Preliminary research into New Zealander James (Jim) Bertram’s life and work is being undertaken by former NZCFS National Secretary Dr Alistair Shaw, as part of a long term film and book project supported by NZCFS.
Currently based in Melbourne, Dr Shaw travelled to New Zealand in January to review and record materials held at the Auckland Library, and at Nga Taonga, the J. C. Beaglehole Room, and the Alexander Turnbull Library in Wellington. While in Wellington, Dr Shaw also met with Jim Bertram’s nephew Geoff Bertram and New Zealand Chinese documentary filmmaker Li Tao.
On 24th January, Dr Shaw joined China Ambassador Dr Wang Xiaolong at the Alexander Turnbull Library to view items from the collection relating to Jim Bertram and other New Zealanders who lived and worked in China in the first half of the 20th century. Items on display included travel documents carried by Iris Wilkinson (Robin Hyde) while she was in China, a series of sketches of Rewi Alley drawn by British sculptor Anthony Stones, and a journal of photographs and other ephemera relating to Rewi Alley kept by his sister Joyce.
The viewing, arranged by NZCFS, was hosted by National Librarian Rachel Essen and the Associate Chief Librarian Jessica Moran, the Research Collections at the Alexander Turnbull Library. Those attending the viewing included the NZCFS National President Chris Lipscombe, Dr Alistair Shaw, and Li Tao. The China Ambassador was accompanied by Cultural Counsellor Wang Linan and Cultural Attaché Ms Chen Yuli.
To many Chinese, James Bertram is the ‘British journalist’ who famously interviewed Mao Zedong in the caves of Yenan in 1937. Some may know of Jim’s role in announcing the capture of the Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek in Xi’an on 12th December 1936 — the event that led to the formation of a united front with the Communists against Japanese aggression and would later became known as the Sian (Xi’an) Incident.
Few know that Jim Bertram was not British but a Kiwi —a Rhodes Scholar who had travelled to China from England, with commissions from The Times, Manchester Guardian and New Statesman to write articles on Asian affairs. The production of a book and film on Jim Bertram, available in English and Chinese, will help correct this misconception and make more people aware of the important role that he played in Chinese revolutionary history.
