Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Dear Friends,

Good morning! Kia Ora！大家早上好！

Welcome to the symposium on "Rewi Alley's Legacy, Our Shared Friendship" and the Opening of the Photo Exhibition on China and Rewi Alley in 1979.

You know who I am, and I am going to double as your MC this morning. Please bear with me as I shall dispense with the housekeeping this morning. I suppose you all know what to do and when.

To start with, together with CG Chen Shijie and CG He Ying, I would like to make a few acknowledgments. 

First, let me thank the NZ China Friendship Society, who has co-sponsored today’s event with the Chinese Embassy and Consulates-General in NZ. As many of you know, the Society was initiated by Rewi Alley himself, and is the custodian of his legacy in NZ. Thank you Sir David Carter, Patron of the Society, Sharon, its National VP and the Society’s other members who may or may not be here today.

Let me also acknowledge my big brother, HW Wayne Brown, mayor of Auckland. Thank you for your support for today’s event and the broader China-NZ relationship.

Let me also acknowledge the NZ International Art Exchange Association and the HomeVoice newspaper for putting together the photo exhibition. Thank you Allen Wang and Vicky Lu. In this connection, I also wish to flag my appreciation to Geoff Steven, who is the photographer behind the exhibition, without whose support the exhibition would not have been possible. He is also the producer of the short Rewi Alley video shown before the symposium and of a longer Rewi Alley documentary, the first such documentary telling the story of the remarkable life of Rewi Alley.

We are also joined today by members of the Rewi Alley Whanau, Sarah, Dorothy, and Prof. Lu Bo, widow of Prof. Deng Bangzhen, a foster son of Rewi Alley. Welcome.

Let me also acknowledge Andy Boreham, a kiwi journalist who is also a celebrity influencer based in Shanghai, joining us online. A few years ago, he retraced the steps of Rewi Alley in China and produced a documentary on his story. 

I also want to thank the BOC NZ for kindly hosting us today. Thank you very much Warren Hu and team.

Our appreciation also goes to Dr. Yang Jian and all other distinguished guests for your support today.

But last but not least, let me welcome Mr. Jin Dong, ED of the China Coal mine Art Troupe and his colleagues, who have chosen NZ as the destination of their tour as they wish to join in paying tribute to Rewi Alley and his legacy.

In China, Rewi Alley is a household name held in high esteem, a towering monument to the friendship between our two nations.  

We gather here today to celebrate his legacy by not merely reminiscing about his remarkable life and journey, but also renewing, together, our shared pledge to deepen the friendship between China and NZ for the benefit of our two peoples going into the future.

In 1927, at just thirty years of age, Rewi Alley set out on the long journey from New Zealand to China. Over the six decades that followed, he never really left China, and dedicated his energy and passion to the Chinese people's struggle for liberation and development, forging deep and lasting bonds with ordinary Chinese people as well as China's great revolutionary leaders — Chairman Mao Zedong, Premier Zhou Enlai, Comrades Deng Xiaoping and Xi Zhongxun among them. In his autobiography, Alley wrote with characteristic humility and conviction: "I have watched the efforts of the Chinese people to throw off their shackles, stand up and order their own destiny, ever fighting their way through. It was my privilege to have close contact with the working folk, to live with them and join in their struggle. I find close ties with advancing China, ever grateful to have been able to share in its grand endeavor."

Alley lived his internationalist ideals to the very end. As he once put it: "A quarter of the world is China. To forge people's friendship between this quarter of mankind and the other three quarters is indeed a challenging cause, but in that strength, my mind finds peace again." These were not mere idle words — they were the compass by which he lived his entire life.

In Shandan, Gansu Province, he founded the Bailie School, championing an educational philosophy that joined "hand and mind" — nurturing creativity and critical thinking alike — and training a generation of practical, skilled talents for China. During the darkest years of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, he launched the Gung Ho — or Industrial Cooperatives — movement, rallying refugees and workers to keep the frontlines supplied with vital military and civilian goods.

Though he never married, Alley opened his heart and home to more than sixty orphans, giving them not just an education, but a family. They called him, with deep affection, "Papa Alley." 

Comrade Deng Xiaoping, chief architect of China's reform and opening-up, once said of Rewi Alley: "Rare are those like Comrade Rewi Alley, who for fifty years on end has done tremendous work for the Chinese people — through years of hardship, through the pioneering days, and beyond, to victory. The respect the Chinese people hold for him is warranted, and it is earned."

New Zealand's former Prime Minister David Lange, moved deeply after reading Alley's autobiography, observed that few people have been so closely woven into the fabric of a nation through such a period of profound upheaval and transformation — truly a bridge across the distance between our two countries. That same profound respect echoes in China today. President Xi Jinping affectionately calls him "Ai Lao" — "Elder Alley" — a title of deep affection and esteem in Chinese culture, and has spoken of him time and again as a great internationalist fighter and a true old friend of the Chinese people.

And yet, for all this admiration, Alley never once considered himself anything more than an ordinary New Zealander — a lifelong learner who sought no credit, no glory. At eighty-three, he left a final, humble instruction in his will: that his ashes be scattered across the fields of Shandan, without ceremony. "It is just one more soldier marching on," he wrote. What an understatement. In that simplicity, in that purity of heart, the nobility of his internationalist spirit shines through brighter than any monument ever could.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The spirit of Rewi Alley is not confined to the past — it speaks also to our current times. Today, as unilateralism and protectionism rise, as climate change and regional conflict converge into ever greater global challenges, no nation can stand alone. When we look back on Alley's life — his selfless choice to reach across nationality, ethnicity, and ideology — we see it echo in the vision China champions today: a community with a shared future for mankind. Alley's life proves, beyond doubt, that nations and peoples can tear down barriers, cherish mutual respect, and stride forward hand in hand. Perhaps the most precious lesson he left us is this: only by standing together can humanity weather hardships and build a future of lasting peace and shared prosperity.

Next year marks the 100th anniversary of Rewi Alley's arrival in China. The Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, and the New Zealand China Friendship Society, with the support of the Chinese Embassy and Consulates-General in New Zealand, will launch a series of commemorative activities — sustaining the effort to keep his story alive and carry his spirit of friendship into the future.

Though Alley is no longer with us, his spirit transcends time and space, as vivid and inspiring today as ever. This internationalist fighter — who called himself nothing more than an ordinary New Zealander — has become an enduring monument of friendship in the hearts of our two peoples, and a bridge linking the Chinese people, one quarter of humanity, in deep and lasting friendship with the other three quarters of our world.

Let us follow in Rewi Alley's footsteps. Let us carry forward his internationalist spirit of peace and justice, deepen the exchanges in education, culture, and people-to-people ties that bind our two nations, and nurture a new generation of friendship envoys for a new era. Together, let us write a new and vibrant chapter in the story of China-New Zealand friendship.

Thank you.