Picture 丨 Bethune old photo
"I now understand why Mao Zedong touched everyone he met like that." After Bethune ended his meeting with Chairman Mao in 1938, he excitedly typed the words on the typewriter.
After the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japan, Bethune led a three-man medical team to China to participate in the War of Resistance, and then left all his enthusiasm, effort and life in this land. Before his death, he wrote in his suicide note to Nie Rongzhen, then commander of the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region:
"I'm very happy here, and my only hope is to contribute more."
Bethune was a well-known Canadian thoracic surgeon who in 1936 helped support the Spanish Republican Army in the Defense of Madrid against fascism. After the outbreak of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression in China, Bethune was assigned by the Canadian and American Communist Parties, and the American surgeon Parsons and the Canadian nurse Ewing formed a three-person medical team to carry sufficient medical equipment and board the "Japanese Empress".
Pictured: Bethune poses with medical staff
They sailed from Vancouver via Hong Kong to Wuhan, where they witnessed the bureaucratic Kuomintang government and the positive Chinese Communist Party. After resolutely rejecting the Kuomintang's retention, Bethune decided to go to the anti-Japanese base area established by the Communists behind enemy lines. He believes that doctors can only play their best role in the hardest places.
Bethune's ideas and parsons disagreed, and eventually Parsons decided to return to China and not to travel with Bethune to the harsh north China region. In February 1938, Bethune traveled to Xi'an with a medical team, and in order to avoid the enemy, they had to take a detour through the vast rural areas ruled by the Kuomintang, and bethune was deeply impressed by the tragic situation of the people along the way.
The journey to Yan'an was dangerous and hectic, the medical team lost contact with the outside world for a while, and some Western journalists reported that Bethune had been killed by the Japanese army in China, and there was such a record in Bethune's book:
"Before arriving in Xi'an, no one knew our whereabouts, whether we were alive or dead, or if we were captured."
Pictured bethune, who is treating the wounded
In March, after a long journey, Bethune finally arrived at Yan'an, the holy land of the Chinese revolution. At that time, Yan'an was full of legend for everyone, and it was a symbol of the hope of the Chinese nation. No sooner had Bethune settled down in Yan'an than he eagerly proposed to the leaders of the Eighth Route Army that he wanted to meet Chairman Mao.
The day after he made his request, he was answered, and Jiang Qixian, the health minister of the Eighth Route Army, came to Bethune's residence and told him as soon as he entered the door that Chairman Mao was going to meet him and asked him to prepare. Bethune hurried into the house to put on the newly issued Eighth Route Army uniform, took out his party membership card from the bottom of the box, and placed it in the pocket of his chest.
At 10 p.m. that night, Bethune, accompanied by Jiang Qixian, arrived at Chairman Mao's residence, where Chairman Mao was already waiting at the door. Bethune stepped forward and gave Chairman Mao a Spanish-style military salute, and Chairman Mao looked at Bethune in front of him with a smile, and said in a thick Hunan accent while holding out his hands:
"Welcome, welcome, hard work along the way."
Pictured bethune eating
Chairman Mao invited Bethune into his residence, and as soon as he sat down, Bethune took out his party membership card from his pocket and solemnly handed it to Chairman Mao with both hands. Chairman Mao nodded, took the party membership card and looked at it carefully, and the translator explained the words on it. Chairman Mao smiled and said to Bethune:
"We are like-minded."
In the flickering candlelight, the meeting between the two officially began. Chairman Mao inquired about the situation on the Spanish battlefield, and in the process of Bethune's earnest answer, Chairman Mao raised his own questions while listening. In just a brief exchange, Chairman Mao's approachability and keen thinking left a deep impression on Bethune. When talking about the situation of the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression in China, Chairman Mao said to Bethune in a firm tone:
"At present, Japan may have some temporary military victories, but the Chinese people will definitely get the final victory."
When it comes to the current front-line medical problem, Chairman Mao consulted Bethune on how to effectively treat the wounded, and Bethune had already considered this question many times, and then answered Chairman Mao affirmatively:
"Organize field medical teams and go to the front to rescue the wounded."
