increased obesity in this period. Although imprisoned and "struggled with" during the Cultural Revolution
Cultural Revolution
The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution, commonly known as the Cultural Revolution , was a socio-political movement that took place in the People's Republic of China from 1966 through 1976...
, Alley remained committed to communism and bore no grudges.
In 1973 New Zealand civil servant Gerald Hensley
Gerald Hensley
Gerald Hensley, CNZM is a former New Zealand Public Servant.He was educated at St Bede’s College and Canterbury University where he took an MA with first class honours in History....
and the new New Zealand Ambassador to China, Bryce Harland
Bryce Harland
William "Bryce" Harland QSO, , distinguished New Zealand diplomat and academic, who served as New Zealand's first Ambassador to China, Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York, and High Commissioner to London....
, called on Alley. He was in his seventies, a bald, pink-faced man with bright blue eyes, and an inexhaustible flow of conversation. We sat and talked for most of an afternoon, with Rewi occasionally jumping up to fetch a book or check a point. He had, he said, lost the best of two libraries, once to the Japanese and again to the Red Guards, who had thrown out his collections and torn up his pictures in front of him. He was still bitter over their behaviour. He was living in the old Italian Legation which had been converted into flats for the leading foreign friends, which were allocated on the bleak basis of seniority. On the death of the previous occupant Anna Louise Strong
Anna Louise Strong
Anna Louise Strong was a twentieth-century American journalist and activist, best known for her reporting on and support for communist movements in the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China.-Early years:...
, Rewi moved downstairs into the best front apartment and everyone else moved on one place.
Unlike most of the friends of the Communist Party of China who remained in Beijing, Alley had little trouble travelling around the world, usually lecturing on the need for nuclear disarmament. The New Zealand government did not strip Alley of his passport and remained proud of his ties to important Party leaders. In the 1950s he was offered a knighthood but turned the honour down.
His house in Beijing is now the offices of the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries
Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries
The Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries is one of the three major foreign affairs organizations of the People's Republic of China. It aims to promote friendship and mutual understanding between the Chinese people and foreign nations.The organization was founded in...
.
Memorial at Springfield
An extensive memorial to Rewi Alley has been erected at SpringfieldSpringfield, New Zealand
Springfield is a small town in the Selwyn District of Canterbury, in the South Island, of New Zealand. In 2001 it had a population of 219. At the foot of the Southern Alps, west of Christchurch, it is the most westerly town of the central Canterbury Plains...
, Canterbury, New Zealand. It contains a large stone carving and a number of panels giving details of his life.
Private life
Anne-Marie Brady in Friend of China claims that Rewi Alley was a practicing homosexual. This is highly controversial, with people who knew him well saying they would have noticed.Poetry
- Peace Through the Ages, Translations from the Poets of China, 1954
- The People Speak Out: Translations Of Poems And Songs Of The People Of China, 1954
- Fragments of Living Peking and Other Poems, 1955
- The Mistake, 1956
- Beyond the Withered Oak Ten Thousand Saplings Grow, 1957
- Human China, 1957
- Journey to Outer Mongolia: A Diary with Poems, 1957
- The People Sing, 1958
- Poems of Revolt, 1962
- Tu Fu: Selected Poems, 1962
- Not a Dog,1962
- The Eighteen Laments, 1963
- Poems of Protest, 1968
- POEMS FOR AOTEAROA, 1972 (collection)
- Over China's Hills of Blue: Unpublished Poems and New Poems, 1974
- Today and Tomorrow, 1975
- Snow over the Pines, 1977
- The Freshening Breeze, 1977
- Li Pai:200 Selected Poems, 1980
- Folk Poems from China's Minorities, 1982
- Pai Chu-i:Selected Poems, 1983
- Light and Shadow along a Great Road - An Anthology of Modern Chinese Poetry, 1984; ISBN 0-8351-1516-X
- In Southeast Asia Today, the United States, Vietnam, China
- Upsurge, Asia and the Pacific
- What Is Sin?
- Who Is the Enemy
- Winds of Change
Other works
- A Highway, and an Old Chinese Doctor: A Story of Travel through Unoccupied China during the War of Resistance, and Some Notes on Chinese Medicine
- Gung Ho, 1948
- Leaves from a Sandan Notebook, 1950
- Yo Banfa! (We Have a Way!), 1952
- The People Have Strength, 1954/1957
- Buffalo Boys of Viet-Nam, 1956
- Land of the Morning Calm: A Diary of Summer Days in Korea, 1956
- Man Against Flood - A Story of the 1954 Flood on the Yangtse and of the Reconstruction That Followed It, 1956
- Spring in Vietnam. A Diary of a Journey, 1956
- Children of the Dawn, Stories of Asian Peasant Children, 1957
- Peking Opera: An Introduction Through Pictures by Eva Siao and Text by Rewi Alley, 1957
- Stories out of China, 1958
- Sandan: An Adventure in Creative Education, 1959; Reprint ISBN 99912-0-016-9
- China's Hinterland - in the Great Leap Forward, 1961
- Land and Folk in Kiangsi - a Chinese Province in 1961, 1962
- Amongst Hills and Streams of Hunan, 1963
- Our Seven - Their Five - A Fragment from the Story of Gung Ho, 1963
- For the Children of the Whole World, 1966
- Chinese Children, 1972
- Taiwan: A Background Study, 1972/1976
- Prisoners: Shanghai 1936, 1973
- The Rebels, 1973
- Travels in China: 1966-71, 1973
- Refugees from Viet Nam in China, 1980
- Six Americans in China, 1985
- At 90: Memoirs of my China Years, 1986
- Rewi Alley, An Autobiography, 1987; ISBN 0-477-01350-3
- Fruition: The Story of George Alwin Hogg
- The Influence of the Thought of Mao Tse-tung
- The Mistake
- Towards a People's Japan: Account of a Journey to Tokyo and speech given by Rewi Alley
- Oceania: An outline for Study, 1969 (1st ed); 1971 (2nd ed)
External links
- Rewi Alley (New Zealand Edge)
- Rewi Alley (New Zealand China Friendship Society)
- http://www.nzchinasociety.org.nz/old_version/Rewianniversaryspeech.doc Download MS doc of NZCFS President's speech at the Beijing celebrations on 110th anniversary of the birth of Rewi Alley
- Gung Ho - Rewi Alley of China - a 1979 full length documentary about Rewi Alley on NZ On ScreenNZ On ScreenNZ On Screen is an online showcase of archival New Zealand television and film. The website is fully funded by NZ On Air and provides free worldwide access to NZ-produced television, film and music videos. Content is streamed and the webpages provide authoritative background information.The site...
. Requires Adobe FlashAdobe FlashAdobe Flash is a multimedia platform used to add animation, video, and interactivity to web pages. Flash is frequently used for advertisements, games and flash animations for broadcast...
- Inventory of Rewi Alley’s Papers http://www.adam-matthew-publications.co.uk/digital_guides/CTWE-8/Publishers-Note.aspx
- http://bbs.keyhole.com/ubb/ubbthreads.php?ubb=printthread&Board=61&main=783229&type=thread Memorial at Springfield.
See also
- Anna Louise StrongAnna Louise StrongAnna Louise Strong was a twentieth-century American journalist and activist, best known for her reporting on and support for communist movements in the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China.-Early years:...
- Gung-hoGung-hoGung ho is a slang term in American English used to mean "enthusiastic" or "dedicated" originally used in Marine slang.It is an anglicised pronunciation of "gōng hé" , the shortened version and slogan of the "gōngyè hézuòshè" or Chinese Industrial Cooperatives, which was abbreviated as INDUSCO in...