23 Facts About Rewi Alley

Rewi Alley was born in the small town of Springfield, in inland Canterbury, New Zealand.

Rewi Alley was named after Rewi Maniapoto, a Maori chief who famously resisted the British military during the New Zealand Wars in 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.

Rewi Alley's mother, Clara, was a leader of the New Zealand women's suffrage movement.

Rewi Alley was fatally wounded in action and died on 17 June 1916, at the age of 23.

In 1916, Rewi Alley joined the New Zealand Army and was sent to serve in France, where he won the Military Medal.

Rewi Alley moved to Shanghai with thoughts of joining the Shanghai Municipal Police, but instead, he became a fire officer and municipal factory inspector.

Rewi Alley joined a political study group whose members included Alec Camplin, George Hatem, Ruth Weiss, Trude Rosenberg, Heinz Schippe, Irene Wiedemeyer, Talitha Gerlach, Maud Russell, Lily Haass, Cora Deng and Cao Liang.

Rewi Alley's politics turned from fairly-conventional right-wing pro-empire sentiments to thoughts of social reform.

Rewi Alley adopted a 14-year-old Chinese boy, Duan Si Mou, whom he named Alan, in 1929.

Rewi Alley adopted another Chinese son, Li Xue, whom he called Mike, in 1932.

Rewi Alley set up schools, which he called Bailie Schools after his American friend Joseph Bailie.

Rewi Alley "expressed the gravest doubts as to the efficacy of attempting to raise an infantry unit for purely local defence" because he did not "think suitable material [was] available either as leaders or for the rank and file", and questioned if the garrison had the time to train and equip such a unit.

Rewi Alley stressed the importance of introducing "pro-Chinese" education for the soldiers and he pro- posed that "the best man he can suggest as the chief organizer is Yeh Chieh Ying ", a Cantonese Communist general.

We sat and talked for most of an afternoon, with Rewi Alley occasionally jumping up to fetch a book or check a point.

Rewi Alley 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.

Unlike most of the friends of the Chinese Communist Party who remained in Beijing, Rewi Alley had little trouble travelling around the world, usually lecturing on the need for nuclear disarmament.

Rewi Alley supported the Communist North Vietnam during the Vietnam War.

Rewi Alley was appointed a Companion of the Queen's Service Order for community service in the 1985 New Year Honours.

In 1996, Jack Body wrote an opera in three acts, "Rewi Alley", based on his life, with libretto by Geoff Chapple.

An extensive memorial to Rewi Alley has been erected at Springfield, Canterbury, New Zealand.

Rewi Alley met the British biochemist and historian Joseph Needham in the summer of 1943 and they became lifelong friends.

Rewi Alley translated numerous Chinese poems and wrote a number of original works.