Blades of Grass
Published January 2017
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More About This Title Blades of Grass
English
In Blades of Grass: The Story of George Aylwin Hogg, author and nephew of the late Mr Hogg, Mark Aylwin Thomas, explores his uncle’s own letters and writings and shares this astonishing life story of perseverance, service, and dedication. Thomas offers a personal and compelling window into the character of this remarkable man, and Hogg’s own words lend an authentic and distinctive insight into his service—training young Chinese men in their vocations in the remote confines of Northwest China in Shandan.
George Aylwin Hogg was part of a vision to create a unique form of industrial training on which to base the reconstruction of industry for a new post-war China. While a vignette of Aylwin’s life was portrayed in Roger Spottiswoode’s 2008 film, The Children of Huang Shi, the full picture of this remarkable life—often painted with Aylwin’s own words—shows how this young Englishman’s life was deeply interwoven in the lives of the men and people he served.
Blades of Grass is the inspirational story of a young man who died in China in 1945 at the age of only 30 after achieving amazing things during his seven years there. He touched the hearts of the ordinary Chinese people. It is an inspirational life-story of a unique humanitarian spirit, of vision, dedication, and heroism.
The logline is that of an adventurous young Oxford graduate who, in 1937, travels to China where, as a journalist, he reports to the world on the three-sided war there, cutting through Japanese propaganda, the fog of fake news; and as an inspired teacher he perseveres in creating a technical training school for refugees. He travels with guerrilla forces, finds the love of his life, adopts four brothers and saves his school from the advancing invaders.
He immerses himself in the language and culture. He grows to understand the people and becomes accepted by them. He comes to identify himself as Chinese whilst maintaining the westerner's broader understanding of the world.
His school thrives even today in the ancient oasis town of Shandan, on the Silk Road on the edge of the Gobi Desert. He is buried there and is respectfully remembered as a wise and noble friend of the Chinese people; a bridge between East and West. This fact was acknowledged with gratitude by President Xi Jinping during his State Visit to the UK in 2015.
The essence of the book is believe in yourself, trust in fate and by shrugging off prejudice to race, colour, creed, and language you can achieve truly amazing things.
George Aylwin Hogg was part of a vision to create a unique form of industrial training on which to base the reconstruction of industry for a new post-war China. While a vignette of Aylwin’s life was portrayed in Roger Spottiswoode’s 2008 film, The Children of Huang Shi, the full picture of this remarkable life—often painted with Aylwin’s own words—shows how this young Englishman’s life was deeply interwoven in the lives of the men and people he served.
Blades of Grass is the inspirational story of a young man who died in China in 1945 at the age of only 30 after achieving amazing things during his seven years there. He touched the hearts of the ordinary Chinese people. It is an inspirational life-story of a unique humanitarian spirit, of vision, dedication, and heroism.
The logline is that of an adventurous young Oxford graduate who, in 1937, travels to China where, as a journalist, he reports to the world on the three-sided war there, cutting through Japanese propaganda, the fog of fake news; and as an inspired teacher he perseveres in creating a technical training school for refugees. He travels with guerrilla forces, finds the love of his life, adopts four brothers and saves his school from the advancing invaders.
He immerses himself in the language and culture. He grows to understand the people and becomes accepted by them. He comes to identify himself as Chinese whilst maintaining the westerner's broader understanding of the world.
His school thrives even today in the ancient oasis town of Shandan, on the Silk Road on the edge of the Gobi Desert. He is buried there and is respectfully remembered as a wise and noble friend of the Chinese people; a bridge between East and West. This fact was acknowledged with gratitude by President Xi Jinping during his State Visit to the UK in 2015.
The essence of the book is believe in yourself, trust in fate and by shrugging off prejudice to race, colour, creed, and language you can achieve truly amazing things.
English
The author was born in 1946, about six months after the tragically early death of his uncle George Aylwin Hogg: the subject of Thomas’s book Blades of Grass. Mark Aylwin Thomas was born and raised in Sheffield, the youngest of a family of five children. Father, Donald R. O. Thomas, was an industrial educationalist. Mother, Barbara who was the Hogg’s eldest sister, was in her younger years a teacher of Dalcroze-Eurythmics on both sides of the Atlantic.
After attending Abbotsholme School, the author took a gap year travelling in the United States and Canada, spending most of his time there in Alaska with his sister Judith and her family. He went on to study printing technology and worked in the industry in Derby until 1974, when he moved to Finland with his Finnish wife Helena. Living in the midst of lakes and forests, near the town of Suonenjoki, Thomas set to making a life as a farmer – dairy, beef, strawberries, and forestry. As a sideline he provided a translation and copy editing service to the region’s industrial and scientific community. As a mature student, Thomas took a degree in information technology and during the final ten years of his working life was a civil servant responsible for network administration and support in local government.
Mark’s unusual middle name, Aylwin, which he shares with his uncle, is of ancient Celtic origin, and it was by this name that his uncle was known within the family. In 1988, the Chinese government invited members of George Aylwin Hogg’s relatives to attend a series of memorial events to be held in China that spring. The events were in commemoration of a New Zealander, Rewi Alley, an old colleague of Aylwin’s, who had died aged 90 in December the previous year after living in China for 60 years. In response to the invitation, the author was elected to represent the family at these events. During his trip to China, Thomas was asked if he would return later in the year to act the role of his uncle in a mini-series for Chinese television. His Aunt Rosemary encouraged him to do so by stating that he and her beloved brother were so much alike in many ways. And so, Thomas returned to China for three months after his strawberry harvest had been safely gathered in.
