Event held in memory of Canadian surgeon who saved lives of many Chinese people during World War II
People from home and abroad have paid tribute to the legendary Canadian surgeon Norman Bethune, who treated patients alongside Chinese people in their fight against Japanese invaders during World War II, while marking his 85th death anniversary recently.
Bethune, a member of the Canadian Communist Party, arrived at Yan'an in Shaanxi province in 1938 as the head of a medical team amid the raging Chinese People's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression.
He set up a mobile hospital and operated on soldiers close to the battlefield, saving the lives of thousands. However, his life was cut short at the age of 49, a year after his arrival in China. He died of blood poisoning on Nov 12, 1939.
A commemoration event was held at North China Military Martyrs Cemetery in Shijiazhuang of North China's Hebei province in December to honor Bethune for his selfless service and upholding the spirit of internationalism. His remains were relocated to the cemetery in 1953.
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Around 100 people, including soldiers, students and individuals from various walks of life, attended the event themed "Memories Through Time and Space". They bowed before the surgeon's tomb and presented flower baskets.
Michael Crook, chairman of the International Committee for the Promotion of Chinese Industrial Cooperatives, also attended the event.
"My father met Norman Bethune in Spain during his recovery from battle injuries. Influenced by him, my father aspired to come to China, where he met my mother and later had me," he said.
Crook's parents, David Crook from the United Kingdom and Isabel Crook from Canada, helped train a large number of foreign-language professionals for China for decades.
In 1936, David Crook went to Spain to join the International Brigades — soldiers recruited and organized by the Communist International to fight in the then Spanish civil war.
"When he was wounded he went to Madrid to recover. There he met Dr. Bethune, who also spoke in English," Crook recalled.
It was 1937, and just at the time a great book introducing China and the Communist Party of China, titled The Red Star over China, written by American journalist Edgar Snow, was published in the UK. The English-speaking members of International Brigades, the Canadians and British, who used to hang around together developed an enthusiasm in reading The Red Star over China, according to Michael Crook.
"I think that was one of the reasons why many International Brigades fighters decided to come to China (those days)," Crook said.
"My father came to China in 1938 when the chances matured, as he was moved by the heroic deeds of the CPC after reading The Red Star over China. Dr. Bethune also left for China in 1938," he added.
Initially, Bethune stayed in the areas ruled by the Kuomintang before entering the liberated areas led by the CPC-led Eighth Route Army.
He encountered financial difficulties for his further travel, and a patriotic overseas Chinese learned of the situation and provided financial assistance to make the trip possible, according to Crook.
"After that, he entered the front line and became a household name in China for his heroic deeds,"Crook said.
"It is noteworthy that Bethune was not the only Canadian health worker who helped the Chinese people fight the war."
Crook mentioned Dr. Robert Baird McClure, a Canadian doctor and medical missionary who arrived in China in 1923, serving as surgeon and medical educator.
"All of them helped and contributed to the Chinese People's War of Resistance, laying a good foundation for the friendship between China and Canada."
Shen Xin, vice-president of the Chinese People's Association for Friendship with Foreign Countries, also praised the role of Bethune in sowing seeds for subnational friendship between the two nations.
"Since the establishment of bilateral diplomatic relations in 1970,China-Canada relations enjoyed great developments, and exchanges and cooperation have been very dynamic. Canada was once an ideal travel destination for many Chinese," Shen said at a symposium marking Bethune's death anniversary in November.
He added that China "has never stopped practicing Dr. Bethune's dedication to public welfare and to the betterment of global health", noting that over the past few decades, China has sent foreign medical aid teams to 76 countries and regions in Asia, Africa, Latin America, Europe and Oceania, treating 300 million patients.
Inspiration to many
Bethune's pioneering role and enterprising spirit in the medical profession continue to win him constant recognition from today's medical workers and scholars from many countries though 85 years have passed since he left this world.
He was hailed as having "made significant contributions to thoracic surgery and medical instrumentation", besides designing many surgical instruments that have been further refined and being used in modern medicine, such as periosteal scrapers and table-mounted scapula retractors.
Bethune was "an innovator in the field of medicine, and an altruist whose impact extended far beyond his home country", wrote Krystal Rampersad and Michael Montalbano with St. George's University School of Medicine in Grenada, in an article published last year.
"Throughout his career, Bethune's devotion to self-improvement was notable. He was renowned for his self-critical approach," they said.
Zhang Shunhua, a senior ophthalmologist at Peking Union Medical College Hospital, is one of the Chinese ophthalmologists who have been greatly inspired by Bethune.
