Ｓｐｅｅｃｈ ｂｙ ＣＰＡＦＦＣ Ｖｉｃｅ Ｐｒｅｓｉｄｅｎｔ Ｌｉ Ｊｉａｎｐｉｎｇ （Ｅｘｃｅｒｐｔｓ）

Today， we are holding this grand meeting here to commemorate the 110th anniversary of birth， 80th anniversary of arrival in China and 20th anniversary of passing of Rewi Alley， our friend from New Zealand， a renowned writer， poet， educator and social activist.

Rewi Alley was born in New Zealand on December 2， 1897. After he came to China in April 1927 till he died in 1987， he lived and worked on this land for sixty long years， sharing weal and woe and tiding over difficulties together with the Chinese people. Comrade Deng Xiaoping spoke highly of his life. He said: “Thousands upon thousands of foreign friends have helped the cause of the Chinese revolution. It is no easy thing to have done so much for the Chinese people as Comrade Rewi Alley has done constantly for half a century， whether in the years when we faced difficulties and adversity， or in the years when we fought for the triumph of our revolution， or in the years since victory was won in our revolution. It is only natural that he enjoys the respect of the Chinese people.”

Rewi Alley is an internationalist fighter. He came to Shanghai in 1927. He had served as chief factory inspector and fireman in the Shanghai Municipal Council of the International Settlement， and witnessed many phenomena of social inequality and scenes of Chinese workers being exploited and oppressed by imperialists and capitalists. Through his contacts with the lowest Chinese masses， he deeply sympathized with and loved the country in abyss and decided to stay and do his best to help the people who suffered from the chaos caused by war. When the white terror reigned over Shanghai， he took no notice of his personal safety in assisting the underground struggle of the Communist Party in Shanghai and used his home as a shelter for the Communists. He had devoted his whole life to China. When Rewi Alley passed away， Deng Xiaoping wrote an inscription for him: The great champion of internationalism is immortal!

Rewi Alley is a social activist. Soon after Japan attacked Shanghai in 1937， together with Edgar Snow and Helen Snow， Alley initiated an industrial cooperative movement to support the Resistance War through self-support production. Alley went to towns and villages of many provinces and cities in the vast rear areas of our country including the Eighth Route Army and the New Fourth Army controlled areas and helped organize altogether about three thousand cooperative factories and workshops， manufacturing nearly a thousand kinds of daily necessities， and even some military supplies. The Gung Ho movement， as a unique force of the united front of Kuomintang-Communist Party of China cooperation in the Resistance War， had not only made positive contributions to supporting the Resistance War， but also provided employment for innumerable jobless workers and refugees at that time. It was highly commended by Mao Zedong， Zhou Enlai and other leaders and won enthusiastic support from justice-upholding personages of various countries in the world.

Rewi Alley is an educator. He foresaw that the construction of New China would need plenty of trained personnel. He and the former English journalist George Hogg established Bailie Technical School in Shuang Shipu of Shaanxi Province in 1942. The school moved to Shandan of Gansu Province in 1944. Alley had explored an education mode of half work-half study， combining teaching with production to train people who would be able to “use both brain and hands， and create and analyse” in the poverty-stricken areas. In 1953， the school moved to Lanzhou and changed its name into Lanzhou Petroleum Technical School. For many years， it has cultivated many outstanding technicians in oil and other industries who undertake important technical or leading positions in various big oilfields and other industrial battlefronts in our country.

Alley is a poet and writer. He extensively collected and read Chinese and foreign books， devoted himself to the research of the Chinese history and culture， and wrote diligently and collected cultural relics enthusiastically. For decades， he had traveled over the whole China， experienced its people’s life of hardship and misery in the old society and investigated the glorious achievements of the socialist construction in New China. He wrote Yo Banfa， Snow over the Pines and other collections of prose and poems. He also translated poems of Li Bai， Du Fu， Bai Juyi and poems of Chinese Minorities into English and recommended them to the world. He presented his collection of nearly four thousand cultural relics to the people’s government of Shandan County of Gansu Province. He finished Rewi Alley: An Autobiography in his remaining years， which has truly recorded his colourful life. Rewi Alley’s more than sixty works reflect the tremendous changes and progress achieved by the Chinese people in the various periods and fields of their revolution and construction and enhanced the world people’s understanding of and friendship with China.

Rewi Alley is also a fighter in safeguarding world peace. During the 1950s and 1960s， he attended many conferences including the Peace Conference of the Asian and Pacific Regions in Beijing and the World Conference Against Atomic and Hydrogen Bombs in Japan. He also represented New Zealand to sit on the Peace Liaison Committee of the Asian and Pacific Regions; and he published a large number of poems， articles and works on safeguarding world peace.

Rewi Alley is， moreover， a builder of the friendship bridge between the Chinese and New Zealand peoples， and a friendship envoy of the Chinese people’s contact with people of other countries in the world. Due to Rewi Alley’s efforts and influence， the Bailie School in Shandan and Gung Ho that he had initiated have always received special care from the government and people of New Zealand. To support these two undertakings has been regarded as an important action in developing friendship between the Chinese and New Zealand peoples. Rewi Alley’s birthplace Christchurch and his second home Gansu Province were twinned as the first pair of friendship cities between China and New Zealand， and now the number of such friendship cities has increased to 24 pairs; and the economic， cultural and professional exchanges between the two countries have grown steadily. He was conferred honorary citizenship of Beijing and Gansu Province. His contributions to enhancing the understanding， friendship and cooperation between the peoples of China and New Zealand are a glorious page in the history of China-New Zealand relations; and his efforts for safeguarding national independence and world peace and promoting the cause of friendship between the people of various countries have won respect of the common people.

Fighting with the Chinese people side by side， Alley had worked hard for the cause of the Chinese people’s revolution and construction for sixty whole years. Either in the hearts of the Chinese people or in the eyes of the people of New Zealand， the name Rewi Alley has represented a spirit and strength of selfless devotion and universal brotherhood.

To commemorate Rewi Alley today， we will inherit and develop the cause of Gung Ho and Shandan Bailie School that he had resumed in his late years， continue to develop the “Gung Ho” spirit of “working hard and working together”， and working with one mind and devotion， make great efforts to advance the new-type vocational education that he had advocated combining classroom teaching and productive labour， and cultivate a new generation ofpractical people possessing ability to do actual work and awareness for innovation， in order to meet the needs of building a socialist harmonious society.

To commemorate Rewi Alley today， we will enhance his internationalist spirit of selflessness and keeping the entire world in mind; learn from his broad mind and foresight in caring about China and the living environment and sustainable development of all mankind， his life philosophy of seeking no fame or gain， his greatness lying in commonplaceness， 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.

The Chinese people haven’t forgotten and will never forget this great internationalist fighter. A country takes people as the foremost， and harmony is regarded the priority by the people. At present， the Chinese people are implementing in depth a scientific outlook on development and building a harmonious socialist society in an all-round way. We must inherit and develop Rewi Alley’s spirit， unite all the forces that can be united and make concerted efforts to build a well-off society in all respects， accelerate the advancement of the socialist modernization in China， enhance the friendship and cooperation between the peoples of China and New Zealand and promote the development of friendly relations between China and other countries in the world.

Although Rewi Alley has left us for twenty years， his spirit will be with us forever.