Introducing
Rewi Alley the Writer
REWI ALLEY THE WRITER
Because of his association with a communist regime, public opinion in New Zealand was divided in its assessment of Alley’s activities, and from 1950 attitudes hardened towards him when he publicly identified himself with opposition to American policy in the Korean War. As the Cold War deepened, the familiar name of the man many New Zealanders had admired, through such widely publicised ventures as the shipment of local sheep to China, rarely appeared in newspaper coverage.
In 1952 Rewi Alley declined an invitation from Jawaharlal Nehru, the prime minister of India, to establish village co-operatives there. He settled in Peking (Beijing) in 1953 and travelled extensively within and beyond China, propagandising on behalf of international peace committees, especially the World Peace Council. In the following decade, and in his capacity as secretary of the Asian–Pacific peace liaison committee in Beijing, he visited Pyongyang, Havana, Stockholm, and Jakarta to speak at international peace conferences.
During this period he became increasingly immersed in writing about China, pamphleteering, and some poetry reflective of the time and his observations and experiences. Among his 53 books, many of which were published in New Zealand, those describing his philosophy and experience of co-operative education included Yo banfa!; Sandan: an adventure in creative education; and Fruition: the story of George Alwin Hogg. In the 1950s he turned to translations of early Chinese writers.
A SNAPSHOT OF THE BOOKS AND POEMS REWI ALLEY WROTE
Fruition: The Story of George Alwin Hogg
Winds of Change
The People have Strenght
Yo Banfa
Travels in China
Leaves From a Sandan Notebook
The Six Amercians
Human China
73 Man to Be – Poems By Rewi Alley
Fragments of Living Peking – Poems by Rewi Alley
Who Is The Enemy – Poems by Rewi Alley
Today & Tomorrow: Poems by Rewi Alley
This is China Today: Poems by Rewi Alley
What is Sin: Poems by Rewi Alley
The Freshening Breeze: Poems by Rewi Alley
25 Poems of Protest: Poems by Rewi Alley
Upsurge Asia and the Pacific; Poems By Rewi Alley
The Mistake: Poems By Rewi Alley
On our search to develop this website we came across an audio of a collection of Rewi Alley’s Poems on Youtube.
They we posted by a person with the monkier Ben the Benelovent who found a CD in a reocrd store
He writes
“This is from a CD of Rewi Alley’s poems that I found in Big Star Records, a great and unique record store in Rundle Street, Adelaide, South Australia”
The Poems are from 25 Poems Of Protest
A Snapshot of the Books Rewi Alley
Rewi Alley Book
Order yours now!
Written by Rewi Alley’s niece Philippa Reynolds in 1997, it details the life of the New Zealand-born writer, educator and political activist who dedicated 60 years to humanitarian causes in China and written as an easy and engaging read by people of all ages, interests and walks of life.
Over 200 pages detailing the life of Rewi Alley starting from his birth in Canterbury in 1897 through to his death in China in 1987.