His most recent biography I read was Norman Bethune: Politics of Passion by Larry Hannant.
I wonder if there are any living descendants or associates of his (perhaps part of the CPC?) which could be contacted.
I would like sources from China which describe how he is venerated there. I asked a foreign Chinese student from Canada and they said, paraphrased "Terry Fox has nothing on Bethune"
I've read a bit about Norman Bethune, wonderful comrade. In a book titled Norman Bethune: The Politics of Passion by Larry Hannant, there are two excerpts which I have saved:
"These elements are present in his crowning written achievement, 'Wounds.' A polemical essay he wrote in China in 1938, Bethune properly called it 'one of the best things I have written.' 'Wounds' is worth dwelling on momentarily, for it illustrates not just the majesty of Bethune's writing but also its contemporary relevance. It recalls a long night of operating on Chinese soldiers brought to him after a battle with the Japanese army in north China. After striving to remedy the horrific injuries they have sustained, Bethune asks: 'Any more? Four Japanese prisoners. Bring them in. In this community of pain there are no enemies. Cut away that bloodstained uniform. Stop that haemorrhage. Lay them beside the others. Why they're alike as brothers!' And these wounded brothers, he wrote, had counterparts on the other side of the social and political ledger, the 'brothers in blood' who finance, instigate, and perpetrate wars for their own profit. These men make the wounds' he concluded." - Introduction
The other one is much shorter, I should note that the work mentioned in this excerpt is already referenced on the page.
"He came to understand that illness was closely related to economics and politics. Bethune did not originate the saying, but he frequently repeated it: 'There is a rich man's tuberculosis and a poor man's tuberculosis. The rich man recovers and the poor man dies.' Hence it was useless to try to cope with the disease in isolation. Economic and political injustice also needed to be cured." - Introduction
I suppose I wanted to write on his sort of character and the consistency of his beliefs throughout his life. In the book and a few others there is a lot of wonderful information.