LONDON, Aug. 18 (Xinhua) -- As dusk settled over the quiet town of Harpenden, north of London, on July 22, dozens of residents gathered in a church to commemorate a journalist born in their community over a century ago and his legendary rescue trip in China during World War II (WWII).

Eighty years ago to the day, less than a month before the Chinese people secured victory in their war against Japanese aggression, British journalist George Hogg, who courageously exposed Japanese wartime atrocities and rescued and educated the Chinese youth, died in northwest China at the age of 30.

Decades later, Hogg's enduring solidarity with the Chinese people continues to resonate. His selfless actions serve as a moving reminder of wartime hardship and heroism, and of the timeless importance of safeguarding peace and justice.

"NOBLE AND WISE FRIEND OF CHINA"

"George Hogg became a true friend, a noble and wise friend of China," said Mark Aylwin Thomas, nephew of the late Hogg and author of the biography "Blades of Grass: The Story of George Aylwin Hogg," during his speech at the church.

Hogg was born in 1915 into a middle-class family in Harpenden. He arrived in China in the late 1930s after graduating from Oxford University. Witnessing the horrors committed by the Japanese army in cities such as Shanghai, Nanjing and Wuhan, he wrote prolifically for outlets like the United Press Association and The Manchester Guardian, detailing the devastation inflicted upon China.

Hogg soon befriended international allies such as New Zealander Rewi Alley and American journalists Edgar and Helen Snow, becoming deeply involved in the Gong He (Gung Ho) movement of industrial cooperatives on unoccupied Chinese territories. Together, they helped unemployed Chinese workers and refugees form small-scale industrial cooperatives to produce military and civilian goods for the war.

Passionately committed to the movement, Hogg traveled widely to help establish these cooperatives and wrote articles to garner international aid for China.

To address the shortage of skilled talent, Hogg and Alley founded schools across China, enrolling poor and rural youth and equipping them with practical skills to enable them to join cooperatives later.

In 1944, to escape the threat of conflict, Hogg, then headmaster of the Bailie School in Shuangshipu, Shaanxi Province, led over 60 students and tons of teaching equipment on a perilous trek westward from Shuangshipu to Shandan, a remote town in neighboring Gansu Province, where they continued their work in the desert.

Tragically, on July 22, 1945, just weeks before the end of World War II, Hogg died from tetanus in Shandan.

Hogg's relative Thomas shared with reporters that "Aylwin," Hogg's middle name, is derived from an ancient Celtic word meaning "wise friend" or "noble friend."

He recalled being told a Chinese saying during a visit to China in April: "If you give a person a name, he or she will become that name."

"It certainly was true in this case," Thomas said, "George Hogg became a true friend, a noble and wise friend of China."

"I SEE A NEW CHINA"

A George Hogg memorial exhibition opened on July 22 at the Harpenden Museum, showcasing his journalism and his book "I See A New China" written during his time in China.

The book was published in the United States in 1944, vividly depicting the lives of ordinary Chinese people enduring war yet striving to protect their homeland.

Eager to better understand the China that Hogg saw and sacrificed for, his relatives have traveled to China multiple times. Earlier this year, a delegation that included his family and members of the Society for Anglo-Chinese Understanding (SACU) retraced his journey from east to west in China, traveling through Shanghai, Nanjing before finally arriving in Shandan.

Peter Jarvis, Hogg's grandnephew and trustee of the SACU, recalled previous visits to China in 1990 and 2016. He said the pace of development in China is astonishing in terms of infrastructure and urban construction and mobile payments technologies, reflecting the kind of future Hogg once envisioned for China.

Jarvis said he was also happy to see the spirit of "the Bailie School" has lived on. Today, the school has evolved into a modern vocational college, an institution carrying forward the spirit of internationalism and practical education.

Back in Britain, Hogg's alma mater, Wadham College, at the University of Oxford, has established a fund named after Hogg, sponsoring undergraduate students who are reading Chinese Studies to travel and study in China.

INDISPENSABLE CHAPTER OF WWII

At the Harpenden Museum exhibit, Thomas paused in front of a large photo of his uncle -- young, smiling, dressed in a simple outfit and straw hat.

Hogg is highly respected in China, but sadly, few people in the UK know of him, Thomas said, expressing hope that this year's commemoration would help more Britons discover Hogg's story and recognize the enormous sacrifice made by the Chinese people during WWII, a chapter he called "indispensable" to the Allied victory.

"He (Hogg) was an incredible young man who achieved a great deal in a tragically short life. But the way in which the Chinese revealed his memory brought it home to us what an important figure he is," said David Kendall, trustee of the Harpenden History Society.

Zoe Reed, honorary president of the SACU, has followed Hogg's footsteps in China many times. Her Chinese father, a wartime orphan who became Hogg's student, studied in Britain with the help of renowned scholar Joseph Needham, the founder of the SACU, in the 1940s.

For Reed, Hogg's story is more than family history -- it is an emotional bridge between China and Britain and a reminder of China's contributions to the WWII victory.

"I do think there's a real issue about we, in the West, sort of think World War II was just a European thing with a bit of American involvement and we don't really think through how the rest of the world suffered," she said.

"We have very limited education about what happens in China and what happened in China," she said, calling for broadening the understanding of Britons, especially children, towards this part of history in which China was involved.

Tim Fleming, chief operating officer of St. George's School, where Hogg studied during his childhood, also participated in the opening ceremony of the exhibition. He said the exhibition would help more students learn about this part of China's experience during the World Anti-Fascist War.

The school's motto, "aim higher," might well have inspired Hogg in his university studies and heroic experiences in China later, said Fleming. ■