My story with China began in the fall of 2005 when I came to China for the first time to teach English courses at Anqing Normal University in East China's Anhui Province. Every morning I would take a walk in the park near the campus. One day I struck up a conversation with a senior who had just finished his Tai Chi practice.
Upon learning that I was from Canada, he tightly held my hands and passionately recounted the story of Dr Norman Bethune, who had traveled all the way to China and fought alongside the Chinese people. At that moment I began to realize the deep affection that the Chinese people had held for Bethune. That night the trembling hands of the senior lingered in my mind.
Tossing and turning, I made a firm decision. I wanted to truly get closer to Dr Bethune and understand the sincere friendship that this internationalist fighter had established with the Chinese people. In 2006 I went to Shijiazhuang, North China's Hebei Province, to trace his footsteps.
There, by chance, I met Qi Ming, an English professor at the Bethune Military Medical College of the People's Liberation Army (PLA), which is now a non-commissioned officers (NCOs) School of PLA Army Medical University and a training school for NCOs. In fact the college was just one of many institutions named after this heroic figure in Shijiazhuang. We had candid exchanges about Dr Bethune's stories and quickly developed a close friendship.
With his recommendation, I delved into a wide range of historical materia.