Editing Norman Bethune (section)

== China ==
[[File:Norman Bethune China 1938.jpg|thumb|left|Norman Bethune in China with [[Nie Rongzhen]] (centre) and an interpreter, 1938.]]
[[File:Wanping-Norman-Bethune-3558.jpg|thumb|right|Statue of Bethune at [[Wanping Fortress]], Beijing]]
In January 1938 Bethune travelled to [[Yan'an]] in the [[Northern Shaanxi|Shanbei region]] of Shaanxi province in China. There he joined the Chinese Communists led by Mao Zedong. The Lebanese-American doctor [[Ma Haide (George Hatem)|George Hatem]], who had come to Yan'an earlier, was instrumental in helping Bethune get started at his task of organizing medical services for the front and the region.<ref>{{Cite book |title=The People's Doctor: George Hatem and China's Revolution |first=Edgar A |last=Porter |publisher=University of Hawaii Press |year=1997 |isbn= 0-8248-1905-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iTdNTR4ZefwC |ref=Porter1997 |pages=115–118}}</ref>

In China, Bethune performed emergency [[battlefield medicine|battlefield surgical operations]] on war casualties and established training for doctors, nurses, and orderlies.<ref><!-- deadlink not found in Wayback Machine removed [http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qa3912/is_199904/ai_n8846092] --> Alexander, C A, New York-tidewater chapters' history of military medicine award: The military odyssey of Norman Bethune, ''Military Medicine'', April 1999</ref> He did not distinguish between sides in treating casualties.<ref>{{cite book |last=Taylor |first=Robert |title=America's Magic Mountain |location=Boston, Massachusetts |publisher=Houghton Mifflin |date=1986 |isbn=0-395-37905-9 |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/saranacamericasm00tayl }}</ref>

Bethune had thoughts on the manner in which medicine was practised, and stated:
{{quote|Medicine, as we are practising it, is a luxury trade. We are selling bread at the price of jewels. ... Let us take the profit, the private economic profit, out of medicine, and purify our profession of rapacious individualism ... Let us say to the people not 'How much have you got?' but 'How best can we serve you?'<ref>{{cite journal|pmc=1704189|title=Patients, Practitioners, & Medical Care|year=1979|volume=120|issue=12|journal=Canadian Medical Association Journal|last1=Rakoff|first1=V. M.|pages=1500–1501}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last=Patterson |first=Robert, MD |title=Norman Bethune: His Contributions to Medicine and CMAJ |journal=Canadian Medical Association Journal |url=http://www.cmaj.ca/site/100/pdfs/bethuneCMAJ.pdf |date=November 1, 1989 |volume=141 |issue=9 |pages=947–953 |pmid=2680011 |pmc=1451431 |access-date=August 5, 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150904092115/http://www.cmaj.ca/site/100/pdfs/bethuneCMAJ.pdf |archive-date=September 4, 2015 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first1=Ted |last1=Allan |first2=Sydney |last2=Gordon |title=The Story of Doctor Norman Bethune |page=130}}</ref>}}

In the summer of 1939 Bethune was appointed medical advisor to the Jin-Cha-Ji (Shanxi-[[Chahar Province|Chahar]]-[[Hebei]]) [[Shaan-Gan-Ning|Border Region]] Military District, under the direction of General [[Nie Rongzhen]].<ref>[[#Porter1997|Porter (1997)]], p. 122–123.</ref>

Stationed with the [[Communist Party of China]]'s [[Eighth Route Army]] in the midst of the Japanese invasion of China during the WWII, Bethune cut his left [[middle finger]] on October 29, 1939, while retrieving bony fragments from a soldier with a wounded leg.  Three days later on November 1, while operating on another soldier with neck [[erysipelas]], his finger wound reopened and was infected.  Probably due to [[malnourishment]], which gave him a weakened state, he contracted [[septicaemia]] and died on November 12, 1939.<ref name = "RussellNB">{{cite encyclopedia |last=Russell |first=Hilary |title=Norman Bethune |url=http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/norman-bethune/ |encyclopedia=[[The Canadian Encyclopedia]] |publisher=[[Historica Canada]] |edition=online |date=August 8, 2008 |access-date=August 5, 2015}}</ref>

There is considerable controversy surrounding the last [[will and testament|will]] which Bethune purportedly wrote on the eve of his death.  Here follows one version:
<blockquote>Dear [[Nie Rongzhen|Commander Nie]],<br />Today I feel really unwell. Probably I have to say farewell to you forever! Please send a letter to [[Tim Buck]] the General Secretary of the Canadian Communist Party. The address is No.10, Wellington Street, Toronto, Canada. Please also make a copy for Committee on International Aid to China and Democratic Alliance of Canada, tell them, I am very happy here&nbsp;... Please give my [[Kodak Retina]] II camera to comrade [[Sha Fei]].<br />— Norman Bethune, 04:20pm, November 11th, 1939.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://vision.xitek.com/famous/201009/08-50856.html |language=zh |work=Zhao Junyi |title=Photographic history: Bethune's camera was given to comrade Sha Fei |date=2010-09-08 |publisher=vision.xitek.com |access-date=September 13, 2010 |archive-date=September 15, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100915002225/http://vision.xitek.com/famous/201009/08-50856.html |url-status=dead }}</ref></blockquote>