Rewi Alley, (2 December 1897 – 27 December 1987) |
Rewi Alley, (2 December 1897 – 27 December 1987) was a New Zealand-born writer, educator, and social reformer.
He came to China in 1927 and published numerous articles about the Chinese people fighting against the Japanese invasion. He helped establish the Chinese Industrial Cooperatives, which became a group for unemployed workers and refugees to survive and support the anti-Japanese war. He also set up some technical training schools, including the Peili Vocational Institute, now known as the Beijing Bailie University.
He met with several Chinese top leaders including Mao Zedong and Deng Xiaoping after the foundation of the People's Republic of China. He was named Honorary Citizen by the Beijing Municipal government in 1982 when he was 85, and by the Gansu Provincial government in 1985. When he passed away in December 1987, Deng Xiaoping wrote a message to commemorate him: "May this great international communist soldier live forever!"