Bi Haibo, minister counselor at China's embassy in the United Kingdom, makes a speech at the China Pavilion within London Book Fair on Wednesday during a launch event for the Chinese language version of Blades of Grass – The Story of George Aylwin Hogg. [Photo provided to China Daily]
The main stage of the China Pavilion at this year's London Book Fair was crowded on Wednesday morning as the Chinese edition of a biography about a young British man was launched.
Blades of Grass – The Story of George Aylwin Hogg, which was written in English by Hogg's nephew, Mark Aylwin Thomas, was translated by Li Linxi, a lecturer at Communication University of China in Beijing and published by Renmin Publishing House.
"The book title refers to his epitaph: Through his being and working, many blades of grass will grow where none grew before," Thomas explained.
According to Thomas, in February 1938, a 23-year-old George Hogg arrived in Shanghai and found work as a journalist.
It was during the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1931-45) and Hogg traveled widely to cover the war.
In October 1939, he joined the Chinese Industrial Co-operatives, or CIC, as a PR man, in Baoji, Shaanxi province.
The idea of the CIC, which had New Zealand-born Rewi Alley as one of its major initiators, was to "create masses of small industry in the hinterland, as the major industrial regions on the coast (had) been totally wiped out by the Japanese armies", severely damaging the economy.
Hogg's stories, which were published in the Western media, recorded atrocities committed by the Japanese army, and the Chinese people's resistance against Japanese aggression, and they raised awareness and financial support for the CIC.
Later, Hogg became headmaster of the Bailie School, which was founded by Alley in Shuangshipu, Shaanxi province, to conduct technical training for young people.
The school was forced to move during the war and Hogg oversaw its relocation, and the passage of 60 students and 20 tons of essential machinery over 1,000 kilometers and through two mountain passes, to Shandan in Northwest China's Gansu province.
By the summer of 1945, Hogg had injured his foot and contracted tetanus during a basketball match between students and workers at the school. He died on July 22 aged 30, shortly before Japan's surrender in September of that year, which marked the end of World War II.
Mark Aylwin Thomas, George Hogg's nephew, speaks at the China Pavilion during London Book Fair on Wednesday at the launch of the Chinese language version of his book Blades of Grass – The Story of George Aylwin Hogg. [Photo/Xinhua]
With the launch of the Chinese edition of the book about Hogg's life, Thomas said: "At last, the Chinese people get to know more about my uncle … a man who loved and respected his fellow human beings, regardless of race, belief, cultural differences, striving selflessly with compassion for a common positive goal. He achieved truly amazing things in a young life tragically cut short."
This year marks the 110th anniversary of Hogg's birth and Bi Haibo, minister counselor at China's embassy in London, said in his speech at the event that the publication of the book "provides an excellent opportunity for us to commemorate and carry forward Hogg's spirit of upholding justice and boundless love, as well as to strengthen the friendship between the Chinese and British people".
During President Xi Jinping's state visit to the United Kingdom in 2015, he recounted the stories of Chinese fishermen from Zhoushan in Zhejiang province courageously rescuing British prisoners of war from the sinking Lisbon Maru, as well as Hogg sacrificing his life in support of the Chinese people's war of resistance.
Bi said: "He emphasized that as allies in World War II, the Chinese and British people supported each other and shared weal and woe, and forged the never-fading friendship in the flames of war, which became precious wealth in bilateral relations."
This year marks the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War, which Bi said China will solemnly commemorate and work with all parties to "advocate the correct historical view of WWII, defend its victorious outcomes, uphold the UN-centered international system, and promote a more just and equitable international order".
Translator Li said the most extraordinary thing about Hogg, a graduate from the University of Oxford, was that "he chose to stay in China challenging hardship instead of living in comfort".
From left: Bi Haibo and Mark Aylwin Thomas are joined by Andrew Hicks, a member of the council of the Society for Anglo-Chinese Understanding, and Zhao Haiyun, deputy director-general of the National Administration of Press and Publication, and Chen Guangyao, director of an editorial office that specializes in books on politics at Renmin Publishing House, for the unveiling of books about the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1931-45) and the World Anti-Fascist War at the China Pavilion during London Book Fair on Wednesday. [Photo/Xinhua]
Chen Guangyao, director of an editorial office that specializes in books on politics at Renmin Publishing House, described Hogg's life as "ordinary but great, short but eternal".
"Through reading the book, readers can feel Hogg's expectations for a better life, his sympathy for the Chinese people's war against Japanese aggression, and his desire for world peace," Chen said.
A panel on the promotion of books about the Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War was held during the book launch.
Andrew Hicks, a council member of the Society for Anglo-Chinese Understanding, shared the story of his book, A True Friend to China, which is about how the Friends Ambulance Unit brought medical supplies to China in the 1940s.
Michael Crook, chairman of the International Committee for the Promotion of Chinese Industrial Cooperatives, said such books are very important right now.
"The significance is the world is not a peaceful place. There are wars going on in various places. If people around the world do not see each other as friends or potential friends, but as enemies, then we are not going to get peaceful development," said Crook, a British citizen who was born in Beijing.
Stressing that good people had made it their cause to contribute to peace and development, he said: "I think it's really important to have these books come out and tell the good part of friendship, instead of remembering the evils that men do."
