Statue of Lo Thanksgiving
In the middle of the hall of the inpatient building of the First People's Hospital in Changde City, Hunan Province, stands a bronze statue of an American. He is the American missionary Luo Thanksgiving, and the founder of Changde Guangde Hospital, the predecessor of the First People's Hospital of Changde City. In 1898, commissioned by the Presbyterian Church of America, Luo Thanksgiving and his wife opened the Guangji Clinic in Changde. In 1910, it was changed to Guangji Hospital, and in 1915 it was renamed Guangde Hospital. This is the first Western medicine hospital in Hunan, which was founded earlier than the famous Changsha Yali Hospital (the predecessor of Xiangya Hospital).
Western medicine entered China, and missionaries contributed greatly. Traditional Chinese medicine, though broad and sophisticated, is still powerless against many diseases. The advent of church clinics and hospitals has saved countless lives Chinese. In 1902, when there was an outbreak of cholera in Changde, the treatment effect of traditional Chinese medicine was not good, and Luo Xie's Guangji Clinic played a vital role in the fight against cholera. At its peak, 60 patients were admitted to hospital in a single day. Patients who came to church clinics in time were eventually recovered. What moved the people even more was that Luo Was grateful for seeing a doctor and did not charge the consultation fee, and the clinic's expenditure mainly relied on fundraising.
Luo is also a pioneer in the discovery and treatment of trematodiasis in China. In 1903, he discovered malaria parasites and hookworm eggs in Changde. In 1905, he first reported to the world the first list of Schistosomiasis patients in China, unveiling the mystery of the "water drum disease" of farmers in southern China. He then continued his research on schistosomiasis, making an important contribution to the treatment and control of schistosomiasis. Luo Xie has been practicing medicine in Changde for more than 20 years, diagnosing and treating many difficult diseases, and his medical skills are exquisite and his reputation is far and wide.
Luo thanksgiving
However, on December 19, 1919, a sudden accident made Luo a martyr in the medical cause. On the same day, Feng Yuxiang, the envoy of Xiangxi Town stationed in Changde, had a intermittent psychotic attack because of his brother-in-law Liu Liquan, and specially asked Luo Xie to come to the door for medical treatment. Feng Yuxiang is a Christian, known as the "Christian General", and has a friendly relationship with Luo Thanksgiving. Feng Yuxiang originally planned to hire a palanquin to send Liu Liquan to Guangde Hospital for hospitalization, but Liu Liquan refused to go, saying that he was afraid that people would laugh at him for illness, so Feng Yuxiang had to ask Luo Thanksgiving to come to his door for treatment.
Luo Thanksgiving came, but Liu Liquan hid under the bed and refused to come out. After repeated enlightenment, he was persuaded to come out. After the examination, Luo Thanksgiving said: "Your disease does not matter, as long as you exercise more, you will soon be fine." The people in Changde are excellent, you can go out and play more every day, walk around, sweat a little, and feel comfortable. In addition, eat more and eat more vegetables. Coming out of the patient's room, Feng Yuxiang asked Luo How the disease was. Luo Thanksgiving said: "The most important thing is to be more active, but I am afraid that he is not willing to go out and move around often." It's best to ask him to do soft gymnastics, and ask him to do it several times a day. Feng Yuxiang felt that this soft gymnastics was very important, so he asked Luo Xie to teach the patient in person.
The two returned to the patient's room, only to see the patient hiding under the bed again. After some persuasion, he was reluctantly pulled out, but Liu Liquan twisted his neck and was more emotional. Luo Thanksgiving said: "You can't be angry, if you are angry, it is not easy to get sick." I taught you to do soft exercises, and you do it a few more times a day, and you'll be fine soon. Luo Thanksgiving said as he showed him the posture. Unexpectedly, at this moment, Liu Liquan suddenly took out a pistol from his body and shot at Luo Thanksgiving. Luo Thanksgiving was shot in the left cheek, and the bullet came out of the right neck, and the blood flowed like a flood. Feng Yuxiang saw that the situation was not right, and hurried forward to grab the gun. Liu Liquan fired another shot, hitting Feng Yuxiang in the shoulder. Several guards rushed up to control him.
After hearing the news, Luo Thanksgiving's wife and her assistant rushed to Feng Yuxiang's mansion with a stretcher and carried Luo Thanksgiving back to the hospital for rescue. Due to his serious injuries, Luo Thanksgiving died that afternoon. Feng Yuxiang was less injured and was discharged from the hospital after two weeks of treatment.
