Practically, a teaching revolution

At the time, the school received about 600 students, drawn from poor families in Gansu and other 17 provinces. The farm, pasture and factories served as practice base for students.

Alley also built the county's first Western medicine hospital, received the first female student, introduced the first automobile, and built the earliest mechanized farm and semi-automatic coal pit, says Peng Dongjun, principal of Shandan Bailie School.

A total of 24 foreign teachers, from countries including the United Kingdom, the United States, Germany and New Zealand, imparted their knowledge to students. The school was also recognized overseas. Many foreign donors and sponsors to the school came to visit, including the then British ambassador to China. The education model was discussed at meetings of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, according to Zhao Qianxi, office director of the memorial museum.

In 1953, the school was moved to Lanzhou, Gansu's capital, and its management was transferred to the Chinese government, with Alley as honorary principal. The school is known as Lanzhou City University today.

In 1984, Alley proposed to the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries building a new occupational school in Shandan, to improve its agriculture, animal husbandry and forestry industries. In 1987, the new Shandan Bailie School was opened, and is a national key technical secondary school.

According to Peng, the new school offers 12 majors, such as electromechanical technology application and modern agriculture, 51 laboratories and practical training workshops, 110 staff members and 2,090 students.