He has won the country's highest science and technology award, and is one of only a few scientists in the medical field to win this honor. This year marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Wu Mengchao. I would like to share some details of his life to recall and cherish my me

Wu Mengchao is an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, one of the pioneers and main founders of liver surgery in China, and is known as the "Father of Hepatobiliary Surgery in China". He has won the country's highest science and technology award, , and is one of only a few scientists in the medical field to win this honor.

He is also the author's leader and teacher, teaching and solving doubts for the author and his classmates countless times. In order to write "The Biography of Wu Mengchao", the author also interviewed him many times and listened to him personally telling his story.

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the birth of Wu Mengchao. I will share some details of his life to recall and cherish my memory, and also hope to inspire readers -

In 1936, Wu Mengchao was promoted to the junior high school of our school with good grades. At this time, Wu Mengchao made the decision himself and changed his name from "Meng Qiu" to " Meng Chao ". This is what we see - the first signal from his heart that he desires self-improvement.

At that time, a new principal came from China. The new principal often talks to students about the domestic situation. Wu Mengchao and his classmates learned that Japan had invaded Northeast China as early as 1931... From the time he left his hometown and came to Nanyang at the age of five, Wu Mengchao only cared about his family, food, clothing, and how much money he earned. Want more. The principal of Guanghua School in 1936 was like a lamp that lit up the heart of junior high school student Wu Mengchao and installed a "motherland" in his heart. From then on, he began to pay attention to his motherland.

When 1937 arrived, the new principal told the students one after another that the " Xi'an Incident" had occurred in China. Zhang Xueliang and Yang Hucheng had detained Chiang Kai-shek and forced Chiang to resist Japan.

Marco Polo Bridge Incident , the Japanese army invaded North China.

The Japanese army captured Shanghai.

Nanjing fell, and the Japanese army massacred hundreds of thousands of Chinese soldiers and civilians.

...

After hearing these domestic news, Guanghua School, which educates students with "Glory China", became excited! Teachers and students are very angry about the Japanese invaders' crimes of ravaging our country and killing our compatriots. At the school assembly, the principal burst into tears when he talked about the excitement. The students raised their arms and shouted: Down with the Japanese invaders! Give me back China!

The peaceful campus in the past has set off a craze for anti-Japanese and national salvation. Wu Mengchao is 15 years old. The 15-year-old junior high school monitor is full of enthusiasm and actively participates in it. Many times, his uncle would appear in front of his eyes, and he would think of the scenes of Japanese invaders ravaging the land in his hometown. He learned to sing several anti-Japanese and national salvation songs and sang them in his class to inspire others and himself.

Wu Mengchao

Malaysia has a strong anti-Japanese and national salvation atmosphere.

One day, the teacher told everyone in class that the leader of the overseas Chinese community Mr. Tan Kah Kee came to Sibu. The classmates were very excited and wanted to visit him, but the teacher did not agree. Because Mr. Chen is very busy, it is inconvenient to disturb him. Wu Mengchao later learned that Tan Kah Kee, as the chairman of the Nanyang Overseas Chinese Association for Relief of Refugees from the Motherland (referred to as the "Nantang Overseas Chinese Association"), came to the branch of Sibu to guide the work, and personally promoted the anti-Japanese resistance and carried out fund-raising activities. Tan Kah Kee's propaganda and mobilization greatly inspired the patriotic enthusiasm of the overseas Chinese, and they took action one after another to support the motherland in various ways. Guanghua School also shouted a slogan: Follow Tan Kah Kee.

Wu Mengchao did not meet Tan Kah Kee, but he listened to the teacher's story about Tan Kah Kee and knew many of what Tan Kah Kee said:

"The most important thing in life is honesty and justice, to know right from wrong, and to do things for the society."

"Everything is sincere. A patriot regards the whole country as his own body, and feels the pain when he plucks a hair. "

"Patriotism begins with loving one's hometown."

Wu Mengchao will remember these words throughout his life.

Tan Kah Kee

Wu Mengchao and his classmates were paying attention to the domestic situation. What they heard was sad news one after another. Battles failed time and time again, and the country fell piece by piece. Is the Chinese military so vulnerable? Is China really going to subjugate?

The new principal told the students that the Eighth Route Army led by "Zhu Mao" fought a great victory at Pingxing Pass and wiped out more than 1,000 enemies at one time."Zhu Mao" went north to fight against Japan after a 25,000-mile Long March. They walked from Ruijin, Jiangxi to Yan'an, northern Shaanxi.

Wu Mengchao first heard of the word "Zhu Mao", which was associated with "communist bandits". What he heard was the National Government statement, saying that they were a group of "bandits" who were against the government. He did not know that "Zhu Mao" referred to Zhu De and Mao Zedong. It was only with the arrival of the new principal that he learned a lot about "Zhu Mao".

