Norman Bethune—A Man Who Devotes His Life to Belief
諾爾曼·白求恩——為信仰而戰
Norman Bethune's story started in Gravenhurst， Ontario， a small town 100 miles north of Toronto. Norman's grandfather， had been one of the founding doctors of the medical faculty of Trinity College， Toronto.
From an early age， Norman was independent and curious； it was often difficult for him to stay within the confines set by his parents. In 1911， Norman interrupted his studies at the University of Toronto to work at Frontier College setting up classes for immigrant workers. In 1928， Bethune moved to Montreal. For five years， he was the First Surgical Assistant to Dr. Edward Archibald， Canada's pioneering thoracic surgeon. In 1935， he set up a free clinic. Later that summer， he attended the International Physiological Conference in the Soviet Union and used this opportunity to examine socialized medicine. The next year he joined the Communist Party.
During the summer of 1936， the Spanish Civil War broke out. Supported by the military might of Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany， Francisco Franco led a rebellion against the democratically elected government of Spain. Like many others Bethune felt that democracy was threatened unless the military dictatorship was stopped. In September， 1936， he volunteered to go to Spain under the auspices of The Committee to Aid Spanish Democracy.
That summer， however， the Japanese forces invaded China， beginning the Second Sino-Japanese War. Bethune felt that in China another military dictatorship was on the march. “Spain and China，” he wrote， “are part of the same battle. I am going to China because that is where the need is the greatest.”
On January 8， 1938， Bethune left Canada for the last time， accompanied only by Jean Ewen， a Canadian nurse， and $5000 worth of medical supplies. He traveled to Hankow， the provisional capital， where Communist representative Chou En-lai offered him an escort to the Communist headquarters at Yenan， some 500 miles northwest. The night he arrived， he was received by Mao Tse-tung—Chairman of the Chinese Communist Party. Mao invited him to stay and supervise the Eighth Route Army Border Hospital. A month later， Bethune decided that he would be more effective at the front， where he could treat the wounded immediately.