Veteran foreign experts' roles honored

Isabel Crook, with her son Michael alongside, receives her medal from Zhang Jianguo, director of the State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs, on Aug 28.[ZOU HONG/CHINA DAILY]

Amid the celebrations marking the 70th anniversary of victory in the Chinese People's War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression (1937-45), China honored two veteran foreign experts for their outstanding contributions to the nation's development.

Isabel Crook

Born in Chengdu, Sichuan province, the Canadian Crook, now 100, has witnessed China's great changes from war to peace.

"There was no peace before 1949," said Crook. "China is a large country with different ethnic groups. There are always struggles but no fighting.

"One big thing for the Chinese Communist Party is to bring the real peace to China."

And it is important to mark the victory in the Chinese People's War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and the World Anti-Fascist War because there are still wars going on around the world, she added.

Crook spent half of her youth in China. During the 1930s and 1940s, she conducted social studies fieldwork in rural areas.

The book Prosperity's Predicament: Identity, Reform, and Resistance in Rural Wartime China was based on her work from 1940 to 1941 in a small village in Sichuan province.

In China, she also met her late husband, David, who was an active communist. Influenced by him, Crook joined the Communist Party of Great Britain in 1942.

Since the establishment of the People's Republic of China, she and her husband taught at the Beijing Foreign Studies University, then named the Beijing Foreign Languages Institute, the leading foreign language university in China and known as the "cradle of diplomats".

Michael Crook, the couple's son, said that without the anti-fascist war, his father might not have had the opportunity to be part of China's revolution and construction.

His father had devoted himself to many countries' anti-fascist activities.

"And one lesson we can learn from the war was the solidarity," said Michael Crook, relaying his mother's words. "The anti-fascist war brought many hostile countries to work together. Now the world is still facing a lot of challenges and it would solve a lot of problems if it could work together like it did during the war."

George Hatem

Zhou Sufei, 96, said she still remembers two sentences always voices by her late husband.

One was to remind her "to be careful about the bullets" during the war, and another was to remind her that they were "survivors" and should be thankful to have a peaceful life.

Zhou's late husband was George Hatem (1910-88), a US doctor who worked for more than five decades to rid China of leprosy and venereal diseases.

Introduced by Madame Soong Ching Ling, whose husband Dr Sun Yat-sen was the founder of the Republic of China, Hatem and US journalist Edgar Snow visited Yan'an in Shaanxi province in 1936. Hatem was so impressed by the Chinese Communist Party's work that he was willing to give up his life in Shanghai and stay in Yan'an with the Party and local people.

Yan'an had only one or two trained doctors and limited medical equipment. Hatem had to take care of nearly every patient.

"There was one time when a bomb dropped by the Japanese army destroyed a cave dwelling. One soldier suffered head injuries. Hatem told him that he had to perform surgery immediately. However, the soldier wouldn't leave until he was told that he wouldn't lose his gun," said Zhou. "At that time, the CPC army only had limited weapons to fight. Hatem told me later that with such determined and brave soldiers, victory must belong to the Chinese Communist Party."

Born in Buffalo, New York state, Hatem was the first foreigner to join the Chinese Communist Party and the first foreigner granted Chinese citizenship in 1949 after the founding of the People's Republic of China.

At the end of August, Zhou received commemorative medals for her and her husband's contribution to the victory in the Chinese People's War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and World Anti-Fascist War from Zhang Jianguo, director of the State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs.

"I am very honored to have this medal. I was fighting for China every day for 80 years," said Zhou. "And this medal is not only for me, but also for my late husband, for his comrades and for thousands and thousands of people who contributed to the peaceful life we are enjoying."