(i)
There was once a foreigner who left his life in China.
At the moment when his life was about to go away, he did not regret it, and even mentally full and happy.
At the moment when his life was about to go, he was not afraid, and he left his only leather shoes, jackets, blankets and other living utensils, which were still rare in the environment at that time, to the designated Chinese friends in detail.
At the moment when his life was about to go away, all the people around him could not cry, and he still smiled calmly and comforted the friends around him who cared about him.
At the moment when his life was about to go away, he wrote a letter to one of his Chinese friends, Nie Rongzhen:
"Dear Commander Nie,
I feel very bad today, and I may have to say goodbye to you forever. Please convey to the Communist Party of Canada and the United States that I am very pleased here and that my only hope is to contribute more.
Please convey to the people of Canada and the United States that the last two years have been the most enjoyable and meaningful period of my life...
Two camp beds, you and Mrs. Nie stay, two pairs of British leather shoes for you to wear. Riding boots and breeches were given to Commander Lü of Jizhong District. General He Long, also want to give him some souvenirs. Medical books and small alarm clocks to health schools. Give my little ghost and groom a blanket for each of them, and another pair of leather shoes for the little ghost.
Buy 250 pounds of quinine and 300 pounds of iron per year, designed to treat patients with malaria and the vast majority of anemia.
Don't go to Baoding and Tianjin to buy drugs again, because the price there is twice as expensive as in Shanghai and Hong Kong.
I can't write any more. Let me send you and millions of other dear comrades a thousand times more thankful! ”
The dying words, simple to the truth, touching the heart.
We have no way of knowing what a person was thinking before he was about to die. But he wrote such a touching letter.
It can be seen that he has no regard for his impending death. Before dying, these people who were in the backwoods of a foreign country jumped on the paper like relatives and friends.
This man who once wielded thousands of dollars was even like a calculating and miserly little businessman. At the end of his life, he was still saving money for these not-so-wealthy groups and worrying about the cost performance of drugs.
It is not difficult to see from this suicide note that what he could not give up was not his generous living conditions, superb medical skills, and attachment to his hometown in his country, but the group of Chinese officers and soldiers and chinese people who struggled hard for the rise of China in the poor and remote areas where the material conditions were even more difficult in this country that was not developed at that time.
It can be seen from the letter that he died without regret for the concern and attachment of these people, for the fertile soil for which these people fought.
Nie Rongzhen read the letter, and after receiving his last gift, what kind of grief he felt, you can imagine.
Note that he is not a mediocre Canadian, and he was admitted to membership by the demanding Royal College of Surgeons in his twenties.
He has invented and improved 12 medical surgical instruments and published 14 influential academic papers in the Western medical community.
He has been employed as a consultant by the Health Departments of Federal and Local Governments in Canada.
He was elected a member and trustee of the American Society of Thoracic Surgery.
Money and respect, he is not lacking.
But it was such a superb medical skill and high prestige that he abandoned his good life and chose the most arduous Jin-Cha-Ji Border Region during the Chinese War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression, and took this place as the final destination.
In China, he had great love, and what he showed in the harsh conditions of the time was the great sentiment of "no selfishness, special benefit for others" and noble medical ethics, as well as the spirit of pure internationalism.
Some people have also examined that when he was young, he also spent thousands of dollars and was uninhibited, and if this is the case, it can only make his image more plump and flesh-and-blood, and make his selfless and thorough dedication to the hard and barren land of China more gold-rich.
When he came to China and left this world, he showed emotions and realms that were perfect like a mortal.
The moment he closed his eyes, a noble and great soul remained forever in the hearts of the Chinese people.
The leader of the Communist Party of China, based on his character and spirit, set the standard:
"A person's ability is big or small, but as long as he has this spirit, he is a noble person, a pure person, a moral person, a person who is free from low-level interests, a person who benefits the people."
His noble character and sentiments made him a figure who touched China.
Almost all Chinese know the name.
His foreign name has become a Chinese spirit.
His name was Henry Norman Bethune.
That spirit is called the "Bethune Spirit."
(ii)
"Comrade Bethune is a member of the Canadian Communist Party, more than fifty years old, and in order to help China in the War of Resistance Against Japan, he was sent by the Communist Party of Canada and the Communist Party of the United States to come to China from thousands of miles..."
