Though China: The Quality of Life often lapsed into the laborious advocacy which had marred his books on the Soviet Union such as Come East Young Man, as well as the tedium of production figures and long discourses on engineering projects, in this book Burchett again demonstrated a desire to pursue more intangible aspects of the new China, as in this chapter about attitudes to history and the past.

He initiated this with an anecdote about his co-author, a man well-known to contemporary readers. Rewi Alley was a New Zealander who moved to Shanghai in 1927. After the invasion of China by Japan in 1937, he became involved in setting up co-operatives across China in an effort to counter the Japanese blockade of inland China and pursued his interest in education by establishing a school at Shandan. Then following Liberation in 1949 he was urged to remain in China and work for the Communist Party. He produced many works praising the Party, but his reluctance to write about China's problems or to criticise the Party colours the historical value of his work, and influenced the book co-written with Burchett. Although imprisoned during the Cultural Revolution, Alley remained committed to Communism and later travelled the world, usually lecturing on the need for nuclear disarmament. In stark contrast to Australia's handling of Burchett's case, the New Zealand government did not strip Alley of his passport and remained proud of his ties to important Chinese leaders.

In the 1950's he was offered a knighthood but turned the honour down.