Mr. and Mrs. Luo thanksgiving in China
On the day of Luo's funeral, the shops in Changde were closed, and the streets were full of banners remembering his deeds of saving lives and helping the injured. At the memorial service held by the military and police circles in Changde, the priest prayed. After Luo Xie's wife and brother spoke on behalf of the family, Feng Yuxiang also spoke. Then, one of Feng Yuxiang's staff officers and a regimental commander detailed Liu Liquan's medical history and family situation, saying that Liu Liquan's father and several brothers were suffering from mental illness, which was their family genetic disease, so the shooting was purely accidental. After the memorial service, Luo's body was buried in the cemetery of Changdedeshan under the escort of soldiers and citizens.
For Luo's grateful death, Feng Yuxiang felt deeply guilty. Afterwards, he sent someone to send Mrs. Luo Thanksgiving a sum of money as a pension. But Mrs. Luo thought it was an accident and refused to accept any money. Later, Feng Yuxiang wanted to persuade Mrs. Luo to accept the money through Luo Xie's brother-in-law, and also wrote to Luo Xie's children in the United States, hoping to use the money to fund their schooling, but they were politely refused.
Lady Luo was also very tolerant of Liu Liquan, a mentally ill person who shot and killed Luo Thanksgiving. After Luo Thanksgiving's death, Feng Yuxiang ordered his staff to hang Liu Liquan and beat him violently every hour. After Madame Luo learned of this from Feng Yuxiang's staff officers, she immediately said that it was not the patient's fault, and she resolutely opposed torturing a mentally ill person and demanded that Liu Liquan be released immediately. Feng Yuxiang's staff officer was very surprised, and when he left, he muttered to himself, "I really don't understand, I really don't understand, she doesn't want any money, and she wants me to let him go." Lady Luo, who was in mourning, even took over the dead Luo Thanksgiving and continued to see Liu Liquan until liu Liquan was sent to Beijing for treatment three or four weeks later.
The plum blossom bottle given by Feng Yuxiang
Soon, the US consul in Changsha sent a letter investigating the truth of the incident, advocating prosecution and demanding compensation. Mrs. Law gathered a meeting with the local priest and expressed disagreement with the consul. She said they came to China to serve and had decided to sacrifice everything. Her husband's death was a martyrdom, martyrdom, martyrdom, and no compensation was demanded, otherwise the deceased and the living would not be at ease.
Later, Feng Yuxiang used that money to build a camp chapel in Hankou, Hubei Province, named "Siluo Hall". After Feng Yuxiang was transferred to the Army's inspection envoy, he built a "Thanksgiving Hall" to commemorate Luo Thanksgiving in Nanyuan, Beijing.
After Luo Thanksgiving's death, Mrs. Luo left Changde, where she had worked for 22 years, to work as the head nurse at the church hospital where her brother was located in Huzhou, Zhejiang. Feng Yuxiang visited her many times. It is said that when she was in her seventies, she was still in good health. In 1931, Feng Yuxiang met Luo Xie's eldest son in Shanghai, who had come to work in China. In 1937, Feng Yuxiang went to Changde for the second time on duty, and once went to Luo Thanksgiving's tomb to make sacrifices, and erected a tombstone to remember this story on the stele for eternity.
Decades later, Feng Yuxiang said in his memoir "My Life": "Readers read this passage of the book, I think there should be no one who is not moved by sighs. I thought that this kind of fraternity like Mrs. Luo and her son-in-law was the true Christian spirit. In the midst of the extreme grief of her husband's tragic death, Mrs. Luo still had to treat the patient who killed her husband, and this high degree of intellectual and moral cultivation was by no means something that ordinary women could do. In China, I cannot yet imagine such women; that is, there are those who can do it, who are equally reasonable and must be blamed by society for violating etiquette and human feelings. Her son, as a teenager, sent back the money I had remitted to him without being helped by a teenager, vowing to be self-motivated and unsupported, and this kind of ambition and spirit is also rare among Chinese teenagers. I don't think it's a trivial matter, it's too deep and big about a country, a nation, and a society. We must produce from admiration and envy the heart of imitation, then this passage of mine will not be written in vain. ”
Luo thanks the couple and children
【References】
1. Feng Yuxiang,"My Life"
2. Jenny Manhattan Luo Thanksgiving's Memoirs of Mrs. Luo Thanksgiving (translated by Zhang Yi)
3. Liu Suhua, Li Changlin, "Selected Historical Materials of Modern and Contemporary Social Events in Hunan"
4. Zhong Yunpeng, Liu Limei, "Luo Thanksgiving: The Messenger of Sino-US Cultural Exchanges, the Founder of Hunan Western Medicine"