Norman Bethune (1890-1939) was a Canadian thoracic
surgeon. During the 1930s he became a convinced communist, and this led
him to Spain, where he joined the anti-Fascist struggle. On the Spanish
battle fields he became aware that
75% of serious battle casualties would survive if operated on
immediately. In early 1938, he arrived in China, and proceeded to Yan'an,
the revolutionary base area of the Chinese Communist Party. Mao Zedong
commissioned him to organize a mobile operating unit in the interior of
North China. Although he was forced to work under extreme
circumstances, sometimes operating for forty hours straight without
sleep, and within minutes of the front lines, he saved the lives of
many Chinese partymembers and soldiers. He died of septicemia,
contracted when he cut himself while operating under great pressure
from advancing Japanese forces.
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Many apocryphal stories exist about Bethune. He was
said to be a heavy drinker and to be a womanizer to boot. Despite
this, he was—and still is—widely admired in China. In the
opening days of the Cultural Revolution (1966-1976), an early essay
written by Mao Zedong entitled "In Memory of Norman Bethune" was incorporated in the so-called "Three Constantly Read Articles", together with "The Foolish Old Man Who Removed the Mountains" and "Serve the People".
These essays were part of the narrow selection of reading materials
considered ideologically correct: they became elementary reading in the
schools, from universities down to the elementary levels.
In 1990, Donald Sutherland (as the good doctor) and Hellen Mirren (as his wife) starred in Bethune: The Making of A Hero. The movie,
co-produced by China and Canada, was filmed on location.
In recent years, Bethune seemed to have slipped from the public view. After the outbreak of SARS
(severe acute respiratory syndrome) in China was belatedly acknowledged
by the government in April 2003, Bethune's reputation suddenly was
invoked again. Volunteers who go to Beijing to take part in the
'people's war' that is being waged against the disease are referred to
in the media as Bethunes, and medical workers are praised for 'carrying
forward the spirit of Bethune'.
Sources:
Ted Allan and Sydney Gordon, The Scalpel, the Sword: The Story of Doctor Norman Bethune (New York,
etc.: The Monthly Review Press 1973)
Xu Yan, 80 wei gongchandang rende gushi [The stories of 80 Communist Party personages] (Beijing: Jiefangjun wenyi chubanshe, 2001) [in Chinese]
Geoffrey York, "China revives Bethune's spirit in SARS fight", globeandmail.com (13 May 2003)
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