Gordon Dumoulin
- Sep 30, 2021
- 3 min read

Known in China, little known beyond (8) - George Hogg 乔治·霍格

𝘐𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳’𝘴 𝘊𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘯𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘊𝘰𝘮𝘮𝘶𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘵 𝘗𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘊𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘢, 𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦𝘪𝘨𝘯𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘸𝘦𝘭𝘭-𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘪𝘯 𝘊𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘢 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯 𝘰𝘳 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘭𝘺 𝘣𝘶𝘪𝘭𝘥-𝘶𝘱 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘗𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘺 (1921) 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘗𝘦𝘰𝘱𝘭𝘦’𝘴 𝘙𝘦𝘱𝘶𝘣𝘭𝘪𝘤 𝘰𝘧 𝘊𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘢 (1949) 𝘸𝘪𝘭𝘭 𝘣𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘸𝘦𝘦𝘬𝘭𝘺 𝘱𝘰𝘴𝘵𝘴 “𝘒𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘪𝘯 𝘊𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘢, 𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘵𝘭𝘦 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘣𝘦𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘥”

A British adventurer leading 60 orphans into safety by foot for 700km through snowy mountains from Shaanxi province to Shandan county in Gansu province, 𝗚𝗲𝗼𝗿𝗴𝗲 𝗔𝗹𝘄𝘆𝗻 𝗛𝗼𝗴𝗴 became headmaster of the Shandan Bailie School in 1944 set up by New Zealand national 𝗥𝗲𝘄𝗶 𝗔𝗹𝗹𝗲𝘆 (read about him in an earlier episode) after participation in the Eighth Route Army and writing his book “I see a new China”.

George Hogg was born in 1915 in a small town in the UK and graduated from Wadham College in Oxford with a degree of Bachelor of Arts. He became a freelance journalist for the Manchester Guardian for a short time before he took the boat to New York City in 1937, hitchhiked across the United States, and joined his aunt Muriel Lester (a well-known English pacifist and friend of Mahatma Gandhi). They continued their trip together to Japan.

In January 1938, during the undeclared war between China and Japan, he left Japan to visit Shanghai. He witnessed first hand the brutality of the Imperial Japanese Army towards the Chinese and chose to stay in China. Hogg started helping Kathleen Hall, a nurse from New Zealand, to smuggle food and medicine to the communists. In Shaanxi Province, he befriended communist General Nie Rongzhen and participated with the Eighth Route Army in guerrilla raids against the Japanese. While on the front lines, he wrote the book "I See a New China".

Hogg started to assist Rewi Alley with the Gung Ho movement and helped setting up a refuge for 60 orphaned boys with funds from the Chinese Industrial Cooperatives (CIC). In late 1944 the Kuomintang Nationalist Army searched the facilities for boys to recruit and Hogg decided to relocate the facilities to Shandan County in Gansu province, 1,100km to the West. He made 2 long trips on foot with each about 30 boys through the snowy mountains to Lanzhou city, capital of Gansu province (about 700 km) and after he hired military trucks for the last stretch to Shandan.

In early March 1945, Hogg and the boys arrived in Shandan. Alley rented some old temples, turned them into classrooms and workshops, and appointed Hogg as headmaster of the new Shandan Bailie School. From the beginning, the school was aided by a group of friendly New Zealanders who later formed the New Zealand China Friendship Society.

In early July 1945, Hogg stubbed his toe while playing basketball with the boys. It became infected with tetanus and died within days thereafter. To comfort Hogg until he died, the boys sang nursery rhymes he had taught them. During his life in Shaanxi, Hogg adopted 4 boys as his own sons.

His life is dramatized in a well-known movie “The Children of Huang Shi” (2008) starring with famous actors Chow Yun-fat, Michelle Yeoh and Jonathan Rhys Meyers. Also a book was written about his life, “Ocean Devil: The life and legend of George Hogg” by James MacManus.