On October 1, 1949, accompanied by Chairman Mao's words "The People's Republic of China was founded!" All the people in Tiananmen Square cheered and made a deafening sound of celebration. One of the blonde foreigners was particularly striking. He was Ma Haide, the first foreigner to join the Chinese Communist Party and Chinese nationality.
Throughout his life, Ma Haide devoted his life to the study and treatment of leprosy, saving a total of 500,000 Chinese lives. Therefore, on September 14, 2009, Ma Haide, who has been dead for many years, was also named one of the "100 Chinese Touched since the founding of New China".
Today we will talk about this great communist fighter.
01 A doctor born in a slum
On September 26, 1910, Ma Haide was born into a poor family in Buffalo, New York, United States, and his father named him George. Heidem.
When he was eight years old, there was a massive outbreak of the Spanish flu, with extremely high rates of infection and mortality.
Unfortunately, the Ma Haide family also contracted the disease. This makes their already poor families even worse. At this time, they were very desperate in their hearts. After all, the family's usual income is only enough to barely survive, so what other money is there for medical treatment?
There is no other way but to pray to God. Just as they were about to give up, a kind doctor showed up who was willing to treat the Mahyed family for free and managed to pull them back from the brink of death.
The doctor's kind deeds had a huge impact on the young Ma Haide. Since then, Ma Haide has had a great ideal in life: "When I grow up, I want to be a doctor and treat more poor patients." ”
02 The emergence of a turning point in life
All along, Ma Haide spent his time studying. Children his age are playing while he is always studying hard.
The Emperor pays off. In 1927, Ma Haide finally got his wish and was admitted to the University of North Carolina in the United States to study pre-medicine. During his time at school, Ma Haide studied very hard.
In 1929, Ma Haide successfully entered the American University of Beirut, Lebanon. Because of his excellent academic performance and good performance during his time at the university, in 1931 he was qualified to study at the University of Geneva in Switzerland, focusing on clinical diagnosis for a period of two years.
At the age of 23, he successfully earned his M.D. degree. But at the same time, the occurrence of an event made him confused. Is it back to the United States? Or stay in Switzerland? He didn't know what to decide.
It turned out that on the eve of Ma Haide's graduation, there was a shooting incident in Switzerland at that time. A group of unemployed workers marching were shot by the army, which was ordered by the Swiss rulers at the time.
Subsequently, the injured workers were taken to the operating room of Mahyde's school for treatment.
The incident made Ma Haide deeply disappointed with the Swiss government at that time, and even the governments of all European countries, so he did not know where to go after graduation.
It was then that he met a Chinese student who also made him interested in China. When he knew that tropical diseases were in China, he immediately made a decision to go to China to treat diseases and save people. After all, he was already curious about China, and treating patients was his ideal since childhood.
So, in 1933, Ma Haide came to Shanghai, China, and opened a private clinic with his classmates. Not only that, he also worked as a part-time doctor in a hospital built by the British.
03 Devoted to the cause of communism
After arriving in Shanghai, Ma Haide quickly adapted to life here. He then began to investigate and gather information about tropical viruses.
But as he came into contact with more and more people, he became more confused: "Is the problem here just because of tropical diseases?" "The result in the end is obviously not.
Ma Haide found that the root cause of the repeated illnesses of Chinese workers at that time was not because of work, nor because of themselves, but in the society that was already "terminally ill."
As a doctor, Ma Haide was very eager to cure the sick country, and because of this, he originally planned to stay in China for only one year, decided to stay.
Later, he came into contact with the Chinese Communist Party and also met Ms. Song Qingling. At the same time, he also identified one thing. That is, only the Chinese Communist Party can save the China of that time, and can save the sick workers.
Since then, he has studied books on Marxism and used his clinic as a point of contact for underground CCP members. But even so, he still felt that it was not enough, and he should be able to do more.
So he began to publish newspapers in the American "Workers' Daily" to expose the dark side of Chinese society at that time.
In this way, Ma Haide has always insisted on using his own way to constantly help the Chinese Communist Party.
04 Went to northern Shaanxi to investigate and changed to Chinese name
In the late spring of 1936, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China wanted to invite a journalist and a doctor to northern Shaanxi to investigate and understand the CCP's anti-Japanese ideas and the medical situation in the revolutionary base areas. On the recommendation of Ms. Song Qingling, American journalists Snow and Ma Haide went to the temporary garrison security of the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army.
Along the way, they went through ups and downs, evaded repeated pursuits by Kuomintang right-wingers, and finally managed to reach the security guards.
Chairman Mao and Premier Zhou attached great importance to this hard-won foreign doctor and held a grand welcoming ceremony for Ma Haide and Snow. After that, Premier Zhou personally led the two to the army, hoping that the two could quickly integrate into the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army.
Although at first, Ma Haide was extremely uncomfortable with the hard life of security, Ma Haide lived here extremely happy. And he soon adapted to life here and mingled with the security farmers.