This is Mao Zedong's first sentence in "In Memory of Bethune".
In September 1936, In order to mobilize overseas Chinese and extensively unite international progressives to support the domestic War of Resistance, Mr. Tao Xingzhi went to more than 20 countries and regions such as France and the Netherlands with self-financing.
On July 30, 1937, Tao Xingzhi was invited to the Los Angeles Medical Friends Dinner, and Bethune, who had long been famous in the North American medical community, was also present.
Tao Xingzhi described in detail The current severe situation of the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression in China, the atrocities committed by the Japanese and Kosovo, the suffering of the people, and the indomitable spirit of the Chinese people in resolutely resisting foreign insults despite the disparity in strength between the two countries.
His narration deeply touched the chivalrous Bethune, the indignation at Japanese militarism, and the mission as a doctor to save lives and help the wounded, igniting the enthusiasm in his heart. He immediately expressed his willingness to organize a medical team to support China's War of Resistance.
"In a society full of intrigue and corruption, I don't stand idly by. I will not condone greedy people for waging war against others. ”
Bethune was a doctor without racial prejudice and without distinction of nationality, who believed that everyone was equal and that everyone's life was precious.
Bethune joined the Communist Party of Canada in 1935.
In 1937 he went to the Spanish battlefield as a volunteer, fighting alongside Picasso, Hemingway, Neruda and others.
After witnessing the bloody war, I have a deeper understanding of aggression and counter-aggression. There, he invented the world's first way of transporting blood, saving the lives of many warriors.
On January 8, 1938, Bethune led a Canadian-American medical team consisting of him and American surgeon Parsons and Canadian nurse Joan Youn to embark on the road to China.
Bethune himself raised five thousand dollars and bought a shipment of medical appliances and medicines. Boarding the "Empress of Asia" cruise ship departed for China, after a long 19 days, through Hong Kong, to Wuhan.
The Kuomintang gestiously invited Bethune, who was skilled in medical skills, to stay in the Kuomintang area, and arranged the best conditions for Bethune and the medical team he led to eat and live, and even promised many generous treatment.
Parsons, Bethune's fellow American physician, was impressed by these superior treatments and promises and stayed with the Kuomintang.
But Bethune is not here.
The country was in trouble, and the Kuomintang's co-optation and extravagant corruption made him very disgusted and disappointed. He once read the famous American journalist Edgar Snow's "Red Star Shines on China" and has always longed for the Communist Party in Yan'an.
He believes that china today can only see China's hope on that barren but vibrant loess slope.
He is not afraid of suffering and tiredness, but just wants to feel and seize this hope from the spiritual level.
For this feeling that some people in modern times cannot understand, Mao Zedong made the most appropriate explanation in his article "In Memory 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. ”
Bethune repeatedly tried unsuccessfully to go to the Eighth Route Army in North China, and was later recommended by someone to turn to Song Qingling for help.
Mr. Soong Ching Ling, who had gone from sympathy to admiration for the Chinese Communist Party, went all out to help mediate and introduce Bethune to Zhou Enlai. After the two men met, Zhou Enlai immediately made detailed and careful arrangements for Bethune's trip to Yan'an.
Seeing the wise, elegant, shrewd and capable Zhou Enlai made Bethune's fiery yearning heart even more hot.
This mood can be seen from the moment he arrived in Yan'an to meet Mao Zedong.
(iii)
On March 31, 1938, Bethune came to The Yan'an he had longed for.
"I now understand why Mao Zedong touched everyone he met with like that. It's a giant! He is one of the greatest people in the world. ”
After more than three hours of conversations with Mao, bethune, who was excited and sleepless all night, wrote this in his diary.
His accurate assessment of Mao was confirmed ten years after his death.
On the evening of the second day after arriving in Yan'an, Jiang Qixian, minister of health of the Eighth Route Army, came to inform Bethune of the news that Mao Zedong was going to interview him at eleven o'clock in the morning.
Excited, Bethune put on a brand-new Eighth Route Army uniform, carefully sorted out his appearance, carefully fastened every button, and walked toward the farm courtyard where Mao Zedong lived with a pilgrimage mentality.