She has been a member of Chinese volunteer medical teams sent to Asian and African countries six times, in Ethiopia in 2014, Mauretania (2015), Sri Lanka (2016), Laos (2017) and Namibia in 2018 and 2019, respectively.
"My work is a continuation of Bethune's spirit," she said.
"We have helped some underprivileged countries in Africa and South Asia as we were there to perform cataract surgeries, so that more of the poverty-stricken cataract patients could get their sight back."
She noted that blinding eye diseases are a very serious social problem in countries that are relatively economically challenged.
"Fortunately, through current medical technology, patients with cataracts have the opportunity to regain their sight, regain the ability to take care of themselves, and even do what they can do," she said.
In some countries in Africa and South Asia, ophthalmologists are in short supply, so Zhang and her colleagues came to lend a hand.
"We had a team to do this, and the team included at least five doctors, three nurses and maybe some technicians, because we had to carry around a lot of medical equipment."
She and her colleagues usually spend 20 days in a stay, during which they had to carry out three to four hundred cataract surgeries.
"In these places, the facilities for ophthalmology were limited, and all of our work, including the pre-surgical examinations and some of the ward management, is done by our staff, so each of us is a multi-talented multitasker."
In many countries, these Chinese doctors were also faced with the problem of language barriers. She showed a form in English that was provided to patients before surgery, asking detailed questions about their sickness and illness.
"We also spent a lot of time and energy creating many forms of this kind in order to make sure that each patient receives a high level of treatment and that no mistakes are made."
According to photos provided by Zhang, there was great excitement among the Namibian patients who were singing and dancing the day their gauze was opened, and there was great joy inside the whole ward.
"We have seen patients in different countries giving us lots of recognition after surgery, and we also felt happy from the bottom of our hearts," she said.
Bethune's legacy
Bethune cut his finger while operating on a wounded soldier on Oct 28, 1939. The infection spread, and on Nov 11, he hypothesized, "I think … I have septicemia or typhus fever."
Alex Bowers, a writer with Canada's military history magazine Legion, wrote in a recent article,"He was right. The next day, Nov 12,1939, a combination of sepsis and gangrene claimed him after he refused to have his arm amputated. He was just 49 years old."
"Norman Bethune's legacy, however, lives on through several acts of remembrance, especially in China where, even today, an essay written in memoriam by Mao Zedong remains mandatory reading,"Bowers said in reference to the household article by Chairman Mao — "In Memory of Norman Bethune".
In his article dated Dec 21, 1939, over one month after Bethune's demise, Mao said, "Now we are all commemorating him, which shows how profoundly his spirit inspires everyone."
"We must all learn the spirit of absolute selflessness from him. With this spirit, everyone can be very useful to the people. A man's ability may be great or small, but if he has this spirit, he is already noble-minded and pure, a man of moral integrity and above vulgar interests, a man who is of value to the people," Mao added.
Li Longchi is a veteran medical expert with the People's Liberation Army and former honorary president of Chinese Bethune Spirit Research Association.
He said China "still needs the spirit of Bethune" when it comes to innovation and the pursuit of becoming a strong nation in science and technology.
"Pioneering, pursuing excellence and being the first is the way Bethune has always lived by."
While in Canada, Bethune had already invented dozens of types of medical devices, he noted.
"After arriving in China, he created a series of medical instruments and medical supplies adapted to the needs of guerrilla combat, based on the extremely rudimentary conditions and supplies in the revolutionary base areas."
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As a keen researcher on Bethune, Li formerly worked as political commissar of Bethune Military Medical School, and he is associate managing editor-in-chief of Norman Bethune published in Chinese, English, French and Spanish by China Publishing Group.
"General Nie Rongzhen (of the PLA) praised him as a 'scientist and statesman for the public,'" Li said.
"In addition, Bethune's dedication to excellence in his work is exactly the spirit of craftsmanship that we endorse earnestly these days."
Regarding the changes that Bethune's dedication has brought to China, Li said, "Eighty-five years ago, Bethune's great spirit significantly inspired the Chinese people to fight for national independence and liberation, and since the founding of the People's Republic of China, it has also greatly facilitated the improvement of moral codes in Chinese communities."
"Although Bethune left us 85 years ago, he is still able to be deeply remembered by the Chinese people, frequently commemorated in Canada, in Spain, and throughout North America and even in Africa, and he is constantly studied by historians and portrayed in works of art," he said.
"All these are strong living proof that Bethune's great spirit has not been diminished by the changing times, and that he has manifested great relevance to the current times," Li said.
