Rewi Alley: A Story Retold and Rejuvenated

By Bo Ning & Hu Jian Translation by Li Wenni

Rewi Alley: A Story Retold and Rejuvenated

By Bo Ning & Hu Jian Translation by Li Wenni

On t h e e v e n i n g o f November 23, 2017,a young Caucasian named Laurence Larson belts the impassioned refrains of an original song in fluent Mandarin Chinese in the concert hall of Central China Normal University. To pay homage to Rewi Alley, a special concert was organized for the college students of Hubei Province in commemoration of Rewi Alley’s 120th Anniversary.The song tells a beautiful story of a friend from a faraway foreign land who dedicated his life and energy to China.

A p r i l 21, 1927, a strapping young man by the name of Rewi Alley hailing from a small town in New Zealand disembarked a ship at Pier 16 on the Bund of Shanghai and set foot in China for the first time.The thirty-year old had only been granted a six-month visa to glimpse the Oriental country that had long been shrouded in mystery. Yet after a 60 year stay in China he passed away in Beijing in 1987 at the age of 90.

American journalist Edgar Snow first met Alley in Inner Mongolia “in the arid June of 1929,” as the New Zealander was about to help the disaster relief efforts in the Suiyuan Area. Edgar Snow later recalled, Alley “was a strangely out-of-place figure in that dark sickly crowd, his sunburned face covered with dust beneath a fi ery bush of upstanding hair. When he stood with those giant’s legs spread apart in a characteristic attitude, he seemed somehow rooted to earth…He works all summer among the typhus-infested people,distributing relief grain, helping build irrigation trenches,and nursing children back to health.”

Alley came into the Chinese people’s life at a most tumultuous time. He fought for the rights of the exploited workers, and set up the “Bailie Technical School” for the povertystricken children, and volunteered countless times to aid disaster victims. He gave his blood,toil, sweat and tears to the Chinese people. Alley never married, but it can be said that he had lots of children and grandchildren since many of the Chinesechildren he adopted now have their own great-grandchildren.

跨过语言的微笑穿过大海感受你的心跳他留在生命中每个记号这是爱 温暖的存在

——《这样一个人》

2017年11月23日晚，华中师范大学音乐厅，纪念路易·艾黎诞辰120周年暨新西兰文化周湖北大学生专场音乐会上，新西兰歌手罗艺恒正用娴熟的汉语，演唱他创作的纪念路易·艾黎的歌曲。

1927年4月21日，路易·艾黎从新西兰小镇来到上海。彼时，他正值而立之年，原本只办了6个月的签证，不想一待就是60年，直至1987年在北京去世。

两年后，美国记者埃德加·斯诺在内蒙古遇到赴绥远赈灾的艾黎。斯诺这样描写艾黎：“艾黎被太阳晒红的面孔，满脸风尘，头发乱蓬蓬地。他站在地上那两条粗壮的大腿，活像从地里长出来的两根树干。他的大头，像一座石头大山雕刻出来的，我被他深深地吸引了……整个夏天，艾黎都在斑疹伤寒患者中间工作，发放救济粮，修筑灌渠，护理病弱儿童。”

艾黎在中国人民最苦难的时刻到来，为遭受剥削的人们奔走呐喊，为贫苦孩子创办“培黎工艺学校”，自愿屡赴灾区救助灾民，把自己的一生献给中国人民。他终身未婚，却儿孙满堂，他在中国收养的子女，如今很多已经四世同堂。

从1932年到1983年，他曾五次到湖北洪湖，参与抗洪抢险，为洪湖老解放区运送救济粮，慰问受灾群众，被洪湖人民亲切地称为“洪湖候鸟”。

2009年12月8日，5600万中国网民投票选出新中国成立前后100年间，对中国帮助最大、最受中国人民爱戴的十位国际友人，艾黎与白求恩、埃德加·斯诺一同位列其中。邓小平称他为“中国人民的老战士、老朋友、老战友”。

为纪念路易·艾黎诞辰120周年，湖北省自2017年初起便陆续展开征文、著书、建桥、办文化周、音乐会在内的一系列活动。

音乐会上这首中文歌，来自于中新友好协会副主席乔治·安德鲁斯的灵光一闪。

安德鲁斯说：“路易·艾黎是上个世纪的人，我认为罗艺恒的歌会使路易·艾黎的精神变得年轻，让新一代人乐于接受这种精神。”

在安德鲁斯眼中，中新两国的关联源远流长。数千年前，新西兰的第一批居民便来自中国海岸。早在1957年，中新友好协会第一次访华时就到过武汉，其领导人还参加过武汉长江大桥的修建。今年，他们再次到湖北武汉以及艾黎曾经抗洪的地方——洪湖。在洪湖的路易·艾黎纪念馆内，讲述艾黎在华经历的珍贵图片令安德鲁斯大为感动：“虽然新西兰也有路易·艾黎纪念馆，但对其事迹的历史记录远不及洪湖。”

如今，中新贸易、学术和旅游等各方面交流得到长足发展，这得益于两国人民共同的努力。从路易·艾黎到罗艺恒，两国之间友谊的故事不断谱写着新的篇章。

From 1932 to 1983, Alley went to Honghu in Hubei on five separate occasions. He is remembered for his magnificent contributions to the fl ood control and food delivery to the liberated areas of Honghu to help the affected masses. Residents in Honghu affectionately called Rewi Alley the “migratory bird of Honghu.”