This is in stark contrast to his attitude and mood towards the Kuomintang in the Wuhan Kuomintang Area.
In the distance, I saw Mao Zedong, who was dressed in shabby clothes but was extraordinary, smiling and greeting him at the door. Bethune saluted Mao Zedong and solemnly handed his party card to Mao Zedong: "I have come to report." ”
"We should transfer you to the Chinese Communist Party. In this way, you are inseparable from this country. Mao Zedong laughed.
Mao Zedong and Bethune talked about the Spanish anti-fascist war, and then about the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression in China, especially the urgent need for medical care.
At that time, the medical conditions of the Eighth Route Army were very poor, and there was a shortage of medical treatment and medicine, and the level and number of doctors were also seriously insufficient. After the soldiers were wounded, the mortality rate was very high. Mao Zedong frankly and sincerely expounded the current situation.
Bethune said that he could use the medical equipment he brought to form a field medical team, and then send this medical team to the anti-Japanese front to take care of the combat wounded nearby. This is the most effective way to rescue the wounded.
"In my experience in Spain, as long as there are field medical teams near the front line, 75% of the seriously injured can be saved."
The cure rate that Bethune talked about, which was a huge percentage difference from the current situation of the Eighth Route Army, shook Mao Zedong, who was a heavy man.
“75%？ Is this true? ”
"At least! But the premise is to organize a field medical team, and today I want to go to the front line, to go to the place where there is fighting, that is to say, to go to the place where there are wounded. ”
"Yes, our Eighth Route Army and The New Fourth Army are on the front line, and they are bleeding every day."
Mao Zedong's heart stirred. The lack of medical treatment and medicines and the basic incurability of serious injuries are a major problem for the Eighth Route Army, which is overstretched in material terms. Field medical teams are exactly what is most needed at the moment. But putting Bethune on the front line is undoubtedly a very dangerous thing.
Before Bethune came to Yan'an, there were many plans.
Establish a decent hospital, train a large number of qualified medical personnel for the Eighth Route Army, and improve medical facilities. However, he did not expect that the various conditions in the Shaanxi-Gansu-Ningxia Border Region would be so difficult. Under the existing conditions, only a field medical team can be organized to go to the front line to rescue more fighters.
Mao Zedong promised that the Ministry of Health of the Eighth Route Army would arrange Bethune's work and thanked Bethune.
The conversation lasted 3 hours. When Dr. Bethune returned to his residence at the foot of Phoenix Mountain, he recorded the meeting in detail:
"As I sat face to face with Mao Zedong in that room, which was not on display, and listened to his unhurried speech, I thought back to the Long March, and how Mao Zedong and Zhu De had led the Red Army through a twenty-five-thousand-mile trek from the south to the loess belt in the mountains of the northwest.
Because of their combat experience in those years, they were able to plague the Japanese army with guerrilla warfare today, making the superior weapons of the invaders ineffective, and thus saving China.
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. ”
(iv)
During his stay in Yan'an, Bethune went to the Anti-Japanese Military and Political University and gave a speech; he went to the party and government organs and made a report. Although the conditions in Yan'an are more difficult, his love for Yan'an is expressed from his words:
"In Yan'an I saw a new China, and it was one of the best-managed cities in China. In Hankou, what I saw was a chaotic and disheartening phenomenon of indecisive, incompetent bureaucracy.
The administrative department in Yan'an, on the other hand, has shown confidence and purpose. The streets are bustling with life, and people who come and go seem to know what they are doing for.
Here, regardless of status, everyone is treated as an equal, people have a spirit of diligence and get along very well. ”
Bethune has also won people's trust with superb medical technology and enthusiastic service, leaving an indelible impression on the hearts of the military and people of Yan'an.
But Bethune, who longs for Yan'an and is full of respect, also has a human side in his temperament.
Conditions in Yan'an were difficult, but Bethune was given special care in terms of diet, three meals of small rice, meat or eggs at least once a week.
At first, Bethune didn't care, and then when he went to see Ren Bi by chance, he saw Ren Bi's food and pickles, not even a decent dish. Only then did I know that I was being taken special care of.
