As you know, Bethune (full name Henry Norman Bethune) is a world-famous thoracic surgeon. He traveled thousands of miles to China, worked hard for the Chinese anti-Japanese revolution, and was an outstanding communist fighter.
Dr. Bethune
In fact, Bethune turned out to be a wealthy surgeon, why did he come to China to participate in the anti-Japanese revolution? The answer is as follows.
First, from an early age, brave, adventurous, become a wealthy surgeon
Bethune was born on March 4, 1890, to a clergyman's family in the small town of Gravenhurst, northern Ontario, Canada. He grew up brave and adventurous. When he was 6 years old, he went to Toronto alone far from town, and he knew that he got lost while walking, but he did not cry. When the police sent him home and his mother criticized him, he said, "I want to try adventure." ”
At the age of 8, Bethune loved to catch sparrows and flies, and when he caught them, he dissected them, and he wanted to learn from his grandfather to become a surgeon. Growing up, Bethune's dream came true: after graduating with a Bachelor of Medicine degree from the University of Toronto, he became a member of the Royal Society of Surgeons and a clinical postgraduate.
Bethune received his M.D. at the age of 26 and the Royal Medical Award of Edinburgh at the age of 32; he served as a Thoracic Surgeon at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Montreal and Director of Thoracic Surgery at Sacred Heart Hospital, a consultant to the health departments of federal and local governments in Canada, and one of the five executive board members of the American Association of Thoracic Surgeons.
Bethune in 1922
Dr. Bethune has invented and improved more than two dozen medical devices, which are licensed by Pirin & Sons in Philadelphia, USA, and some of which are still in use today. In 1924, at the age of 34, he opened a private clinic in Detroit, USA, bought a luxury villa and a car, joined a golf club, and became a financially free and wealthy surgeon.
Second, after understanding the "socialist medical system", join the Communist Party
As a result of the severe economic crisis in the capitalist world of the 1930s, a quarter of the workers in the United States were unemployed. On the one hand, tens of thousands of people are hungry and cold, and on the other hand, there is the waste of burning wheat (Canada), pouring milk into the river, and ploughing cotton into the soil (the United States).
Bethune, who survived a tuberculosis crisis,
It was found that the people at the bottom did not dare to see a doctor at all, nor did they look down on the disease, and many people were dragged to death by the disease that could have been cured. He wrote in his diary with emotion:
"The rich have tuberculosis of the rich, and the poor have the tuberculosis of the poor. The rich recover and the poor die. Thus it was recognized that the capitalist health care system was created for the rich and that the poor could not benefit from it.
Bethune used stethoscopes, forceps, hemostatic forceps, steel cylinders for syringes
In August 1935, the Fifteenth International Congress of Physiology was held in the Soviet Union, and Bethune, who attended the meeting, saw the "socialist medical system" under the leadership of the People's Committee of Public Health of the USSR - a welfare medical system that was completely free and covered by the whole staff and borne by the state finances: "The state guarantees free and high-quality medical services to all residents. ”
The Soviet health care system was based on the principle that workers could enjoy free medical care, and health care was run by the state, and all costs were borne by the state. This gave Dr. Bethune an understanding of the superiority of the "socialist medical system", defending the Russian Revolution and the Soviet system by analogy of childbirth and childbirth pain, and drawing sociological conclusions from the point of view of the problems of the medical profession:
The best way to protect health is to change the socio-economic systems that produce unhealthy health and to eradicate ignorance, poverty and unemployment. Therefore, after Bethune returned to China, he resolutely joined the Communist Party of Canada.
Third, for the sake of the War of Resistance, he came to Yan'an, China
After joining the Communist Party, Bethune volunteered to go to Spain in the winter of 1936 to participate in the anti-fascist struggle, where he strengthened his communist convictions. On July 7, 1937, the Japanese army provoked an all-out war of aggression against China, and an unprecedented historical event occurred.
Dr. Bethune and Commander Nie Rongzhen
Hearing of this great change from Asia, Bethune pointed out with great indignation in his speech: "Octopus-like monopoly capitalism has reached out everywhere, and Japan's invasion of China is an example. In 1937, at the age of 47, Bethune met Tao Xingzhi, one of the leaders of the All-China Federation for the Salvation of the Nation, at a banquet. Tao Xingzhi briefed Bethune on the situation of China's War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and expressed the hope that Bethune would come to China to help China in the War of Resistance. Bethune agreed, and subsequently applied to the Communist Party of Canada to travel to China.
On January 8, 1938, Bethune led the Canadian-American medical team to aid China on the "Empress of Asia" cruise ship from the Port of Vancouver, Canada, to support the Chinese people in the War of Resistance Against Japan. When he arrived in China 19 days later with a large number of medical drugs and instruments, the Nationalists wanted to keep the medical team because they coveted the precious wartime supplies. Parsons, an American doctor who accompanied him, stayed, but Bethune's original intentions did not change. Under the mediation of Soong Ching-ling, he met with Zhou Enlai, vice chairman of the Central Military Commission of the Communist Party of China, who was in Wuhan at the time.
In a later letter, Bethune talked about why he did not return to Spain for China, and why he had to go to Yan'an. "If you want to understand why I'm going to China [Yan'an], read Edgar Snow's Journey to the West; Agnes Smedley's The Red Army on the Long March, and Bettelheim's China's First Steps," he said. It turned out that the book "Red Star Shines on China" written by American journalist Edgar Snow, and the above-mentioned article, which became Bethune's guiding light for Yan'an.
Dr. Bethune in surgery
Fourth, we should work hard for China's anti-Japanese revolution
Dr. Bethune led a medical team composed of Canadians and Americans to the Liberated Areas of China, and in April 1938, he was transferred to the Jin-Cha-Ji Border Region via Yan'an, where he worked for nearly two years. His deeds were widely praised by Chinese people.
In short, Bethune traveled thousands of miles from a wealthy surgeon to China, participated in the anti-Japanese revolution and worked hard until he died in the line of duty. It was because after seeing the superiority of the socialist medical system, in order to save the toiling masses in the depths of the waters, they chose the Communist Party, and because they saw that the Communist Party of China was sincerely resisting Japan and represented the fundamental interests of the working people of all China, they chose to support the Cpc and rushed to Yan'an and the front line of the War of Resistance.
We should learn from Dr. Bethune and learn from his unselfish spirit. As Chairman Mao Zedong praised him, be a noble person, a pure person, a moral person, a person detached from low-level interests, a person who is beneficial to the people. Strive to strengthen the country and enrich the people.
Bethune sculpture
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