Fu Lianzhang Nelson Fu | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | September 14, 1894 |
| Died | March 29, 1968 (aged 73) |
| Party | Chinese Communist Party |
Awards |  Order of Bayi (First Class) Order of Independence and Freedom (First Class) Order of Liberation (First Class) |
Alias | Zheng Aiqun |
| Military service | |
| Allegiance |  Chinese Communist Party |
| Branch/service |  People's Liberation Army |
Years of service | 1933–1968 |
| Rank |  Lieutenant General |
| Battles/wars | Northern Expedition Long March Chinese Civil War |
| Nelson Fu | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Traditional Chinese | 傅連暲 | ||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 傅连暲 | ||||||
| |||||||
Nelson Fu or Fu Lianzhang (Chinese: 傅连暲; 14 September 1894 – 29 March 1968) was a Chinese medical doctor. He was one of the few Western-trained medical doctors to have made the Long March and later, in Beijing, a Vice Minister of Public Health, to be responsible for the health of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) elite. According to Mao's personal doctor Li Zhisui, it was Fu who recruited him, then living in Australia, back to work for the government.[1] In 1955, he was awarded the rank of Lieutenant General of the People's Liberation Army.[2]
Education and career
edit
In the 1920s and 1930s, Fu lived and worked in the then-prefectural seat of Changting (now Tingzhou) in Western Fujian. He was a senior medical doctor at its British Christian missionary Ashington Medical Center, where he was educated.[3] It was renamed the Hospital of the Gospel under Fu's management in 1926.[4][5]
In late 1925, he met Deng Zihui, who gave him several copies of the newspaper "The Sound of Rocks" and the magazine "New Social View", which promoted communist ideology and greatly influenced his thinking.[3] In early 1933, he joined the Red Army, relocating the original Gospel Hospital to Ruijin and transforming it into the Central Red Hospital, serving as its director. After arriving in Northern Shaanxi, in January 1937, he was ordered to establish the Central Soviet Hospital in Yan'an. After the reorganization of 1937, Fu served as the Director of the Shaan-Gan-Ning Border Region Hospital. In September 1938, introduced by Mao Zedong and Chen Yun, he attended the Central Party Training Class and was later approved to join the Chinese Communist Party. In the winter of the same year, he served as the Director of the Central Committee's General Health Department and concurrently as the Director of the Central Hospital. In May 1945, he attended the 7th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party. In October, he became the Vice Minister of the Central Military Commission's General Health Department and continued to be responsible for the health care work of the central leadership.[6]
After the establishment of the People's Republic, he became a member of the All-China Federation of Natural Science Societies' Planning Committee, Director of the Chinese Medical Association and a participant of the second meeting of the National Political Consultative Conference.[7] In 1952, Fu was a member and one of the many directors of the Chinese Red Cross Society.[8][9] He also served as the Vice Minister of Health for the Central Committee and the first Vice Director of the General Logistics Department of the Central Military Commission.[6]
Downfall and death
editLi Zhisui’s memoir indicated that by the late 1950s, Fu, who had gradually lost the Chairman’s favor, had to resign. Yet, Mao continued to have a positive impression of Fu.[1] During the Cultural Revolution, Fu was severely persecuted by Vice Chairman Lin Biao as well as by his subordinates, particularly Qiu Huizuo and, despite Mao Zedong's attempts to protect him, he was subsequently beaten and imprisoned with the accusation that Fu was "withholding medicine when Deputy Commander Lin was ill [in order] to harm him". He died in prison on March 29, 1968, at the age of 74.[10] After Lin's death, Mao posthumously rehabilitated him in 1973. Before his passing, Fu had authored works such as "How To Maintain Health" and "The Treatment of Tuberculosis".[6]
References
edit- 1 2 Li Zhisui, Anne F. Thurston, Hongchao Dai, The private life of Chairman Mao: the memoirs of Mao's personal physician, ISBN 0-679-40035-4, 1994.
- ↑ ""红色华佗"傅连暲：从未杀敌，却为新中国立下汗马功劳". China Military Online. July 30, 2020. Retrieved May 13, 2026.
- 1 2 "傅连暲："红色华佗"开国中将". The Institute of Party History and Literature of the CPC Central Committee. March 6, 2020. Retrieved May 13, 2026.
- ↑ "福音医院". Longyan Municipal Bureau of Archives. April 16, 2007. Archived from the original on 9 July 2016. Retrieved May 13, 2026.
- ↑ "福音醫院舊址". cpc.people.com.cn. August 11, 2008. Archived from the original on 19 October 2016. Retrieved May 13, 2026.
- 1 2 3 "傅连暲中将". Minxi News Network. November 19, 2008. Archived from the original on 18 May 2015. Retrieved May 13, 2026.
- ↑ "All-China Federation of Natural Science Workers" (PDF). Central Intelligence Agency. April 1, 1953. Retrieved May 12, 2026.
- ↑ "Red Cross Society of China Reorganizes; Elects Officials" (PDF). Central Intelligence Agency. December 11, 1950. Retrieved May 12, 2026.
- ↑ "Directorate of the Red Cross Society of China, 1950 - 1951" (PDF). Central Intelligence Agency. March 17, 1953. Retrieved May 12, 2026.
- ↑ Yan Jiaqi; Gao Gao (January 1996). Turbulent Decade: A History of the Cultural Revolution. University of Hawaii Press. pp. 229–231. ISBN 978-0-8248-1695-7.