A Friendship that Has Lasted for Decades

At the invitation of CPAFFC， on September 3， 2015， a number of noted intemational friends attended the 70th anniversary of China’s victory of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1937-45) and the World Anti-Fascist War.

Mark William Bethune， grandson of the brother of our Ca-nadian friend Norman Bethune who gave his life for the Chinese revolution， Gabriel， great grandson of James Gareth Endicott， Nie Guangtao-Chinese adopted son of our friend from New Zealand Rewi Alley， Philip Lindsay Hall， grandnephew of Kathleen Hall，Honorary President of the New Zealand-China Friendship Society Deng Li and Vice Chainnan of the Canadian Bethune Association Gu Shian were all interviewed by CCTV， Xinhua News Agency and the CPAFFC.

In the morning of September 2，Mark William Bethune attended the Medal Awarding Ceremony of the 70th anniversary of China’s victory of the War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression and received the medal conferred by Chinese President Xi Jinping. The international friends de-scribed it as an unforgettable journey to China of great significance.

Mark William Bethune: “I’m a new friend of the Chinese people.”

Mark spoke highly of the cere-mony， which， he said， showed a peace-loving China safeguarding world peace. President Xi mentioned in his speech that China would cut the size ofits armed forces by 300，000， dem-onstrating China’s resolve to safeguard world peace. During an interview，Mark told the journalists that he had read many materials about Norman Bethune and heard of him from his family members.

Norman Bethune was a man of courage who never gave up his dreams in the face of difficulties and who al-ways shouldered his responsibilities. He went around the world to serve the people fighting against fascism. His spirit is of great significance in today’s era for pursuing world peace.

Mark often said， “Norman Bet-hune was an old friend of the Chinese people; and I’m a new friend”. He said it was his honor to represent the Bethune family to come to China to receive the medal of honor presented by President Xi. As a member of the younger generation， he would carry on the spirit of Norman Bethune and con-tribute to enhancement of the friend-ship between the Canadian and Chinese people.

Gabriel Endicott: Bring the friendship of the previous generations to China

Gabriel’s great grandfather James Gareth Endicott was born into a Cana-dian missionary family in Leshan， Si-chuan Province. He lived and worked in China for 35 years and witnessed the May Fourth Movement， the North-ern Expedition， the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression， the Revo-lution War and a series of important events. He made public speeches in Canada to let his compatriots know about the Chinese people’s resistance against the Japanese aggression.

After the founding of the PRC， he devoted himself to the support of Chi-na’s socialist revolution and construc-tion. Gabriel said that before he came to China， his grandfather brought him the Song of Guerilla， which James Ga-reth Endicott learnt to sing in Chinese.Brought up in such a family， he was deeply moved by the huge sacrifice the Chinese people had made in wartime as well as the friendship his ancestors had established with the Chinese people.He said happily， “I’ll visit Yan’an and Xi’an in the next few days. This will be the first tnne to visit these places and I want to know more about the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression and the Chinese revolution.These two places are where I must visit. My job in Canada is related to construction. But my fam-ily brings me closer to China， and this makes me very excited.”

Philip Lindsay Hall:“Grandaunt Kathleen Hallis the one I admire the most.”

During China’s War of Resis-tance against Japanese Aggression，Kathleen Hall， a missionary nurse from New Zealand， risked her life to deliver medicine and medical equip-ment to the Shanxi-Chahar-Hebei bor-der area， trekking past enemy sentries and across blockade trenches. She also helped transfer scholars and doctors to the Bethune Medicine Team and de-veloped a deep friendship with Doctor Bethune during the wartime， making huge contributions to the final victory of the war.

During the interview， Philip said the Japanese anny expelled foreign-ers living in China during the war and Kathleen Hall was sent back to New Zealand. In her home country， she lived a simple and low-key life until she passed away. Philip’s father Bob Hallvisited China many times and went to places where Kathleen Hall once lived and worked.

Philip said China was large and he could imagine how hard it was for his aunt to work and live in the country at that time.“My family has special ties with China. It made me very excited to learn that I would be invited to attend the ceremonial activities in China. The grand parade demonstrates the eco-nomic and military power of China as well as its intemational influence. Af! ter the ceremony， I will visit the place where my grandaunt once fought as an anti-fascist soldier.”He also said that he was honored to become the envoy of friendship between the people of China and New Zealand.

Nie Guangtao: my adoptive foreign father’s anti-Japanese experiences

Rewi Alley was an old friend of the Chinese people and one of the most famous New Zealand nationals in China. Nie Guangtao said the war launched by Japan ruined his home and made him an orphan. He had no home.It was Rewi Alley that raised him so he could survive the war and grow up.When the Chinese people's War of Re-sistance against Japanese Aggression faced great difficulties， Alley initiated the Industrial Cooperatives movement for unemployed workers and refugees to save themselves through production，which was an important contribution to the people's guerrilla warfare led by the CPC.

Nie said with emotion， “A home created under that special environment is unique in the world. My adoptive father did a lot for the development of China-New Zealand relations and the enhancement of understanding and friendship between the people of China and New Zealand. It is a great honor for me， for Rewi Alley and for my whole family to attend this ceremony this time．”

Deng Li: I feel proud， as an overseas Chinese， to be engaged in the promotion of friendship between China and New Zealand

Since he migrated to New Zea-land in 2000， Deng Li has been actively promoting cultural exchanges between China and New Zealand. He was elect-ed honorary president of the New Zea-land-China Friendship Society in 2012.His family had been closely related with the War of Resistance against the Japanese Aggression.

During an interview with a CPAFFC staff member， Deng said he was born into a military family and his father was a member of the Eighth Route Army. Since childhood， he had been told about the unforgettable war and learned that the Eight Route Army and the New Fourth Army led by the CPC were the backbone of Chinese armed forces who defeated the Japa-nese invaders. He said: “This is a fact that domestic and overseas Chinese，young people in particular， shouldk now about. Seventy years have passed with great changes.

“Now， China is the world’s second largest economy， but there are different voices conunenting on China’s rise. We need such a grand ceremony to review the history and let all the people in the world know that China is a strong force to safeguard world peace.”

Gu Shian: Because I’m a doctor，I can better understand the great spirit of Bethune

Gu Shian， vice chairman of the Canadian Bethune Association， is also a family doctor in Canada. When asked how he got the idea of establishing the Canadian Bethune Association， Dr. Gu said he once watched a TV play about Norman Bethune telling some mov-ing stories about him. For example， Dr.Bethune sucked the abscesses of the wounded soldiers and kept working under hard conditions， even when basic living necessities were unavailable. Gu said he was deeply moved by the he-roic deeds. He decided to carry forward the Bethune spirit and promote friendly exchanges between the Chinese and Canadian people， especially charity clinic activities in China’s remote andborder areas.

Unforgettable visit to China builds the bridge of friendship

The foreign guests and represen-tatives to China this time all expressed appreciation of the orderly and effi-cient organization of the ceremony， the luncheons and the wonderful evening galas. They said it was beyond their imagination to attend three big events in just one day.

They described their visit to Chi-na as rich in content and of great sig-nificance， hence a valuable experience.The young foreign friends also pledged that they would enhance exchanges and cooperation within their generation andadd fresh energy to the people-to-peo-ple friendship between China and other countries.