WELLINGTON, Sept. 2 (Xinhua) -- Commemorating Rewi Alley, who opened the door for New Zealand-China diplomatic ties, is very important both in China and New Zealand. "A tangible connection," said a New Zealand folk diplomacy expert on Friday.
"If I can connect the work of Rewi Alley in China and where we lived in New Zealand, I've got something tangible," said Michelle MacWilliam, chair of the Christchurch China Sister Cities Committee, while commenting on the life of Alley, a New Zealand-born writer, social reformer and educator.
This year marks the 50th anniversary of the diplomatic relations between China and New Zealand.
An old friend of the Chinese people, Alley spent 60 years living and working in China before he died in the 1990s. He made important contributions to the Chinese people's fight against the fascist invasion, the economic development of China, and the friendship between China and New Zealand, MacWilliam said.
"As we all know, relationships take time to build. He was doing his work in China and building that relationship," she told Xinhua.
Alley worked in some Chinese provinces and cities including Shanghai, Wuhan, Gansu and Hong Kong on humanitarian work, MacWilliam said.
He also provided the initiative of the Gung Ho ('work together') Movement, where people worked together, and that actually provided a micro economy for local villagers who were being disseminated by war, MacWilliam said, adding that people were taught to grow and feed themselves and sustain a community.
She noted that one of Alley's major contributions is the photo images that he took over the six decades in China. "He was a man who always had his camera. And these images were actually rare and they were a snapshot of a time when China was potentially closed off from the world," she said.
The photos chronicle the 20th century and the massive change that China went through. And that, for historical purposes, is just priceless, MacWilliam said. ■
