A Shanghai Daily visit to New Zealand's national film and TV archive has uncovered some rarely seen archival material of Rewi Alley, a Kiwi who lived in China for 60 years and ultimately become a symbol of China-New Zealand friendship.
Rewi Alley first arrived in China at Shanghai's Pier 16 in 1927. He would live in various places across the country for the rest of his life as a fire fighter and safety inspector, humanitarian, school teacher, revolutionary, peace activist, author and more before passing away in Beijing in 1987.
Zhou Shengjie / SHINEAndy Boreham hands his donation to Kate Roberts from Ngā Taonga.
Shanghai Daily's Andy Boreham, a fellow New Zealander who has been making a documentary on Alley for the past three years, is currently in New Zealand filming the legend's early life, and seeking to uncover what locals today know of him.
The trip included a visit to Ngā Taonga, New Zealand's film and television archive, to donate an interview Boreham conducted with one of Rewi's adopted sons, 85-year-old Nie Guangtao, late last year.
"Grandpa Nie has so many stories to tell, not only about how he was saved by Rewi Alley at just six years of age, but also about his stories of friendship with New Zealand over the years," Boreham said.
"But he's not getting any younger, so I really thought it was important to get some of that history down on film so people can look back on his stories in the future."
Zhou Shengjie / SHINE
Kate Roberts goes over the donation procedures with Andy.
The donation also included a copy of the Shanghai and Gansu chapters of Boreham's documentary, Finding Rewi Alley, as well as other supporting material like transcripts and translations.
Kate Roberts, group manager of preservation at the archive, received Boreham's donation on behalf of Ngā Taonga.
Roberts noted Rewi Alley's significance as a New Zealander, especially when it comes to China-New Zealand relations, making content on him historically valuable.
"He's definitely a significant New Zealander," she told Shanghai Daily. "And so wherever stories about China and New Zealand occur, his name tends to come up ... he's a significant New Zealander because of his connection to China."
During Boreham's visit to the archives, the Ngā Taonga crew found some decades-old archived material on Rewi Alley, including an old New Zealand news interview and some New Zealand-made documentaries.
The archive will digitize the materials from motion picture film, not only to preserve them better into the future, but also so that they can be shared more widely.
"I will definitely use some historical clips in my documentary," Boreham added. "It's so important to pass on Rewi's legacy, and that becomes so much easier when we can see these historical figures in motion, so to speak, so I'm excited."
Wang Haoling / SHINE
Andy checks out a 16mm reel of an archived film featuring Rewi Alley.
Kate Roberts noted that members of the public are welcome to research and utilize Ngā Taonga's collections for research and so on.
"New Zealanders can all access the collections and often do, either because they have a personal interest in the content or they want to look at it for research or because they want to reuse it," she said.
Roberts feels that Alley's archived material may become more and more significant for Chinese researchers in the future, adding that they're welcome to come and take a look.
"There are various communities that are really interested in his work and life in China, and he's significant to the Chinese people."
The New Zealand chapter of Boreham's documentary, Finding Rewi Alley, will be released in the next few months.