Documentary records friendship between China and New Zealand in 1950s

A scene from the film shows Ramai Hayward making the film. [Photo/cri.cn]

The documentary was filmed in four cities: Guangzhou, Beijing, Shanghai and Wuhan.

It recorded interviews with a foreign businessman, officials within the Christian Church, and ordinary Chinese. The documentary also captured daily life, through street scenes in China's cities and the historic construction of the Wuhan Bridge across the Yangtze River.

However, the film not allowed to be distributed in 1950s New Zealand, because of the Cold War, New Zealand's ambassador to China, John McKinnon said.

The film was soon forgotten for over 50 years – along with the cloak.

Then in the early 2000s, someone mentioned the film and the cloak to McKinnon, who was on his first term as ambassador.

Ambassador McKinnon said he tried to find the cloak without success, but finally traced it to the National Museum of China.

He considers finding the cloak as one of his achievements in his time as New Zealand's ambassador to China.

The cloak was on loan to New Zealand for several months after a ceremony in April 2013, as a historical testimony of China and New Zealand's friendship.

The cloak is now at China's National Museum.

Sarah Laskow also contributed to this story.