Tan Kah Kee came to Sibu to raise funds. Wu Mengchao suddenly thought, why can’t I raise funds like him? He wanted to organize a performance team and use performances to raise funds. As soon as he thought of it, Wu Mengchao obtained the support of the principal and teachers and organized a performance team in the class. The students were all willing to work for the anti-Japanese war and national salvation and signed up one after another. They first wrote several programs related to the anti-Japanese war and national salvation, and then took the time to rehearse. Before they were proficient, they couldn't wait to carry props and dry food, walked into the rubber gardens and farmhouses, and took to the streets.

Although these programs are immature, overseas Chinese are very interested in them. There is no shortage of audiences wherever you go. Wu Mengchao understood that this was because he was promoting anti-Japanese and national salvation, and every overseas Chinese cared about it. The skill of the performance is not important, the important thing is to bring the overseas Chinese together. Watch performances, shout slogans, and promote anti-Japanese resistance. There was a fundraiser on the spot after the performance, and the audience enthusiastically donated.

As mentioned before, Wu Mengchao was the squad leader. After the establishment of the "Anti-Japanese Fundraising Charity Performance Team", he was designated by the school as the director of the performance team. As both a squad leader and a supervisor, he was extremely busy. One day, he came home very late, and his father didn't sleep either, so he was sitting at the door of the room waiting for him. He looked at the time. It would be time to tap rubber in less than two hours. His father said to him: "Ah Qiu, you don't need to tap rubber tomorrow."

He said apologetically: "Dad, I will go home early tomorrow night."

His father said: "It doesn't matter, you don't have to tap rubber from now on." "

"You mean I won't cut rubber anymore?"

"Don't cut it, Aqiu! You are a scholar, and reading well is better than anything else!" He felt warm in his heart and saw his mother waiting for him in the room. He came into the room and called "Mom!" Mom said, go take a shower and go to bed early. Listen to your dad.

He did feel that his parents' views on him were changing a lot. Since he was a child, he has felt that his parents are very concerned about him, so they have given him greater care and encouragement. After he went to school, especially after he entered junior high school, he felt that the worry in his parents' eyes disappeared and turned into appreciation and trust. He himself felt very warm because of this, and he had lived up to his parents' love for him.

One time during dinner, my father said in front of the whole family that we, Aqiu, are very good at reading. We as a family must support him to continue reading and make great achievements, and our whole family will have a good life.

At this time, Wu Mengchao had not yet realized that his parents had unusual expectations for him. He concentrated on being in the "Anti-Japanese Fundraising Charity Team", and being the director of this charity team was not an easy task. You have to write your own scripts and arrange your own programs. After the program is arranged, performances in the countryside will be organized. Although the props are not complicated, carrying or carrying them while walking is quite tiring. During the performance, when I was hungry I ate some of my own "shigo", when I was thirsty I asked for some water from the villagers, and stayed in the villagers' homes at night. These difficulties are all easy to explain, but the most difficult one is to deal with the "red-headed Asan". They forbade students from engaging in such performances and often stopped and disrupted them arbitrarily, sometimes using sticks. Several performances of the performance team were washed up by them. As the "supervisor", Wu Mengchao gathered everyone together and continued the performance. In this way, the charity team traveled to villages dozens of miles around and raised a lot of money. Every time he returns from a benefit performance, Wu Mengchao and deputy squad leader Lin Wenli will register the proceeds one by one and hand them over to Tan Kah Kee's "Southern Overseas Chinese Association" Sibu branch, who will then try to transfer them to Yan'an .

In 1939, the Anti-Japanese War had been going on for two years. This summer, Wu Mengchao is graduating.

Guanghua School does not have a high school. After graduating from junior high school, students will leave this school and go their separate ways, whether for further education or employment.Therefore, the school has a tradition that before graduation, the school and parents jointly fund a meal for the graduating students who are about to leave school.

The money was quickly collected and the date for the dinner was set, but Wu Mengchao didn't want to eat this meal anymore. He thought, it has been a long time since he went out to raise funds, and it has been a long time since he did anything for the domestic Anti-Japanese War. As graduation is approaching, the charity team will also be disbanded. Now that he has such a sum of money, can he donate it? He discussed with the deputy squad leader Lin Wenli: "I think it doesn't matter whether we have a dinner together or not. This money can be spent more meaningfully!"

"What is it used for?"

"We should donate this money to the Eighth Route Army!" "

"Okay! "

At the class meeting the next day, Wu Mengchao mentioned the proposal, and the whole class unanimously agreed. In addition to the dinner expenses, the students also donated some money each to Tan Kah Kee's "Southern Overseas Chinese Association" Sibu in the name of "all the 39th graduates of Sibu Guanghua Junior High School, the second province of Sarawak, North Borneo" branch, and specially requested Mr. Tan Kah Kee to send it to Yan'an.

Tan Kah Kee

The principal was very happy when he heard about it and went to the class to visit everyone in person. Wu Mengchao feels very honored, and even more exciting things are yet to come.

(Extracted from "The Biography of Wu Mengchao" written by the author and teacher Wang Hongjia Chinese Publishing House February 2012 edition)