Rewi Alley, the Guiding Genius1领路天才路易·艾黎

海伦·福斯特·斯诺

Several foreign advisors have rendered distinguished service to the Chinese 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 closely 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 serious case 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 based upon the integrity and efficiency of this one individual， and he was deluged with requests to take better care of himself in future.

Alley comes of Scotch-Irish2 and English Puritan stock3， and of one of the first families to settle 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.

Alleys 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 several 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 seventeen years ago. During those years he was Factory Inspector for the Municipal Council， and learned the conditions of Chinese industry and labor from the ground up. Whenever anyone wanted information on those subjects， he was always advised to “go talk to Alley of the S. M. C.” In his attempts to reform factory conditions in that city， Alley met Joseph 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 overseas Chinese life in New Zealand， the Philippines， England， the United States， Australia， Singapore and elsewhere.

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 seems as indefatigable7 as a steam engine. He has frank very blue eyes under a scruff of sandy hair， and a boyish grin when anything amuses him.

Alley is a little on the “dour8-Scotch” side， serious-minded， studious and quiet. He talks very little and is extremely modest and unassuming， but quick to rise to the defense of anything he believes in. Nothing angers him more than corruption and selfishness and intrigue， but he has infinite patience with the underprivileged class whose 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 these two occasions he adopted a Chinese orphan boy.  These two boys turned out to be phenomenally successful as an experiment in foster-fatherhood. Though he has been more 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 Alleys personal conversation centers around the exploits9 of “Mike and Allen.”

Alley seems always to have been keenly interested in China and to really like the Chinese people. He reads and writes the language fluently， and speaks several dialects. He has helped a continuous string of poor Chinese students through school and his house in Shanghai was always full of Boy Scouts planning expeditions and experiments.

Alleys most important qualifications for his present work， aside from his long experience and studies of both rural and urban industry， are the ability to improvise and utilize existing conditions to the full， and the capacity to get along with the type of Chinese with whom the Industrial Cooperatives have to deal. Where other experts from abroad would have given up in despair and indignation at the circumstances confronting an attempt to bring modern cooperative industry to the semi-feudal Chinese village， Alley takes them in his stride10. He does not demand perfection， but has a broad vision of an ultimate goal that does not stop at model centers and academic quibbling11. For him the Industrial Cooperatives are not an experiment on paper， but a living movement with all the multifarious problems of human life. Separately or together， he tackles these problems as they come up with dogged12 persistence. He is working with the basic human material of China， with the workers and engineers and technicians， the refugees and villagers. One can not point to a better proof of the splendid qualities inherent in the people of China than Alleys boundless sympathy and confidence in them after his difficult experiences during these past few years.

We can only match an ounce of his belief with a dollar of our own contributed toward the valuable work which he is doing.                                                          ■

抗战期间，几位外国顾问为中国政府提供了卓越的服务，他们几乎都是澳大利亚人或者新西兰人。比如，W. H. 唐纳德先生、乔治·谢泼德先生和路易·艾黎先生，还有一两位致力于宣传工作。

作为工业合作社的首席技术顾问，路易·艾黎从工合运动伊始就一直是这场运动的领导天才。在他之前可能还没有哪一个外国人如此密切地参与了中国一项重要重建运动的实地工作，而且肯定没有人曾遭遇更艰苦的工作环境。1939年夏天，他在江西一个小村子患上了一种非常严重的伤寒，病了数周。支持工合运动的人对他的康复充满焦虑，这也说明他们是多么重视他的领导力。直到那个时候，大家才切实认识到，人们对这项运动的信心很大程度上建立在他这个人的正直品格和高效工作之上。人们纷纷劝说他以后要好好照顾自己的身体。

艾黎家是新西兰第一批移民，他有苏格兰-爱尔兰血统和英格兰清教背景。母亲为他取名“路易”，这是新西兰早期原住民中那位著名族长的名字——一个相当古雅的名字。他刚从学校毕业，就应征入伍奔赴一战前线，在战斗中负了伤，因作战行动中非凡的英勇表现而被授予了新西兰人最高等级荣誉勋章。正是这段经历让他对帮助伤残士兵和前线战士产生了特殊的兴趣。他萌生了一个想法，即工业合作社应该制作军用羊毛毯并为伤残士兵真正回归正常生活的机会，将这纳入工业合作社的工作计划。