Pictured Chairman Mao meets with a portrait of Bethune
Chairman Mao then asked if there was any problem with the medical equipment, to which Bethune replied that he had brought a batch of equipment that was sufficient for a field medical team. Chairman Mao listened to Bethune's answer, got up and paced back and forth in the room, saying to himself:
"Go to the front line and work, good! That's a great way to do it! ”
Earlier in the conversation with the leaders of the Ministry of Health, Bethune had learned about the current situation and problems facing the Eighth Route Army, when the mortality rate of the seriously wounded on the front line was very high, and Bethune assured Chairman Mao with certainty that as long as there was a field medical team and timely treatment, the seriously wounded could be saved:
"Based on my experience, I dare say that if the operation is timely, seventy-five percent of the seriously injured will recover."
"Seventy-five percent?" Chairman Mao was clearly interested in this treatment rate: "This kind of wounded people are currently sacrificing a lot, is your figure accurate?" ”
"Accurate, seventy-five percent!"
Pictured bethune is treating the wounded
After listening to Bethune's answer, Chairman Mao once again fell into contemplation, lit a cigarette, took a deep breath, and resolutely said to Bethune:
"Then please organize a field medical team at once!"
Bethune was so pleased that his plan would be approved so quickly, saying that when he returned, he would write a letter to the International Committee on Aid to China and ask them to immediately allocate funds to advance the work. Unconsciously, the two men talked for nearly three hours, and Bethune looked at the time of his expression and saw that it was not early, so he got up and bid farewell to Chairman Mao.
Chairman Mao walked him to the door, shook his hand and jokingly said, "You look a lot like Lenin." Bethune also replied humorously: "Because I am a practitioner of Leninism." After returning to his residence, Bethune could not stop the excitement in his heart, sat on the clay kang and wrote down the diary of the day with a typewriter:
I sat across from Comrade Mao Zedong in that undecorated room... I now understand why Mao Zedong touched everyone he met so much. It's a giant! He is one of the greatest people in our world...
After Bethune arrived in Yan'an, he immediately became busy, and his daily work was fully arranged. On May 1, Bethune led a medical team out of Yan'an and rushed to the headquarters of the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region in Wutai County, Shanxi. After a month and a half of trekking through the mountains and rivers, they finally met Commander Nie Rongzhen, and as soon as they met, Bethune's first words were:
"Comrade Commander, please tell me where my combat post is?"
Picture 丨 Bethune and Nie Rongzhen
Nie Rongzhen considered that Bethune and his party were tired along the road, so he persuaded him to rest for a few days before talking about work. Bethune replied, "Dear Commander Nevis, I am here to work, not to rest, and you are going to use me as a machine gun." Nie Rongzhen introduced the situation on the front line and made arrangements for his work. Bethune did not wait for the translator to finish speaking before he could say yes.
The next day, before dawn, Bethune came to the headquarters with his luggage and horses, and he asked Nie Rongzhen to go to the front line as soon as possible, and he felt that there were wounded people waiting for him. Nie Rongzhen understood Bethune's mood very well, he tightly held Bethune's hand, repeatedly instructed him to take care of himself when he reached the front, and notified the relevant comrades to escort Bethune to the front.
When Bethune arrived at the front-line field hospitals, it took only a week to examine more than 500 wounded, and from the second week on, he threw himself into intense surgery, operating on 147 wounded in a month, sometimes encountering slightly complicated situations, often for more than a dozen hours on the operating table.
Such a high-intensity surgical arrangement was a great test for Bethune's body, and often this side of the operation had just ended, and he shouted for the next one. For the sake of Bethune's body, the comrades had to invite Nie Rongzhen to do the work. When Nie Rongzhen solemnly explained the situation to him and sent someone to supervise him, Bethune shouted at Nie Rongzhen:
"I obey your orders in every way, but I will not listen to you in this matter!"