On December 8, 2009, fiftysix million Chinese netizens voted for the Top Ten International Friends who made “exceptional contributions to the country in the past 100 years.” Alley made it onto the list right alongside the likes of Norman Bethune and Edgar Snow. Deng Xiaoping called him, “a champion, a friend and a comrade-in-arms of the Chinese people.”

To celebrate Rewi Alley’s 120th anniversary, starting from the beginning of 2017,Hubei Province has been hosting a series of events including c o m m i s s i o n i n g a n e s s a y competition on New Zealand-China Friendship, building a Hubei Memorial Bridge in Alley’s hometown, and celebrating Rewi Alley Day and Hubei-New Zealand Cultural Week to honor this “migratory bird of Honghu.”

G e o r g e A n d r e w s, V i c e President of New Zealand-China Friendship Society, was the one who came up with the idea to create a song for Alley in Mandarin, which was performed for the first time in the gala concert during the culture week.

According to Andrews, Rewi Alley “was a last century man, so he (Laurence Larson) needs to rejuvenate his story and make it relevant to a new generation.”

In his eyes, contact between China and New Zealand goes a long way back. It began thousands of years ago when the ancestors of the Polynesians set out from coastal China on their long migration towards the Pacific Ocean. Many generations later,around seven hundred years ago, these magnificent seafarers became the fi rst settlers of New Zealand.

The New Zealand-China Friendship Society, which was founded in the spirit of Rewi Alley, paid its first visit to Wuhan in 1957. Leaders of the society even helped in the construction of the Wuhan Yangtze River Bridge 60 years ago. This year, representatives of the society came to Hubei again to commemorate Rewi Alley. Andrews was impressed to see “his whole life story remembered” at the Rewi Alley Memorial Hall in Honghu, “It was very moving, indeed.”

Nowadays, bilateral trade,academic exchange and tourism have come a long way, which could not have been achieved without the corporative efforts of a great many people from two different nations.

While Rewi Alley was the hero of the last century, Laurence Larson (Chinese name Luo Yiheng) will be the star of a new era. Laurence Larson came to the attention of Chinese audiences in 2016 when he was a contestant in the original music reality show Sing My Song.Andrews met Larson in New Zealand and brought up the idea of writing a song about Rewi Alley. When researching Alley’s stories, Larson was deeply moved by Alley’s experiences in China, “When I thought of the fact that Louis Alley was alone in China for 60 years to help the local people, I felt more than just shocked. A melody just popped into my head, and I immediately decided this was it!”

And so, the song “Rewi” was born. Alley traveled far across the ocean and managed to break the language barrier. Besides sending out love and peace in the spirit of internationalism to help the Chinese people through wars and disasters, he wrote dozens of books over the course of decades that represent the authentic image of China. The story of this great writer and social reformer named Rewi Alley will be proudly trumpeted across the continents bilingually in English and Chinese. ♦ (Photos provided by New Zealand-China Friendship Society and Foreign Affairs Off i ce of Hubei Provincial People’s Government)

2016年，罗艺恒通过《中国好歌曲》节目在华崭露头角。安德鲁斯在新西兰与罗艺恒结识，提出专门为路易·艾黎创作一首歌的想法。了解艾黎的事迹后，罗艺恒深受感动：“当我想到路易·艾黎，只身一人在中国，帮助中国人民长达60年，感到的不仅仅是震撼，更有一段旋律从我脑中涌现出来，我立刻决定就是它了。”

于是，便有了歌曲《这样一个人》。路易·艾黎就是这样一个人，他跨越语言的鸿沟，飘洋过海来到中国，凭着他国际主义的大爱与中国人民共同度过水深火热的战乱与灾年，数十年笔耕不辍，用几十本书向世界书写中国。伴随着歌曲的优美旋律，作家和社会改革家路易·艾黎的故事将以中英双语的形式传唱四方。♦（图片由新中友好协会以及湖北省外办提供）

新西兰文化周音乐会上外国艺术家表演毛利战舞Maori haka performed in the gala concert during the Hubei-New Zealand Culture Week

这样一个人

文/柏宁 胡健
译/李雯妮

More than just a smile, beyond the limits of language

Traveled over great seas to hear another man’s heart beat Leaving his mark on life

This love, still holds a warm existence

—Rewi