But this care made him feel very uncomfortable, and he insisted that this preferential treatment be withdrawn, which was not resolved for a while, saying only that he would consider it.
Such an ambiguous reply infuriated him, and he thought that he had come to Yan'an not to enjoy happiness, but to share happiness and suffering, and now it was equivalent to treating himself as an outsider. Everyone was really angry when they saw him, so they had to revoke the preferential treatment.
Yan'an came such a famous surgeon, it is also very valuable, and out of love for international friends, the request for Bethune to go to the front line naturally has to be considered again and again.
Bethune apparently couldn't stand a peaceful life. The soldiers on the front line were still bleeding, and after repeated requests to go to the front line, he lost his temper, threw out a chair, and smashed the window of the cave.
This time, the "big fuss in the cave" made everyone cry and laugh, and also understood Bethune's determination to stick to the front line.
In April 1938, Bethune, dressed in the uniform of the Eighth Route Army, finally crossed the Yellow River in the east and went to the Jin-Cha-Ji Border Region.
When Nie Rongzhen, then commander of the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region, first saw Bethune, he advised him to rest for a few days before talking about work, but Bethune said:
"I'm here for work, not for rest. Please hurry up and arrange a place for me, I will treat the wounded. Comrade Commander, please tell me, where is my combat post? You're going to use me as a machine gun." ”
Soon, Bethune left the headquarters and rushed to the rear hospital of Songyankou Village in Wutai County, more than 60 miles away, and immediately began work.
In just a few days, Bethune treated 521 wounded and operated on 157 in a month. After being treated, the wounded were quickly recovered and discharged from the hospital and returned to their units to continue fighting.
Blood transfusions in the field situation are things that people have never had before and dare not think about.
Bethune not only pioneered the field blood transfusion of our army, but he also often donated blood to the wounded in the first aid. In this regard, he said: "Blood transfusion is better than killing ten enemies." ”
He appealed to the comrades in the rear hospital: "Go to the front line, where there are wounded, where we should go." Go to the wounded and don't wait for the wounded to come to us! ”
Bethune not only called on others to do so, but also disregarded his personal safety, practiced it, insisted on setting up an operating room at the forefront of the battlefield, accompanied by the explosion of guns, and performed surgery in a small temple.
He took what he had said to Mao Zedong as a promise that must be fulfilled.
(5)
Comrade Bethune's spirit of selflessness and self-interest is manifested in his extreme responsibility for his work and his extreme enthusiasm for the comrades and the people. Every Communist Party member must learn from him..."
In Mao Zedong's writings, the evaluation of a person has reached an unattainable height on a moral and spiritual level.
When Bethune first arrived in the Jin-Cha-Ji Border Region, Mao Zedong sent a telegram to Nie Rongzhen: "Please pay Dr. Bethune a hundred yuan a month." ”
At that time, the heads of the Headquarters of the Eighth Route Army, including Zhu De, commander-in-chief of the Eighth Route Army, Peng Dehuai, deputy commander-in-chief, Ye Jianying, chief of staff, and Zuo Quan, deputy chief of the general staff, received a monthly allowance of five yuan and five yuan.
Bethune was very touched, but insisted. He wrote in his diary:
"If it's to make money, you can be a doctor in Canada." I don't have any money, and I don't need it, but I'm lucky to be among these people and work with them. For them, communism is a way of life, not a set of saying or thinking of a set. ...... Their love embraces the whole world. ”
Bethune said: "The conditions here are difficult, I want to eat and live with the people, what is the use of all this money?" ”
In the Jin-Cha-Ji Rear Hospital, Bethune was the oldest medical worker.
In order to take care of Bethune, the leaders of the Jin-Cha-Ji Military Region sent him some cigarettes, cans, and biscuits from the captured Japanese army, and Bethune was reluctant to eat them, and each time he gave them to the wounded of the Eighth Route Army unchanged to increase their nutrition.
Even Nie Rongzhen gave the wounded and sick a 10 yuan allowance to take care of Bethune's living allowance.
The translator Dong Yueqian was worried that Bethune was old and physically weak, so he made a request to the border area to add an egg to Bethune at breakfast.
This was the only special care Bethune received in the Jin-Cha-Ji Border Region.
