During the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, the medical conditions of the Chinese army were very poor, and at that time, it not only faced difficulties in medical use, but also lacked doctors on the battlefield. Under such extremely difficult circumstances, a large number of foreign doctors spontaneously helped China in the War of Resistance, among which we are more familiar with Bethune.
However, in addition to Bethune, there was also a foreign friend who also risked many dangers during the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and made many contributions to the Chinese War of Resistance. This person was Pei Xiye, who came to China in the early years of the Republic of China and was a medical officer at the French Embassy in China and a doctor in a French hospital.
In 1920, the Sino-French University was established, and Pei Xiye served as a director, professor and doctor of the university. He lived in China for nearly four decades, until 1954, when Pei left China and returned to France.
During this time that Pei Xiye lived in China, he witnessed many historical events in China. In 1937, after the outbreak of the Lugou Bridge Incident, Pei Xiye stepped forward and sent a letter to the Red Cross Society of China on behalf of foreign medical officers stationed in Beijing, willing to serve the Red Cross and support the anti-fascist war of the Chinese people.
In the face of the all-out aggression of the Japanese army, the Chinese people rose up to resist. However, at that time, many parts of China were occupied by the Japanese army, and after the soldiers in the anti-Japanese base areas were injured, many soldiers died because they did not get the treatment they deserved.
In this case, in order to break the blockade line of the Japanese army, the communist underground workers at that time entrusted Dr. Pei to transport medicines from Beiping City to the Pingxi base area. Pei Xiye was chosen because he was a reliable friend, and the Japanese at that time did not dare to search for foreigners' residences easily.
In the book "Eight Years of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression of the People of Beiping", it is recorded that Huang Hao, an underground member of the Communist Party, made outstanding contributions to collecting intelligence and collecting materials for the headquarters of the Eighth Route Army. Another French friend who helped Huang Hao transport the medicine was Pei Xiye. At that time, Pei Xiye built a villa outside the village of Bei'anhe under the Vulture Peak, and his housekeeper Wang Yuechuan also happened to be a secret traffic officer of the underground party.
At the beginning, Dr. Bei, who was in his fifties, carried medicines on bicycles, weighed dozens of pounds, traveled dozens of miles, was very tired but never complained. Later, he bought a Citroën car and began to transport medicine in his own car. Whenever he saw the armed traffic officers carrying the medicines he personally transported, he always smiled with relief.
Later, through the historical materials of the University of China and France, it was learned that Dr. Pei was 77 years old in 1947. He delivered medicine to the Pingxi base area around 1940, and his age should be around 70 years old, not more than fifty years old.
At that time, the road to Xishan was a dirt road, with uneven potholes, deep ruts and ditches, and it was even more muddy and difficult to travel in case of rain. A 70-year-old foreign old man, riding a bicycle weighing dozens of pounds, walking a rough dirt road for sixty or seventy miles, cannot do it without a kind of spiritual support.
Pei Xiye's personality charm is very great, and this personality charm attracted a girl at that time, she was Wu Zhidan.
Wu Zhidan was born into a noble family, and his father Wu Mingyuan was the general manager of Sino-French Industrial Bank. The Wu family was the home of the Beiyang warlord Wu Peifu, and Wu Mingyuan's eldest brother was Wu Dingchang, who was well-known in the political, press, and financial circles at that time, and Wu Mingyuan was promoted step by step under the support of his brother.
However, when he was a child, Wu Zhidan was weak and sickly, and he could not see well after seeing many doctors. Therefore, he asked Pei Xiye to diagnose and treat her, and it didn't take long to cure Wu Zhidan.
In 1947, Pei Xiye was suddenly unwell due to long-term high-pressure work. When Wu Zhidan heard about it at that time, he offered to take care of him. Under the careful care of Wu Xiangdan, Pei Xiye's body was restored, and the two became fond of each other under the circumstances of getting along.
Until 1952, Wu Xiangdan, under the pressure of his family, married 80-year-old Pei Xiye, who was only 28 years old at the time. Their love, although opposed by their father Wu Mingyuan, was still cited as a good story.
Not long after, Pei Xiye's health was problematic and he had to return to France for treatment, and Wu Xiangdan followed him back to France. At the age of 38, Pei Xiye died of illness at the age of 90, and since then Wu Has been widowed, which was kept for 55 years until his death in France in 2013.
Pei Xiye's contribution to China's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression will be remembered forever by the world. Before Wu Zhidan died, she told the truth of marriage: she married Pei Xiye not only to repay the favor, but to be deeply moved by his personality charm.