In 1936, he arrived in northern Shaanxi with ** and stayed to join the Chinese Workers' and Peasants' Red Army.
In 1937, he asked to join the Chinese Communist Party in Yan'an.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, he proposed to become a Chinese national, and became the first naturalized foreigner after the founding of New China.
Who is this person?He is Ma Haid.
Ma Haide, formerly known as George Haydem, was born in the United States in 1910 and is of Lebanese ancestry. In 1933, after graduating from the University of Geneva with a doctorate in medicine, he came to China at the age of 23.
Originally, he only wanted to investigate tropical diseases, but when he found out about the tragic suffering of the Chinese people under the dual oppression of imperialism and the Kuomintang authorities, he immediately changed his mind.
He wrote to his classmates in the United States: "I am now very concerned about the China issue and China's revolutionary cause, and I have my own views on life and the world. I don't plan to go back to China, I want to stay in China. In Shanghai, he attended a Marxist reading club and met Soong Ching-ling.
According to the Beijing Chronicles and Foreign Affairs Chronicles, in June 1936, arranged by Song Qingling, ** and Dr. Ma Haide, who was practicing medicine in Shanghai, they risked their lives from Beiping to the Soviet District of Northern Shaanxi via Xi'an.
Li Zihua, director of the editorial department of the Beijing Municipal Party History Research Office and the Municipal Local Chronicle Office, said: Everything here is refreshing to him, and it also makes him realize that China's hope lies in the Communist Party of China and the Workers' and Peasants' Red Army. In 1937, Ma Haide followed *** into Yan'an, he served the military and civilians wholeheartedly with noble medical ethics and superb medical skills, and rescued the wounded in the smoke of artillery fire and the rain of bullets. From 1944 to 1947 alone, Ma Haide treated more than 40,000 wounded and sick people.
In February 1937, Ma Haide submitted a request to join the Communist Party of China. After the party organization inspected and approved his admission to the party, he happily wrote in his diary: "I am greatly pleased to be able to be in the midst of this great cause of liberation as a master, and not as a guest." ”
On January 31, 1949, Peking was peacefully liberated, and as a medical adviser to the Relief Association in the liberated areas of China, Ma Haide participated in the peaceful takeover of Beiping. On October 1, 1949, when the People's Republic of China was founded, Ma Haide climbed the Tiananmen Tower to participate in the founding ceremony.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Ma Haide immediately proposed to become a Chinese citizen. With the approval of ***, he became the first foreigner to naturalize in China after the founding of New China.
In 1950, Ma Haide was appointed as an adviser to the Ministry of Health and settled in Beijing, where he lived in No. 24 Hospital, Beiyan, Houhai. Neighbors often saw him carrying a suitcase, hurrying out of the house, and returning to the courtyard after a few days. He likes the small courtyard, he said: "This is the Beijing house, and it is close to the Ministry of Health and easy to commute to." He prefers the people of Beijing, he said: "Most of the people in Beijing live in hutongs, and there are men, women, and children, which is very helpful for practicing medicine." ”
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Ma Haide, as an expert in the first disease, devoted all his energy to the prevention and treatment of the first disease and venereal disease in New China. Thanks to the efforts of him and the vast number of medical personnel, China finally achieved the shocking achievement of basically eliminating venereal diseases in the early 60s of the 20th century.
The ** department of Fuwai Hospital, this is where Dr. Ma Haide went to see him. He will use a magnifying glass to carefully check the patient's ** condition, and then use Mandarin with a northern Shaanxi accent to patiently teach the patient how to use medicine, in order to let the patient hear clearly, he will deliberately speak very slowly. Many of the symptoms that plagued patients for months or even years were quickly cured under the guidance of Ma Haide's medication.
After that, he began to declare war on leprosy. It is recorded in the "Beijing Chronicles and Health Chronicles" that after 1977, he went to Guangxi, Yunnan and other places several times to inspect the prevention and control of leprosy and give guidance. At his suggestion, the Second National Conference on the Prevention and Control of Leprosy was held in Guangzhou in November 1981, and he proposed that leprosy should be basically eradicated in China by the end of the 20th century, and formulated a specific plan. By 1986, the number of leprosy patients in China had dropped from more than 500,000 in 1949 to 70,000.
In 1987, he was awarded the International Gandhi Prize, the world's highest award for leprosy control.
On October 3, 1988, Ma Haide died of illness in Beijing.
From the founding of the People's Republic of China to the death of Ma Haide, after more than 30 years of active prevention and control, China basically controlled leprosy.
On September 14, 2021, the general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) replied to the relatives of international friends, pointing out: "In the first half of the 20th century, a large number of international friends such as Ma Haide, Bethune, Kotnis, Alley, and Epstein came to China thousands of miles to fight side by side with the Communist Party of China and the Chinese people, sharing weal and woe, and fighting side by side, and we always remember their valuable contributions to China's revolutionary construction and reform, and their sincere friendship with the Communist Party of China and the Chinese people. ”
*: BRTV News "This is Beijing".