Picture 丨 Bethune in the hospital
In mid-October 1939, in order to raise funds and medicines for the War of Resistance, Bethune planned to return to China once, and the Party Central Committee also approved his request and held a farewell party for him. It was at this time that the Japanese army launched a "great sweep" of the Beiyue district, and Bethune decided to postpone his return to China after learning of this news.
During an operation in late October, Bethune's left middle finger was accidentally punctured by a scalpel, followed by a serious infection. His fingers were swollen to twice as large as usual, but Bethune said to the other comrades "disapprovingly":
"Don't worry, I can still work."
On 7 November, Bethune judged from the sound of fighting on the front line that there had been a fierce battle, insisted on going to the front line in the rain, and lived in the mountains at night, and the next day Bethune finally braved the cold to go to the health team, when he had a high fever of nearly 40 degrees, and he asked the correspondent to inform the troops, to send the wounded to the health team, and instructed the comrades:
"Even if I fall asleep, wake me up."
Bethune and Nie Rongzhen were interviewed by reporters together
That afternoon Bethune's condition worsened again, a metastatic cyst developed in his left arm, and the next afternoon the headache worsened, with a high fever of 40 degrees. When Nie Rongzhen heard about it, he immediately sent a doctor to come and ask the troops to safely transfer Bethune at all costs and save Bethune's life. All the rescue measures taken by the medical team still did not improve.
The comrades in the medical team at that time all suggested that Bethune's left arm be removed, but Bethune shook his head and refused the proposal. He calmly explained to everyone that he was not only a problem with his arm, he had contracted sepsis and there was nothing he could do. The comrades all cried bitterly after listening to it.
On the morning of November 11, Bethune, consciously in good spirits, struggled to get up and picked up a pen, and wrote a final suicide note to Nie Rongzhen and the translator in illegible handwriting:
Dear Commander Nie, Today, I feel very bad, maybe I will say goodbye to you forever... Please tell the Communist Party of Canada and the Communist Party of America that I am very happy and that my only hope is to contribute more... The last two years have been the most enjoyable and meaningful time of my life, and unfortunately I can no longer work and fight with you. Let me send you and millions of other dear comrades with a thousand times more enthusiasm...
At dusk, he gave the written suicide note and watch to the translator, asked him to keep the watch as a souvenir, and forwarded the suicide note to Nie Rongzhen. Then he laboriously said to the translator:
"Please convey to Chairman Mao and thank him and the Chinese Communist Party for educating me. I believe that the people of Chinese will be liberated, but unfortunately, I cannot see the birth of new China with my own eyes. ”
As soon as he finished speaking, Bethune passed out again, and after the doctors' full rescue, Bethune slowly woke up again, and he used his last strength to hold the doctor's hand and instructed him to immediately organize a medical team to the front line to take the wounded. He gasped and said:
"Thank you very much... Comrades... Give me help, how much I want to... Keep talking to you guys... Let's work together! ”
Picture 丨 Bethune checks the recovery of the wounded
At that time, he tried to sit up, but he could not do it, and he looked around at the comrades around him and said his last words:
"Go for it! Towards the great road, open up the cause ahead! ”
Bethune's death not only shocked the Jin-Cha-Ji Border Region, but also shocked the whole of China and the world. Fighters on the front line chanted Bethune's name and struck hard at the enemy. Chairman Mao was deeply distressed when he heard the news, and wrote the famous "Commemoration of Bethune", calling on the people of the whole country to learn from Bethune's spirit of no selfishness.
Immediately after Bethune's death, the traffic station sent stretchers to spread Bethune's futon and cover his body with a faded coat. In order to block the news, they specially brought a kettle to cover for the death of Bethune. After a three-day trip, the comrades finally transported Bethune's body to Yujiazhai.
Pictured 丨 Bethune memorial service
On November 16, the comrades carried Bethune's body to the house in front of the central theater building of the village, and after everyone cleaned and reshaped Bethune, wrapped the body in red silk cloth, put on a brand new military uniform, and then covered it with white sheets, waiting for the head of the military region to hold a farewell ceremony for the body.
