Ｎｅｗ Ｚｅａｌａｎｄ Ｆｒｉｅｎｄ Ｔｏｍ Ｎｅｗｎｈａｍ Ｃｏｎｆｅｒｒｅｄ Ｕｐｏｎ Ｔｉｔｌｅ ｏｆ Ｆｒｉｅｎｄｓｈｉｐ Ａｍｂａｓｓａｄｏｒ

On behalf of the CPAFFC， its Vice President Li Xiaolin presented the certificate and medal of Friendship Ambassador to New Zealand friend Tom Newnham on September 8， 2006.

Tom Newnham is a well-known social activist in New Zealand and one of the founders of the New Zealand-China Friendship Society (NZCFS). He has served as president of the NZCFS Auckland Branch for many years.

Mr. Newnham yearned for China when he was still a student. He read about Rewi Alley’s experience in China in the newspapers and was determined to follow in his steps. In 1987， he came to Gansu Province of China to take part in the rebuilding of the Shandan Bailie School and taught there for months. In 1989， he came to China again doing research for his book on Kathleen Hall who had worked in China’s base area together with Dr. Norman Bethune during the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and saved the lives of a large number of anti-Japanese fighters. For writing this biography， Mr. Newnham stayed in the countryside of Hebei Province for a year， collecting materials. The publication of the biography in 1992 aroused people’s great interest in Kathleen Hall and enabled people in China and New Zealand to realize the important role she had played in the friendship between them. Therefore， the scholarship named after her was set up in New Zealand. In 1993， together with Kathleen’s niece， Mr. Newnham escorted her ashes to Quyang of Hebei Province and erected a memorial monument there. In 1996， he opened an English Corner at a park in Auckland， providing convenient place for Chinese immigrants to practice spoken English. He was invited by the CPAFFC to edit a book series Global Village in the same year.

The CPAFFC conferred upon Mr. Tom Newnham the title of Friendship Ambassador in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the promotion of friendship and understanding between the people of China and New Zealand.