Talk:Rewi Alley
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Yeah yeah, I know it's stalled. I got bogged in conflicting biographies - several of them were written by close friends of Alley, and a more recent one has accused them of Haigography. I decided to work on the article offline rather than live.
Input from someone more expert in 20th century chinese history would be welcome. dramatic 06:42, 11 Apr 2005 (UTC)
The Japanese invaded China "proper" in 1937. They had taken Taiwan in 1895 and Manchuria in 1932, but in 1937 they invaded the historic eighteen provinces of China. There has to be a way to make that distinction clear. I have tried. If someone else can make it clearer please do, but to say they invaded "China" in 1937 is inaccurate. Lao Wai 30 June 2005 08:24 (UTC)
[edit] citizen?
did he become a Chinese citizen? When? thanks Hmains 17:05, 23 July 2006 (UTC) read Alley's own autobiogrpahy published by the new world press--at 90: memoirs of my china years. the current introduction on his life is glarringly oversimplified with strong cold war anti-communist biase which belittles Alley the great ordinary man type humanist and fighter for a just cause.
[edit] Private life
The evidence for Rewi Alley being homosexual is not based on any document or any testimony from anyone (the sort of thing that tends to come out when a closeted homosexual dies). It seems to rest wholly on him having gone to live in Shanghai. It is true there was a tolerated homosexual subculture in Shanghai in the 1930s. There were plenty of other reasons to live there and it was world-famous for its heterosexual side. All of which was suppressed under Mao.
The reason for doubting the book is that Anne-Marie Brady shows a bitter hatred for Alley. She doesn't accept he could have genuinely viewed Mao's rule as a good thing, despite plenty of others taking the same view. She has to give him a corrupt motive, he made a deal to be allowed to say. Now why on earth should the Chinese Communists in their first reforming fervour have needed such a deal?
It's also a bit hard to understand why a practicing homosexual should have stayed in China after it became legalised in the West.
I'm not particularly bothered by the notion he might have been an idealistic homosexual who managed to avoid being noticed for 38 years in a highly intrusive and intolerant culture - Chinese in general do not approve of homosexuality. I just want to get the facts correct, there is no good evidence.