The next morning, Nie Rongzhen arrived at Yujiazhai and led the comrades to hold a farewell ceremony for the remains. Everyone organized around Bethune's body, took off their hats, bowed three times to Bethune, and then walked around the field to bid farewell to Bethune's body. In order to show respect for Bethune, the military region selected the best cypress wood shou wood according to local customs, and Nie Rongzhen personally buried Bethune.
That night the comrades quietly buried Bethune's coffin, and after burial, the ground was flattened, leaving no grave. Later, during the "great sweep" of the Japanese army, Bethune's burial place was never exposed.
On January 4, 1940, with the approval of the organization, it was decided to carry out the first relocation of Bethune. On the same day, at the ancient military parade ground in Nanguan, the military city of Tang County, comrades held a memorial meeting for Dr. Bethune. Tens of thousands of comrades and the masses gathered in the square, and Nie Rongzhen announced at the meeting that the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region Health School would be renamed Bethune School, and its affiliated hospital would be renamed Bethune Hospital.
Picture 丨 Million people bid farewell to Bethune
After the memorial service, a funeral ceremony is held. Bethune's coffin was reburied on the high slope in the northwest corner of the ancient parade ground, and comrades Nie Rongzhen and Shu were silent for a long time in front of the tomb to mourn this international friend who dedicated himself to the Chinese revolution. A month later, the military district decided to build a mausoleum for Bethune to permanently commemorate this great revolutionary comrade.
After selecting the tomb site, Zhang Wei, deputy head of the Cultural Section, drew a design plan for the tomb, and Nie Rongzhen agreed to the tomb site and design plan. At that time, a statue of Bethune was prepared in front of the tomb, but Liu Tingfang, who was in charge of carving, had not seen Bethune, so Zhang Wei found several photos of Bethune and asked the painter to paint several portraits of Bethune.
After liu Tingfang saw these materials, he thought that it was not three-dimensional enough, and proposed to get a clay man, and he could just follow the carving. Zhang Wei immediately thought of the sculptor Li Li and asked him to use yellow clay to make a full-body portrait of Bethune. Liu Tingfang completed the statue according to this clay statue, which is two meters high and white, showing Bethune's posture before his death.
Figure丨 Bethune's Tomb
After the completion of Bethune's tomb in June, Shu Tong wrote five big characters "Bethune's Tomb", and the tomb was surrounded by inscriptions by the leaders of the military region. The entire mausoleum is solemn and solemn, bringing together chinese and Western architectural features. On June 21, tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians in the border area held the inauguration ceremony of Bethune's tomb, Nie Rongzhen unveiled the bethune stone statue, and the entire military and civilians shouted in unison:
"Comrade Bethune's spirit does not die."
After the founding of New China, with the approval of the People's Government of Hebei Province, Bethune's coffin was relocated to the Martyrs' Cemetery of the North China Military Region in Shijiazhuang. On the evening of March 15, 1953, Bethune's coffin was loaded into a rubber-wheeled carriage, and in order to prevent the road from shaking, the sides of the coffin were stabilized with pebbles.
The next day, the comrade in charge of transportation set up the carriage early in the morning and prepared to go to the TangXian Railway Station, and when the local people learned the news, they got up early and said goodbye with tears on both sides of the road. Early the next morning, the Tangxian county government held a farewell ceremony, hundreds of cadres and masses stood in silence on both sides of the road, and people also set off firecrackers to comfort the heroic souls on the road in accordance with local customs.
Figure 丨 Bethune Tomb
In June 1970, Canada's first official goodwill visit to China came to Shijiazhuang, in order to highlight because of Bethune's status, the organizational study decided to expand Bethune's tomb, the tomb body and the base were appropriately expanded according to the proportions, on the north side of the base was engraved a brief biography of Bethune, and on the south side was engraved a passage of Chairman Mao's "Commemoration of Bethune":
"What is the spirit of a foreigner, without any self-interest motive, who regards the cause of the liberation of the Chinese people as his own? This is the spirit of internationalism, this is the spirit of communism, and every Member of the Communist Party of China must learn from this spirit. ”