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Ⅱ

Japanese attacks on local towns were extraordinarily vicious.The population of nearby Dingxian was bayoneted and then burnt when the Japanese locked the city gates and torched the town.Everywhere there was plundering， looting and rape.

The Eighth Route Army was badly in need of medical workers and supplies， so the famous Canadian surgeon Norman Bethune was hailed as a godsend when he arrived in the summer of 1938.Bethune was a pioneer in thoracic surgery.Angry at the rise of Mussolini and Hitler， he had become a communist in his thirties and joined a Republican medical unit in the Spanish Civil War.The shocking death rate from untreated wounds inspired his pioneering mobile blood transfusion unit， the first in the world.He then turned his attention to the Chinese peasants and their fight against Japanese imperial aggression.

Bethune met Mao Zedong in his cave headquarters at Yan’an， the town in northwest Shaanxi Province where the Long March ended in 1936.Mao described to him the plight of the Eighth Route Army in the Taihang Mountains near Quyang， where Kathleen Hall was based.Bethune prepared his mobile operating units and moved east.He was horrified by what he saw: the wounded in filthy rags and covered with lice， home-made thread to stitch wounds， pieces of wire for probes， a hand saw for amputations.

Once he had set up a proper base hospital， his biggest problem was how to procure adequate medical supplies.When he met Kathleen， he found the solution. “I have met an angel，” he wrote in his diary.“She will go to Peking， buy up medical supplies and bring them back to her mission—for us!”

Bethune’s request was formidable: the route to Beijing and back was perilous.Nevertheless， Kathleen agreed to help， sure in the knowledge that it was God’s will to save men’s lives.Moving the supplies from station to station required meticulous planning and the absolute confidentiality of a chain of helpers， innkeepers and a few carefully chosen friends.Kathleen personally accompanied each heavily disguised consignment， walking miles on foot or riding alongside the carts on her bicycle.Young nurses and cadres， keen to help the Eighth Route Army fight the Japanese， sought her protection en route from Beijing.One of them， Guo Qinglan， told Newnham in 1989， “She was very brave.A young， unmarried woman in a foreign country where it was very dangerous to be.I thought， if anyone can get me to the Liberated Areas， Kathleen can.”

It was only a matter of time before spies reported her to the Japanese.Her clinic， indeed the whole village of Songjiazhuang was razed， and Kathleen escaped to Hong Kong.She tried to get back to the border area， where Dr Bethune so urgently needed supplies， but word came that he had died of septicemia incurred while operating without gloves.Kathleen had tried desperately to get supplies to him， but malnutrition and six months of helping the sick and dying at every village along the way took its toll.When she developed beriberi， a small contingent of the Eighth Route Army carried her south by stretcher to Xi’an， where her old friend Bishop Shen Zegao nursed her back to health and arranged her journey home to New Zealand.

Tom Newnham’s search resulted in a fascinating book， He Ming Qing， The Life of Kathleen Hall.He inspired Madam Ma Baoru to begin her own enquiry， so that today she is Kathleen’s most devoted disciple， escorting increasing numbers of New Zealanders to Quyang County.In 1996， Kathleen’s centennial， Newnham led a group of New Zealanders there， including two of Kathleen’s nieces and the Anglican Bishop of Auckland， to the unveiling of her tomb and a life-size statue in her honour.A smaller version now stands in the Marsden Chapel of the Anglican Cathedral of the Holy Trinity in Parnell; next door in St Mary’s， one of artist Claudia Pond-Eyley’s stained glass windows depicts Kathleen among the revered women of the diocese.

Her centennial was also celebrated by the New Zealand China Friendship Society inaugurating the Kathleen Hall Memorial Nursing Scholarship for post-graduate community nursing training in New Zealand.

In 1998 Noni Johnson， then deputy principal of Whangarei Girls’ High School， visited Baoding No 13 Middle School， where the authorities expressed the hope for a sister school in New Zealand.The first group of fourteen students and three teachers arrived in July 2000， led by Ma Baoru and Quyang County leader Li Yumei.Madam Ma’s joy at being in New Zealand was palpable.“We are Kathleen’s Chinese relatives”， she exclaimed.“Being here makes us feel close to her because Auckland is her home town.People from Quyang County are excited by such a special visit.”

Before she left for New Zealand， Madam Li received a delegation of villagers from Songjiazhuang.They had heard of her trip to New Zealand and had walked many miles carrying baskets of red dates.“We have nothing else to give”， they said， “only red dates.They were all we had for He Ming Qing when she came to our village many years ago.” When Madam Li told them New Zealand Customs would not permit her to take the dates， the old people cried. “In China one red date means one heart”， Li reassured them. “When I go to New Zealand I will take with me the hearts of all the people in Quyang County.”

In 2007， the Kathleen Hall Scholarship was replaced with the He Mingqing Scholarship.NZCFS now pays for books， board， travel and full fees for a student nurse from an impoverished area in China， to complete her training at a local medical training college.The first recipient is Wei Yunjie， from a minority village in northern Guangxi.Her father died of liver disease. And her mother， who plants rice and keeps a pig， is getting weaker.Wei started her final year of studies at the Guangxi Medical University in September 2008.She plans to work in her local community when she graduates.

In 2008， a second He Mingqing Scholar was selected， this time from near the region where Kathleen Hall worked in the Taihang Mountains.She is Shen Qianqian， who will receive full support for her nursing training at the Hebei Medical University in Shijiazhuang.Shen comes from a poor family in a mountain village in Shi Xian， Hebei， where her parents have a small farm of 5 mu (5/8 acre).Without this scholarship， Shen would be unable to complete her studies.

Wei Yunjie and Shen Qianqian are outstanding young women， committed to serving their rural communities when they become qualified nurses.The New Zealand China Friendship Society is proud to be able to contribute to their education with the He Mingqing Scholarship so that they can emulate Kathleen Hall’s selfless service to the rural people.

The author is on the National Executive of the New Zealand China Friendship Society and chairs the He Mingqing Scholarship Committee.