Retracing the footsteps of Dr. Norman Bethune

My story with China began in the fall of 2005 when I came to China for the first time to teach English courses at Anqing Normal University in east China's Anhui Province. Every morning I would take a walk in the park near the campus. One day I struck up a conversation with a senior who had just finished his Tai Chi practice. Upon learning that I was from Canada, he tightly held my hands and passionately recounted the story of Dr. Norman Bethune, who had traveled all the way to China and fought alongside the Chinese people. At that moment I began to realize the deep affection that the Chinese people had held for Bethune.

Stephen Chappell (right) poses with a museum caretaker on April 24, 2018 in Huangshikou township of Baoding city, north China's Hebei Province, which is the location where Dr. Norman Bethune died on November 12, 1939. (Photos provided by Stephen Chappell)

That night the trembling hands of the senior lingered in my mind. Tossing and turning, I made a firm decision. I wanted to truly get closer to Dr. Bethune and understand the sincere friendship that this internationalist fighter had established with the Chinese people. In 2006 I went to Shijiazhuang, north China's Hebei Province, to trace his footsteps.

There, by chance, I met Qi Ming, an English professor at the Bethune Military Medical College of the People's Liberation Army (PLA), which is now a non-commissioned officers (NCOs) School of PLA Army Medical University and a training school for NCOs. In fact the college was just one of many institutions named after this heroic figure in Shijiazhuang. We had candid exchanges about Dr. Bethune's stories and quickly developed a close friendship. With his recommendation, I delved into a wide range of historical materials. Over time, a vivid image of the person started to take shape in my mind: a man devoted to his belief and embracing life with love, genuine kindness and unwavering determination. With great respect, we visited the North China Military Martyrs Cemetery where Dr. Bethune's tomb is located. We bowed deeply and silently wished in our hearts: May the legacy of Dr. Bethune endure and be passed down generation after generation among the Canadian and Chinese peoples.

I came back to Canada in 2015 after retirement in China, yet my connection with Dr. Bethune did not end there. In April 2018 I had the privilege of returning to China as a member of the Canada-China Friendship Society in Ottawa to retrace Dr. Bethune's footsteps. Along the way, everyone I encountered showed great commitment to preserving these important historical sites, silently recounting the touching stories of Dr. Bethune's deep connection with the Chinese people.

Stephen Chappell signs the guest book at Bethune Memorial Hall in Bethune International Peace Hospital on April 25, 2018. (Photos provided by Stephen Chappell)

In Niuyangou village of Tangxian county in Hebei Province, we saw the small house where Dr. Bethune once lived and the former site of the Medical School of the Shanxi-Chahaer-Hebei Border Region that he helped establish, a predecessor of the Bethune Military Medical College of the PLA. At that time Bethune resolutely rushed from Yan'an to the war front on the Shanxi-Chahaer-Hebei border region, frequently abbreviated as the Jin-Cha-Ji border region. With the medicines and medical equipment that he brought, he helped establish a model hospital in Songyankou village of Gengzhen township in Wutai county, north China's Shanxi Province and a medical school in Niuyangou village, training "a medical team which never leaves" for the Chinese Eighth Route Army.

However, the crazed rampage and pillaging by the Japanese invaders left most villages in North China devastated, forcing the newly established school to relocate from the border region to Gegong village in Tangxian county. The model hospital in Shanxi was razed to the ground. In his sorrow and anger, Bethune changed his mind from a settled hospital to a mobile service where wounded soldiers could receive necessary and timely treatment based on their different conditions. They could be then transferred to units behind enemy lines for further treatment.

We saw this important invention at the Norman Bethune and Dwarkanath Kotnis Memorial Hall in Tangxian county. The mobile service was like a stretcher, resembling the Lugou Bridge (Marco Polo Bridge). The medical equipment and drugs installed could be used to perform 100 surgeries, change medication 500 times and prepare 500 prescriptions. When two of these stretchers were combined, they formed an operating table, greatly enhancing the flexibility of field transfers.

To alleviate the suffering of the wounded, Dr. Bethune always carried this mobile service, setting up mobile operating tables as close to the front lines as possible. In Baiyintuo, Shunping county, Hebei Province, we hiked approximately 4 kilometers along a trail where Dr. Bethune treated the wounded. Standing atop the mountains with rugged paths beneath our feet, we envisioned Dr. Bethune leading his mobile medical team through the battlefield to save lives and provide medical assistance. In just four months of 1939, Dr. Bethune and his medical team traveled 750 kilometers in central Hebei, performed 315 surgeries and donated his blood multiple times to the wounded soldiers.

Stephen Chappell stands beside a statue of Dr. Norman Bethune on the grounds of the PLA Navy Anqing Hospital (Anqing 116 Hospital) in east China's Anhui Province on May 24, 2018. (Photos provided by Stephen Chappell)

We then headed to the Baiyintuo historical site and a monument to Dr. Bethune. The site is in a deep valley of the Taihang Mountains in Shunping county. The large and impressive monument depicts Dr. Bethune and a nurse on horseback with an aide in tow. Since 2018 the Canada-China Friendship Maple Leaf Festival has been held at the site every year and Canadian delegations have been invited to attend. I also hope to attend the festival in 2025. Qi told me they are now planning to build a Bethune International Memorial Park in the valley to honor Dr. Bethune and other international friends who have made great contributions to the birth of New China.

At the end of our journey, we arrived at Sunjiazhuang village in Laiyuan county of Hebei Province. In this village that witnessed the final days of Dr. Bethune's life, I felt a deep sense of grief. In the winter of 1939, while rescuing wounded soldiers on the front lines of Motianling in Laiyuan county, Dr. Bethune accidentally cut his left middle finger, which led to a fatal blood poisoning infection. He gave his life for the Chinese people in the Taihang Mountains.

Dr. Bethune was laid to rest in the Jin-Cha-Ji Martyrs Cemetery in Juncheng Nanguan, Tangxian county. Next to his grave stands another tombstone with the engraving "The Grave of a Canadian Friend, Jean Ewen." Ewen was the only Canadian nurse who came to China with Dr. Bethune. They fought side by side during the turbulent years of war, forging a deep friendship. In her final moments, with a deep attachment to this land, Ewen chose to leave her ashes in China and be buried alongside Dr. Bethune's tomb. She was a witness to his noble soul and magnificent life.

Qi Ming (right), an English professor, shares stories of Dr. Norman Bethune with Stephen Chappell on April 23, 2018. (Photos provided by Stephen Chappell)

"A man's ability may be great or small, but if he has this spirit, he is already noble-minded and pure, a man of moral integrity and above vulgar interests, a man who is of value to the people." These words I once read from "In Memory of Norman Bethune" written by Mao Zedong were confirmed during this journey. After years of extensive pursuit, Dr. Bethune's legacy continues to encourage and inspire me.

Retracing the footsteps of Dr. Bethune, I wrote these words:

"The legacy of Dr. Bethune fills me, as a Canadian, with pride. I am determined to do my utmost to share Dr. Bethune's story with more Canadians, ensuring that his great legacy lives on forever.

"Today, carrying forward the legacy of Dr. Bethune has become my lifelong pursuit. In my heart, the radiance that shines from this internationalist fighter, who crossed oceans and continents to come to China with great determination, possesses an eternal vitality that transcends time and space.

"It is akin to the majestic Taihang Mountains in China, where the loyal bones of heroes rest, standing tall and verdant year after year."

(Stephen Chappell is an executive member of the Canada-China Friendship Society in Ottawa)