In his spare time, he often went to the homes of the peasants himself and treated them for free. However, for the peasants who did not know the words, his original name was George. Heidem is hard to recognize and hard to read.
It was often the case that everyone came to the military district with a big bag of things and wanted to thank Ma Haide, but they didn't know who to look for in front of the gate.
In order to facilitate communication with the broad masses of the people, Ma Haide decided to give himself a Chinese name.
Soon, he thought of the name Ma Haide for himself. The reason for this name is because there were a large number of Muslims in the security area at that time, and the common surname was "Ma", so "Ma" also became his surname.
As for the name, he decided to call himself "Hyde", derived from his original surname "Hydem". At this point, he finally had an official Chinese name, Ma Haide.
05 Stay in northern Shaanxi and take root in China
At that time, Ma Haide often spoke fluent Shaanxi dialect and introduced himself to others. Over time, the people of the security guards basically knew that there was a doctor named Ma Haide who was not only interesting, but also very good at medical skills.
After Snow completed his interview mission, he asked Mahyde if he wanted to leave with him, but Mahyde shook his head firmly. In the end, Snow returned to Shanghai by himself. And Mahyde stayed in the security guard.
Later, Ma Haide, who remained behind, not only joined the Chinese Communist Party, but also became the minister of health, and he also lived up to expectations, dutifully doing his duty, and did not relax for a moment.
In the winter of 1939, once, Ma Haide was on duty at the clinic. A female soldier of the Eighth Route Army suddenly pushed open the door of the clinic, this female soldier named Zhou Sophie, who had come to the clinic to treat a cold.
Ma Haide had been committed to the medical career and had never thought of falling in love and getting married. Unexpectedly, when he saw this beautiful girl, he was instantly attracted by her to all the attention.
Ma Haide realized that he fell in love with the girl in front of him at first sight, but he was not shy, but intimately prepared a potion for Sophie Zhou, and prepared a note on it: "I sincerely hope that you can take the medicine on time, recover your health as soon as possible, and restore your beautiful smile." ”
Perhaps it is Ma Haide's fiery love, or perhaps his unique personality charm, Zhou Sophie has gradually fallen in love with him. Soon, the feelings of the two also quickly warmed up.
After three months of getting along, one clear morning, Ma Haide showed his love to Sophie Zhou and proposed marriage. Sophie Zhou immediately nodded shyly. Soon the two were married.
In this way, Ma Haide took deep roots in China.
06 Dedicate your life to treating patients
Premier Zhou once told Ma Haide that after the founding of New China in the future, he will be the first to approve his naturalization as a Chinese citizen. Therefore, in 1949, when the founding of New China was founded, Ma Haide immediately applied to become a Chinese citizen and became the first Chinese citizen of the People's Republic of China with foreign ancestry.
Premier Zhou made such a commitment to Ma Haide because he has been contributing to China's medical cause, and his main contribution in China is to overcome leprosy.
Leprosy is actually a particularly contagious disease, people with this disease will have acne on their faces, especially ugly, but also itchy and painful.
But for the patient, the mental blow is the most painful. Once anyone has leprosy, they will be alienated and disgusted by their relatives and friends, and even they cannot accept the festering on their faces, and they will be completely plunged into despair psychologically, and can only hide and fend for themselves.
The appearance of this disease reminded Ma Haide of what he experienced as a child, so he has been working on the treatment of leprosy.
In 1950, Ma Haide was officially appointed as an adviser to the Ministry of Health of the Central People's Government. With his help, China established the Central Institute of Dermatological and Venereal Diseases.
Between 1954 and 1964, Ma Haide and his team members worked tirelessly to virtually eliminate leprosy and other diseases in China.
After 1970, Ma Haide began to visit many countries, promote exchanges and cooperation between China and the international medical community, constantly publicize China's experience and achievements in the treatment of leprosy to the world, and actively introduce advanced foreign technology and visit many countries.
As a result of his efforts, China has won some precious materials, including medicines and medical devices, worth tens of millions of dollars. These supplies have ensured the treatment of leprosy patients in China.
In 1986, the number of leprosy patients in China was greatly reduced, from 500,000 in 1959 to 70,000. And all this is inseparable from Ma Haide's efforts. The Ministry of Health also awarded Ma Haide the title of "Pioneer of New China's Health Undertakings" for his outstanding contributions.
Ma Haide devoted his life to the cause of medicine until his death in Beijing on October 3, 1988.
Before dying, Ma Haide was still sighing: "If I am allowed to start my life again, I still have to choose this path, there is no doubt about it!" ”
In 2009, Ma Haide was awarded the "Moving Chinese since the founding of New China". On September 25 of the same year, he was also awarded the honorary title of "Most Beautiful Strivers".
This honor is China's highest recognition of him, and it is also the highest respect of the Chinese for this selfless and dedicated foreign friend.
Author: Yu Yu Shu