In Memory of Canada's Legendary Internationalist Dr. Norman Bethune
Bethune's Historic Contributions to China Live On
Head of Datong Red
Culture Museum shows visitors photographs
highlighting the
work of Dr. Norman Bethune.
As part of celebrations to mark the 80th anniversary of the Chinese people's victory over the Japanese imperialists during the Second World War, China is remembering the many international friends who came to her aid during her 14-year war.
At the top of this list is Dr. Norman Bethune, the Canadian communist and internationalist who arrived in China in January 1938, after serving with the Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion of the International Brigades in support of the democratically-elected Spanish Republican government fighting the onslaught of the Francisco Franco fascists and their Nazi allies. He died in China at his post on November 12, 1939, after cutting himself while operating on a wounded soldier. He persisted with his work but contracted an infection and developed sepsis. With no medicine with which to treat it, Bethune died.
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Mao
Zedong meets Bethune in 1938Mao Zedong, the leader of the Communist Party of China which organized and led the Chinese people's resistance against the Japanese aggressors, wrote the essay In Memory of Norman Bethune, in December 1939, paying tribute to this communist revolutionary doctor. Mao wrote among other things:
"He arrived in Yan'an in the spring of last year, went to work in the Wutai Mountains, and to our great sorrow died a martyr at his post. What kind of spirit is this that makes a foreigner selflessly adopt the cause of the Chinese people's liberation as his own? It is the spirit of internationalism, the spirit of communism [...] Comrade Bethune's spirit, his utter devotion to others without any thought of self, was shown in his great sense of responsibility in his work and his great warm-heartedness towards all comrades and the people. Every communist must learn from him."
This year in the Wutai region where Dr. Bethune worked till his death, the places he worked and lived have been refurbished to draw attention to his work and contributions. At the Datong Red Culture Museum, visitors can gain an appreciation of the work that Dr. Bethune performed when he lived in the area for about three months. Ren Dong, head of the museum notes that during his short stay Bethune performed 700 surgeries and in addition treated more than 1,000 soldiers and individuals. Dr. Bethune also trained dozens of frontline surgical staff, prepared training manuals for medical workers and organized operating rooms and first aid stations in the region.
Monument commemorating
students of military medical school Norman Bethune helped set
up ambushed by Japanese soldiers.
A
sculpture featuring Norman Bethune on his way to visiting wounded
soldiers at Baiyintuo in Hebei Province, northern China.
Dr. Bethune also improvised and recycled materials because of the lack of medical and sterilization supplies. He paid close attention to maintaining the highest medical standards to save lives and minimize infection. At a memorial exhibition at the "Bethune Ward" at a war-time hospital, visitors are shown a steel box where surgical equipment was placed before being sterilized.
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Bust of
Dr. Bethune in front of Shanxi Bethune Hospital in
Taiyuan. Tang Jinhui, the Party Secretary of Shanxi Bethune Hospital in Taiyuan, the capital of Shanxi Province, notes that he and his colleagues are proud that their hospital is named after Dr. Norman Bethune. The name reminds the staff, local visitors, and people in the region that he lived and worked in Shanxi for almost two years.
Dr. Bethune treated wounded soldiers under extremely harsh conditions. He was innovative, among the first to create mobile surgical units. This was a development copied much later by the U.S. Army and came to be known as Mobile Army Surgical Hospital (MASH) units in the Korean War. He also designed a battlefield surgery tool kit that could be easily packed and transported to ensure these mobile units could function.
Dr. Bethune created a model hospital
ward to demonstrate and teach modern antiseptic techniques,
crucial for preventing infections and that helped significantly
reduce the mortality rate among the wounded. He trained young
peasants in basic medical and surgical skills. He condensed the
training into intensive, short-term programs (one year for
doctors, six months for nurses) to quickly get staff to
the front lines.
"We revisit the influence of Bethune's spirit on China's medical sector because its value is not just about saving lives during wartime. It has deeply shaped the direction of modern medicine's evolution in China," Tang emphasized.
In the spirit of Norman Bethune, the Bethune Hospital staff continues to provide medical support to China's remote regions and is part of China's medical mission to Africa.
Bethune Remembered in Canada
Bethune's birthplace
in Gravenhurst, Ontario is now a museum.
Left:
Commemorative stamp honours Bethune. Centre and right: Statues of
Bethune
at Concordia University in Montreal and the University of Toronto
where he
attended medical school.
(Photos: Xinhua, Shanxi Bethune Hospital.)
This article was published in
Volume 55 Number 33 - September 6, 2025
Article Link:
https://cpcml.ca/Tmlm2025/Articles/TS55335.HTM
Website: www.cpcml.ca Email: editor@cpcml.ca