Revisiting Bethune's road of healing

Seventy-eight years after the death of Henry Norman Bethune, 150 faculty members and students from the Norman Bethune Health Science Center of Jilin University went to Tang county, Hebei province, to treat patients and teach children free of charge.

For these college teachers and students, the ten day free-clinic journey, from July 11 to July 21, was like a pilgrimage.

Bethune worked in Tang County from 1938 until his death in 1939 and more importantly the predecessor of their institution was a hygiene school in Jin-Cha-Ji Region of the "Balu" (Eighth Route) founded in 1938 by Bethune's advocacy.

Zhen Erjun, a 66-year-old local, had lately been suffering from sore eyes. Li Fuqiang, an ophthalmologist, diagnosed Zhen as having cataracts and told Zhen that surgery is needed.

"I feel very proud to work where Bethune once worked. Learning from the spirit of Norman Bethune reminds us of why we started our profession in the first place," Li said.

Liu Naimeng, a nineteen-year-old freshman at Jilin University, taught local children English. She slept on the classroom floor and was bitten by many mosquitoes, but she insisted that she would join in the event again next year.

"Even though after graduation I will no longer be one of the volunteers, the spirit of Bethune will remain in my mind. It's always a doctors' responsibility to serve the people," Liu said.

"The spirit of Bethune is a precious source of ethics," said Dai Xuguang, vice president of the Chinese Bethune Spirit Research Association. "The spirit of Bethune is not confined to the faculty and students at Jilin University. Rather, it should be what all medical majors from across China learn from and strive for."