Bethune once asked Nie Rongzhen to build a "model hospital" in the field. After much deliberation, Nie Rongzhen agreed to let Bethune build a small demonstration hospital. If it works, roll it out elsewhere.
But what Bethune did not expect was that the medical conditions of the Eighth Route Army were so difficult. No fire, no electricity, not even ordinary disinfection is not an easy task.
He personally organized the medical team, overcame all kinds of difficulties, and in five weeks, he built the model hospital. But soon in a battle, the hospital was completely destroyed.
After the lessons of the destruction of the "model hospital" created according to the traditional Western model, Bethune felt that a more effective model of medical care should be adopted for anti-Japanese guerrilla warfare against the Eighth Route Army.
He began to create a "mobile hospital", and when he was in Jizhong, Bethune was inspired by the people's dung donkeys and designed a "medicine pack" that could be opened and turned into an operating table, and when put away, let the mules and horses go.
In this "medicine pack", there are drawers that can carry some simple surgical equipment and essential medicines. When the warriors saw this "medicine donkey", they praised and said, "We have a hospital on horseback!" ”
They named this medicine donkey "Lugou Bridge".
From many examples of such a combination of earth and foreign countries, it can be seen that Bethune's extremely engaged working attitude can be seen.
He developed the "Bipu" ointment for the treatment of war wounds infected with suppuration, and invented more than 20 kinds of medical devices such as pullers, strippers, and Bethune bone scissors.
Bethune innovated the model of field rescue, replacing Red Cross cars with mules, building scattered hospitals, forming medical teams and "volunteer blood transfusion teams" to the front line of the war to rescue wounded soldiers.
Through Bethune's active exploration and invention, the existing medical technology and combat rescue model are innovated. He founded a health school, wrote textbooks such as "Thirteen Steps of Disinfection" and "Draft Methods of Treatment for Field Surgical Tissues", and formulated a set of principles and methods for frontline treatment, training a large number of medical workers for the frontline.
In the mountainous areas of western Hebei, Bethune participated in the organization and leadership of the health organs of the military region. He donated the X-ray machine, microscope, set of surgical instruments and a batch of medicines he had brought with him to the Military District Health School.
At one point, a nurse followed Dr. Bethune to change the dressing of a wounded man. Since the nurse had been holding the change tray with both hands for a little longer, she put one hand in the pocket of her coat.
When Bethune turned back to get the tool, he found out about it. He immediately stopped what he was doing, his eyes fixed sternly on the nurse.
The nurse felt Bethune's gaze, her face turned red, and she quickly took her hand out of her pocket.
Another time, Bethune went to the ward to check the room, saw a doctor changing the medicine of the wounded, clamped the gauze of the wound with tweezers, and tore it off. The wounded man couldn't hold back and cried out in pain.
Bethune was very dissatisfied with this and severely criticized the doctor: "The wounded man's wounds are flesh, that is not bark, do you understand?" Why can't you move lighter! ”
With that, Bethune leaned down and personally changed the medicine for the wounded man.
Yu Xinyuan, a soldier who was only 17 years old at the time, was seriously wounded in the Battle of Loess Ridge, and the doctor was ready to amputate him, but was stopped by Bethune.
Years later, Yu Xinyuan still remembers what Bethune said to him at that time:
"Dr. Bai asked me how old I was, and I said I was 17 years old. Bethune told him that after he was such a young child, after he was intercepted, what would he do in the future? After that, he personally treated me. He was my life's savior, so I can never forget to begth. ”
"When the people who came back from the front spoke of Bethune, there was not a single one who did not admire, not a single one who was not touched by his spirit. The soldiers and civilians of the Jin-Cha-Ji Border Region, who have personally received Dr. Bethune's treatment and witnessed Dr. Bethune's work with their own eyes, are all touched by it..."
The leader of the Communist Party of China, who has always been written in a shocking way, also has such a sentimental description in the article "In Memory of Bethune".
(6)
According to Li Longchi, executive vice president of the Bethune Spiritual Research Association, as soon as Bethune worked, he completely entered a state of self-forgetfulness.