艾黎经营的第一个项目是羊毛生意。战后，他在新西兰购买了一个绵羊牧场，花了好几年时间照看羊群。（这也是工业合作社计划复兴中国羊毛产业的一个重要原因。）然而，这个职业并不适合这位进取心强的年轻人。于是，他去国外旅行，最终决定在上海市政委员会做工业方面的工作。那是在大约17年前的事了。在担任上海市政委员会工厂督察员的那些年里，他从基层了解到了中国工业和工人的情况。任何人需要关于这些问题的信息時，总是被告知“去和上海市政委员会的艾黎谈谈”。在他尝试改善上海的工厂条件时，遇到了裴义理和他的 “小伙子们”，当时他们正在开办技工学校。两人成为了朋友，共同培养出一小群经过福特式训练的工程师，这些工程师引领了中国合作社工业的发展。

假期里，艾黎通常会在中国内陆徒步旅行，在此过程中他调查了农村工业状况。多年来，他关于土纸、玻璃、棉花、羊毛和其他农村产业的研究成果发表在《中国研究》上。他出版的其他一些小册子是关于旅居新西兰、菲律宾、英国、美国、澳大利亚、新加坡等国的海外华人生活的研究。

从外表来看，艾黎像运动员一般敦实，肌肉结实，身体健壮，体格魁梧。这种天生的强壮对他而言是一种幸运，因为他的工作有危险性，至少每年要到中国各地走一趟。他像一台蒸汽机一样不知疲倦。他头发浅棕，留著背头，湛蓝的双眼目光真诚坦率。碰到可乐的事情会像孩子似的咧嘴一笑。

艾黎性格有点偏向苏格兰式的倔强，严肃，好学，安静。他沉默寡言，非常谦虚，为人低调，但他也敢于挺身捍卫自己的信仰。没有比腐败、自私和阴谋更令他愤怒的事情，他对底层的人们有着无限的耐心——多年以来，他一直致力于改善底层人的命运。在他苏格兰清教徒严厉、谨慎的外表之下，有着爱尔兰人的柔软内心。艾黎是慷慨和博爱的化身。在1929年西北大饥荒和1931年长江水灾期间，他向中国国际饥荒救济委员会提供了无偿援助，由此闻名中国。他在这两次援助中各收养了一名中国孤儿。他作为男性尝试收养孩子，结果非常成功，两个孩子都培养有成。尽管40多年来艾黎一直单身，他一直是称职的父亲，教育养子并带他们一起旅行。其中一个孩子在圣约翰大学读书时担任了班长，目前在工业合作社协助艾黎工作。他们三人感情深厚，艾黎的私人谈话大部分都围绕“迈克和艾伦”的奇遇。

艾黎似乎始终对中国抱有浓厚的兴趣，并且真正地喜欢中国人民。他汉语读写流利，能讲几种方言。他帮助了一批又一批中国贫困学生完成学业，他在上海的家中总是挤满了计划进行各种探险和试验的童子军。

除了他对农村、城市工业的长期经验和研究之外，艾黎能胜任当前工作最重要的一点在于他能随机应变，最大化地利用现有条件，还能与工业合作社必须打交道的社外的那类中国人相处好。在尝试把现代合作社工业引入一个半封建的中国村庄时，其他外籍专家可能会因为自己遭受的处境而感到沮丧和愤慨，因而放弃。艾黎则从容应对这些困难。他并不强求完美，而是对终极目标有着广博的认知，这种目标不会因为建立了示范中心和产生了学术争论而止步不前。对他而言，工业合作社并非纸上谈兵试验，而是一场鲜活的运动，涉及人类生活方方面面的问题。这些问题总是出现，他要么一一应对，要么一起解决。他正立足中国基本的人力条件而开展工作，既和工人、工程师、技术员合作，也同难民和村民打交道。经历了过去几年的艰难困苦，他对中国人民产生了无限的同情和无比的信任，这足以证明中华民族有着许多固有的优秀品质。

我们只有为他所从事的重要工作尽自己的绵薄之力，以此向他的坚定信念看齐。      □

1原文英文版见于美国胡佛研究所《尼姆·韦尔斯文献总汇》。本文为2020年度陕西省宝鸡市哲学社会科学专项课题“一带一路背景下宝鸡工合资料挖掘、遗存保护和精神传承研究”（项目编号：BJSKZX-202032）的阶段性成果。

2 Scotch-Irish苏格兰-爱尔兰裔的。  3 stock家族;世系。  4 gallantry（尤指在战场上）勇敢。  5 rehabilitation恢复（正常生活）;康复。

6此处指中国。  7 indefatigable不知疲倦的。  8 dour倔强的;严厉的。

9 exploit不寻常的行为;英勇的行为。  10 take in ones stride从容处理。  11 quibble（为小事）争论，发牢骚。

12 dogged坚持不懈的。