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Ｏｕｒ　Ｓｔａｆｆ　Ｒｅｐｏｒｔｅｒ

2007 saw the 110th anniversary of the birth of our New Zealand friend Rewi Alley, 80th anniversary of his arrival in China and the 20th anniversary of his death. A series of activities were held by the CPAFFC and the Gansu Provincial Peoples Government from September 8 to 10 in Gansu to commemorate this old friend of the Chinese people, famous writer, poet, educationist and social activist. New Zealand ambassador to China Tony Browne, Chinese ambassador to New Zealand Zhang Yuanyuan, the delegations of the New Zealand-China Friendship Society and the Maori-China Friendship Association and Rewi Alleys relatives that came to China specially for the commemorations attended these activities.

CPC Gansu Provincial Committee Secretary Lu Hao

Meeting with New Zealand Delegations

On September 8, Lu Hao, secretary of the Gansu Provincial Committee of the Communist Party of China (CPC) and chairman of the Standing Committee of the Gansu Provincial Peoples Congress, met with all the members of the New Zealand delegations that came to Gansu to attend the commemorative activities. Lu Hao spoke highly of the important contributions Rewi Alley had made to the Chinese peoples cause of liberation and construction. He said, Alley was a great internationalist fighter and an old friend of the Chinese people. Since arriving in China in 1927, he shared weal and woe with the Chinese people and dedicated 60 years of his life to the Chinese peoples cause of liberation and construction. He had deep affection for the Chinese people and won their respect and love.

Lu Hao stated, Alley loved Gansu very much. He set up the Bailie Technical School in Shandan County of Gansu Province during the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression. By adopting the mode of part work and part study, he initiated vocational education in Gansu and trained a large number of technical personnel for Chinas industries, especially made outstanding contributions to training personnel for oil exploitation. He devoted all his love to young students and education and regarded Shandan as his second hometown. He visited Shandan several times after he had settled down in Beijing and donated all the cultural relics he had collected during his stay in China to Shandan. The people of Gansu will always cherish the memory of this great friend.

Lu Hao continued, Alley had built a bridge of friendship between the people of China and New Zealand. Since the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries, bilateral friendly and cooperative ties have grown continuously. China and New Zealand have become important trade partners. As early as 23 years ago, Gansu twinned friendship-province/city ties with Alleys hometown Christchurch. New Zealand friends have also been following with interest the reform and development in Gansu. Lu believed that with the solid foundation of friendship between the Chinese and New Zealand people laid down by Alley, the friendly exchanges and mutually beneficial cooperation between Gansu and New Zealand would cover more areas and become closer.

Commemorative Meeting and Forum

The Commemorative Meeting of the 110th Anniversary of the Birth of Rewi Alley was held at the Shandan Bailie School on the morning of September 10. CPAFFC Vice President Li Xiaolin and Deputy Governor of Gansu Sun Xiaoxi attended the commemoration and spoke on the occasion. Hu Huie, former vice chairperson of the Standing Committee of the Gansu Provincial Peoples Congress, Tony Browne, New Zealand ambassador to China, Zhang Yuanyuan, Chinese ambassador to New Zealand, the NZCFS delegation, the MCFA delegation, Alleys overseas relatives as well as over a hundred old alumina of the Bailie School from all parts of China, attended the commemorative meeting.

In her speech, Vice President Li Xiaolin pointed out, Shandan County is where Rewi Alley lived for a long time and was regarded by him as his second hometown. To commemorate Rewi Alley who worked tirelessly and selflessly over 40 years on the educational front for Chinas socialist construction, we will learn from his selfless internationalist spirit, his life philosophy of seeking neither fame nor gain, and his work style of persistence and tenacity and doing hard work and solid work so as to contribute to revitalizing China and building a harmonious world. (See excerpts of the speech on p. 25)

Deputy Governor Sun Xiaoxi emphasized in his speech, Alley was a founder of Chinas Gung Ho movement. He founded the Bailie School in Shandan and cultivated a large number of technical personnel, contributing greatly to the Chinese peoples cause of liberation and construction. Whether in the minds of the Chinese people or in the eyes of the New Zealand people, the name Rewi Alley represents utter devotion and great love. We must learn from and carry forward Alleys spirit and make new contributions to the development of friendship between the Chinese and New Zealand people as well as between the Chinese and other peoples of the world.

The Forum on Rewi Alleys Educational Philosophy was held at the Bailie School in the afternoon. Friendly personages from China and New Zealand and representatives of various circles took part in the forum. The participants talked about Alleys great achievements in establishing the Bailie School and advancing the Gung Ho Movement, and highly praised the educational philosophy of “using both brain and hands, and creating and analyzing” that he put forward. They said that in their work of running the schools in the future they would, by continuing to follow Alleys educational philosophy and carrying forward Alleys spirit, deepen reform in education and teaching, adjust and enrich the contents of specialized courses, broaden the scope of their services, make good use of their resources of cooperation with other countries and bring into play their respective advantages in running schools to make greater contributions to the sound and rapid economic and social development of their localities.

While in Shandan, the participants visited the Museum of Historical Relics Donated by Rewi Alley and the Shandan Bailie School, and paid respects at Alleys tomb.