From November 1938 to February 1939, Bethune's troops came to the Yanbei and Jizhong regions of Shanxi, which was also Bethune's most difficult moment, because there were too many wounded, and it was at this time that Japan began a sweep.
In just four months, Bethune traveled more than 700 kilometers, and the number of surgeries alone was more than 300, during which Bethune worked up to 18 hours a day.
Bethune knew very well in his heart that he must race against time, and only by constantly treating himself could he save more wounded.
During the treatment process, Bethune was in a coma twice due to excessive fatigue, and once treated more than 20 wounded people in one day and one night.
During the Battle of Qi Hui, he underwent surgery on a small temple, only three kilometers from the line of fire.
Amid the rumbling cannons, Bethune did 115 surgeries without rest for 69 consecutive hours, and the success rate was more than 80%, which was a great miracle at that time, both in terms of energy and success rate.
How did Bethune persist in not sleeping for three days and three nights? Bethune's service soldier He Zixin introduced that when Bethune was particularly tired and difficult to support, he was always shouting, little devil, carrying ice water.
He Zixin brought him a bucket of cold water, slammed his head into it, stayed inside for a moment, pulled out his head, and continued to go up for surgery.
Inspired by ideals, he became a pure person who was strict with himself, had no bad habits, actively refused special care, and had a sense of fraternity.
In addition to his selfless work, in view of what he saw and heard in his daily work, he wrote two articles a month for the Manchester Guardian to publicize to the international community the heroic deeds of the Eighth Route Army against Japan.
In the second half of 1939, Bethune planned a trip back to Canada to raise money and equipment.
Before leaving, he made a special inspection of the work of 20 field hospitals. However, when rescuing the wounded in the battle of Motianling in Laiyuan County, Hebei Province, Bethune's left middle finger was cut by a scalpel and infected, which worsened into sepsis.
Due to the prolongation of his illness and the limitations of medical conditions, his sepsis sepsis could not be controlled by sufficient antibacterial drugs, and his condition gradually deteriorated. Dying, he is still worried about his work and the wounded:
"What worries me twelve points is that the bleeding wounded in front of me, if I still have a little support, I will stay ahead... But I can't stand up anymore. ”
On November 10, Bethune was taken on a stretcher to the Military District Surgical Hospital in Huapoon Village, Tang County. On the afternoon of the same day, the road passed through Huangshikou Village in Tang County for a temporary stop.
It also became the place where his life stayed forever.
The next day, on the small north house of the villagers' residence Junxing's house, Bethune knew that his life was about to end, and wrote a touching letter to Nie Rongzhen.
The calm expression in his letter, not seeing any sorrow and sorrow, the feeling of attachment to the Chinese friend and the feeling of dying jumped on the paper, still thinking about his unfinished business and how to save money for this organization that was not rich.
On November 12, Bethune died in Huangshikou Village, Tang County, Hebei Province.
This day is his 594th day in China.
In Jin-Cha-Ji, Bethune directly participated in the rescue and treatment of 11 battles, personally performed surgical operations on more than 1,290 wounded, and received tens of thousands of military and civilians in the base areas who received his medical treatment.
Mao Zedong personally wrote an elegy for Dr. Bethune:
"Learn from Comrade Bethune's internationalist spirit, learn from his spirit of sacrifice, sense of responsibility and enthusiasm for work."
postscript:
The deeds of Dr. Bethune are well known in China, and various related works are also emerging in an endless stream.
Now write Bethune again, I don't know if anyone else loves to watch.
Writing about Bethune again, for me, is purely out of an emotion, out of feelings again and again.
From his deeds, I deeply realized what is called true selfless and thorough dedication.
His touching, almost perfect performance, at least let us know that in this world, there are still firm beliefs worthy of our wholehearted dedication, and the existence of truth, goodness and beauty.
Write bethune again, hoping that whenever our descendants mention this name, they will still stir up waves in their hearts.
I don't want such a great, noble soul to lose its luster because of the passing of the times.
The Chinese nation has always been full of heroes, and among those heroes who are like a galaxy, there are many people who can touch the ages.
I hope that we, and our descendants, will never forget that among those countless Chinese heroes who have touched the ages, the touching, kind and stubborn foreign old man who stands side by side.
Although in Chinese mind, he was no longer a foreigner.