Rewi Alley, the Guiding Genius1领路天才路易·艾黎
作者：海伦·福斯特·斯诺
来源：《英语世界》2020年第11期
Several foreign advisors have rendered distinguished rvice to the Chine Government during the war， and nearly all of them happen to be either Australians or New Zealanders; for instance， Mr. W. H. Donald， Mr. George Shepherd and Mr. Rewi Alley， as well as one or two engaged in publicity work.
Rewi Alley， Chief Technical Advisor of the Industrial Cooperatives， has been the guiding genius behind this movement from the moment of its inception. Possibly no foreigner has ever before participated so cloly in the actual field work of a significant reconstruction movement in China， and certainly none has ever worked under more difficult circumstances. In the summer of 1939 he was ill for weeks in a little village in Kiangsi with a very rious ca of typhoid. The anxiety that attended his recovery was a measure of the importance which supporters attach to his leadership. Until that time， few realized exactly how much of the confidence in the movement was bad upon the integrity and efficiency of this one individual， and he was deluged with requests to take better care of himlf in future.
Alley comes of Scotch-Irish2 and English Puritan stock3， and of one of the first families to ttle in New Zealand. His mother rather quaintly named him “Rewi” after the famous native chieftain of early New Zealand days. As soon as he had graduated from school， he enlisted in the World War， during which he was wounded and received one of the highest decorations for special gallantry4 in action of any New Zealander. It is from this experience that he derived his special interest in helping disabled soldiers and in assisting the fighters at the front. It was his idea Indusco should make woolen blankets for the troops and provide for the real rehabilitation5 of disabled soldiers as part of its program.
Alley’s first venture was in a wool business. After the war he bought a sheep ranch in New Zealand and took care of his flocks for veral years. （This is also an important reason why Indusco has plans to revive the woolen industry of China.） This occupation did not suit an active young man， however， so he travelled abroad and finally decided to do industrial work for the Municipal Council in Shanghai. That was about venteen years ago. During tho years he was Factory Inspector for the Municipal Council， and l
earned the conditions of Chine industry and labor from the ground up. Whenever anyone wanted information on tho subjects， he was always advid to “go talk to Alley of the S. M. C.” In his attempts to reform factory conditions in that city， Alley met Joph Bailie and his “boys” who were operating apprentice schools， and from this friendship came the little group of a dozen Ford-trained engineers who have taken leadership in cooperative industry in China.
Alley usually spent his vacations on walking trips throughout the interior of China， during which he made investigations of rural industry. His studies of native paper， glass， cotton， woolen and other rural industries were published for many years in the China Journal. Some of his other pamphlets include studies of overas Chine life in New Zealand， the Philippines， England， the United States， Australia， Singapore and elwhere.
In appearance， Alley is the athletic type-stocky， with powerful muscles and exuberant good health. He is built almost four-square. This natural strength has been ver
y fortunate for him during his dangerous work， which requires travelling throughout the length and breadth of a continent6 at least once a year. He ems as indefatigable7 as a steam engine. He has frank very blue eyes under a scruff of sandy hair， and a boyish grin when anything amus him.
Alley is a little on the “dour8-Scotch” side， rious-minded， studious and quiet. He talks very little and is extremely modest and unassuming， but quick to ri to the defen of anything he believes in. Nothing angers him more than corruption and lfishness and intrigue， but he has infinite patience with the underprivileged class who lot he has tried to improve for so many years. Underneath his Puritan Scotch strictness and prudence， lies a soft Irish heart. Alley is the soul of generosity and humanitarian kindness. He is well-known in China for his voluntary assistance to the China International Famine Relief Commission during the great famine in the Northwest in 1929 and again at the time of the Yangtze Valley flood in 1931. On both of the two occasions he adopted a Chine orphan boy. The two boys turned out to be phenomenally successful as an experiment in foster-fatherhood. Though he has been mo
re than forty years a bachelor， Alley kept quite the paternal establishment， educating his adopted children and taking them with him on his travels. One of them was President of his class at St. Johns’ University and is now helping Alley with Indusco work. The three are devoted to each other， and much of Alley’s personal conversation centers around the exploits9 of “Mike and Allen.”
Alley ems always to have been keenly interested in China and to really like the Chine people. He reads and writes the language fluently， and speaks veral dialects. He has helped a continuous string of poor Chine students through school and his hou in Shanghai was always full of Boy Scouts planning expeditions and experiments.
Alley usually spent his vacations on walking trips throughout the interior of China， during which he made investigations of rural industry. His studies of native paper， glass， cotton， woolen and other rural industries were published for many years in the China Journal. Some of his other pamphlets include studies of overas Chine life in N
ew Zealand， the Philippines， England， the United States， Australia， Singapore and elwhere.
In appearance， Alley is the athletic type-stocky， with powerful muscles and exuberant good health. He is built almost four-square. This natural strength has been very fortunate for him during his dangerous work， which requires travelling throughout the length and breadth of a continent6 at least once a year. He ems as indefatigable7 as a steam engine. He has frank very blue eyes under a scruff of sandy hair， and a boyish grin when anything amus him.
