PORTRAIT OF REWI ALLEY

Han Leran, an ethnic Korean, was born in Jilin Province in 1898. He joined the young Chinese Communist Party in 1923, then in 1929 he went to France to further his art education with the support of the Party. In 1937, with the outbreak of war in China, Han returned to his motherland and sped back to the front. In 1943, he moved to Xi'an and Lanzhou, which was further from the front, to explore the cultural heritage of western China. Han set up the Northwest Arts Museum, and became a key contributor to the post-war National Cultural Revival. His international background, early connection to the Chinese Communist Party, and active post-war activities boded well for a place in the burgeoning cultural hierarchy of the world after 1949, but unfortunately Han never made it back to Beijing, as he died in an air disaster on his way to Lanzhou in 1947. Today, most of his works are in the permanent collections of the national art musuems of China.

Rewi Alley was a New Zealand-born writer, educator, social reformer, and member of the Communist Party of China. He went to China in 1927 and established important friendships with Mao Zedong and other Communist leaders during the 1930s and 1940s.