During his time in China, the author became fascinated by the story of his uncle and came to realize to what extent his uncle was regarded in China as a national hero yet was virtually unknown in his own country. Aylwin’s sister, Rosemary, passed all of her brother’s papers to the author for safekeeping and research for his book about his uncle. Working on it during the winter months, while the strawberry fields were deep under snow, and arctic weather kept him indoors, his book "Blades of Grass: The Story of George Aylwin Hogg" took shape but then life got in the way and the manuscript lay dormant for some years. Now in retirement and living in the south of Finland, in Kirkkonummi, the author has managed to finalize his book which was then published on 24 January 2017 by AuthorHouse. Aylwin’s papers have now been passed to the archives in the Bodleian Library in Oxford for posterity.
After attending Abbotsholme School, the author took a gap year travelling in the United States and Canada, spending most of his time there in Alaska with his sister Judith and her family. He went on to study printing technology and worked in the industry in Derby until 1974, when he moved to Finland with his Finnish wife Helena. Living in the midst of lakes and forests, near the town of Suonenjoki, Thomas set to making a life as a farmer – dairy, beef, strawberries, and forestry. As a sideline he provided a translation and copy editing service to the region’s industrial and scientific community. As a mature student, Thomas took a degree in information technology and during the final ten years of his working life was a civil servant responsible for network administration and support in local government.
Mark’s unusual middle name, Aylwin, which he shares with his uncle, is of ancient Celtic origin, and it was by this name that his uncle was known within the family. In 1988, the Chinese government invited members of George Aylwin Hogg’s relatives to attend a series of memorial events to be held in China that spring. The events were in commemoration of a New Zealander, Rewi Alley, an old colleague of Aylwin’s, who had died aged 90 in December the previous year after living in China for 60 years. In response to the invitation, the author was elected to represent the family at these events. During his trip to China, Thomas was asked if he would return later in the year to act the role of his uncle in a mini-series for Chinese television. His Aunt Rosemary encouraged him to do so by stating that he and her beloved brother were so much alike in many ways. And so, Thomas returned to China for three months after his strawberry harvest had been safely gathered in.
During his time in China, the author became fascinated by the story of his uncle and came to realize to what extent his uncle was regarded in China as a national hero yet was virtually unknown in his own country. Aylwin’s sister, Rosemary, passed all of her brother’s papers to the author for safekeeping and research for his book about his uncle. Working on it during the winter months, while the strawberry fields were deep under snow, and arctic weather kept him indoors, his book "Blades of Grass: The Story of George Aylwin Hogg" took shape but then life got in the way and the manuscript lay dormant for some years. Now in retirement and living in the south of Finland, in Kirkkonummi, the author has managed to finalize his book which was then published on 24 January 2017 by AuthorHouse. Aylwin’s papers have now been passed to the archives in the Bodleian Library in Oxford for posterity.
English
A selection of quotes from reviews which can be read in full at www.georgeaylwinhogg.com/reviews.php:
- "A deftly crafted and impressively informative biography.
- "This biography is almost an autobiography!"
- "Thomas’ narrative is engaging, well-organized, well-paced, and educational."
- "Blades of Grass is an in-depth and well-researched homage to George Aylwin Hogg’s vision for a democratically industrialized China."
- "Any book that has me in tears at the end has been worth my time. Any book that has me hoping it will end differently to the way I know it must is worth the reading. Any book that convinces me that maybe there is still hope in the world – that for all the mistakes made thus far, still being made right now, there is a common humanity which ultimately, eventually, must do some good – that is worth the writing and the reading and the time."
- "It did draw me in and make me want to know more, and more, and left me feeling the same way. Which is a very good thing."
- "Thomas himself also writes gracefully. He reflects that Hogg knew 'he had to build where others destroyed; not to build edifices, but to build human values.'"
- "Hogg is a captivating figure, ………"
- "…… a fitting homage to “a wise and noble friend to the people of China.”
- "A meticulous and congenial ……… tribute to an enterprising reporter in Asia."
- "A deftly crafted and impressively informative biography.
- "This biography is almost an autobiography!"
- "Thomas’ narrative is engaging, well-organized, well-paced, and educational."
- "Blades of Grass is an in-depth and well-researched homage to George Aylwin Hogg’s vision for a democratically industrialized China."
- "Any book that has me in tears at the end has been worth my time. Any book that has me hoping it will end differently to the way I know it must is worth the reading. Any book that convinces me that maybe there is still hope in the world – that for all the mistakes made thus far, still being made right now, there is a common humanity which ultimately, eventually, must do some good – that is worth the writing and the reading and the time."
- "It did draw me in and make me want to know more, and more, and left me feeling the same way. Which is a very good thing."
- "Thomas himself also writes gracefully. He reflects that Hogg knew 'he had to build where others destroyed; not to build edifices, but to build human values.'"
- "Hogg is a captivating figure, ………"
- "…… a fitting homage to “a wise and noble friend to the people of China.”
- "A meticulous and congenial ……… tribute to an enterprising reporter in Asia."
