(VOVWORLD) - On Vietnam’s National Day, September 2, 1968, nearly 300 Chinese doctors and nurses left Beijing on a mission to care for wounded Vietnamese soldiers at Nanxishan Hospital in Guilin, as ordered by Premier Zhou Enlai.
 Mrs. Yu Shuhui (photo: Bich Thuan/ VOV's reporter in China) |
One of them is Yu Shuhui, who was 21 at the time. She said: “As young people, in addition to offering medical treatment, we also learned a lot from them, which widened our perspective and future and brought tremendous benefits to our career and lives. While helping Vietnam and caring for the wounded soldiers, we learned many admirable qualities from them. They endured hardship extremely well. To me, they were sociable, resilient, and eager to learn.”
Outside medical treatment time, the doctors and nurses at Nanxishan Hospital and the wounded Vietnamese soldiers read newspapers and listened to the radio together. They also performed during the celebrations of Chinese and Vietnamese National Days and New Year festivals.
 VOV's reporter Bich Thuan interviews Mrs. Yu Shuhui. (photo: Bich Thuan/ VOV's reporter in China) |
Mrs. Yu Shuhui said: “We were not from a family, but became closer than family members. In addition to being models of diligence, thriftiness, and hard work, they often told us stories of the Vietnamese battlefields, helping us understand more about the horrors of war and the bravery and resilience of the Vietnamese people. Their stories left a deep and lasting impression on us.”
 Mrs. Yu (1st line, 3rd from right) and the staff at Nanxishan Hospital donate blood. (credit: Mrs. Yu) |
During that time, Mrs. Yu voluntarily donated 1,600 milliliters of blood to save the wounded soldiers. She has always been invited to important events in Vietnam, including the 70th anniversary of the Dien Bien Phu Victory (1954–2024).
“When I attended the Dien Bien Phu victory celebration, the military leaders invited us to dinner. As I entered the hall, an officer said he was looking for the woman who had once donated blood to him. At that moment, tears welled up in my eyes. I’m moved that after 57 years, the next generation of Vietnam’s military leaders still remembered my blood donation. This kind of sentiment is something we will never forget,” said Mrs. Yu.