Norman Bethune is getting a bath. His statue, which normally stands encrusted in bird poop at the corner of Guy and de Maisonneuve, in the most pigeon-infested square in Montreal, has been removed for restoration. Norman Bethune Square, meanwhile, will be redesigned and expanded, part of the ongoing Quartier Concordia project that aims to turn Concordia’s downtown campus into an attractive, pedestrian-friendly environment.
There are no details on what the newly-reconfigured square will look like, although preliminary renderings released by Concordia in 2005 offer an idea. Pretty much anything will be better than its current state, which is filthy, dilapidated and uncomfortable, despite the high number of people that pass through it. Apparently, the square was a bit of an afterthought, a traffic island that became home to the statue of Bethune only after it had already stood at several other locations. The Gazette has more:
Bethune was a surgeon at the Royal Victoria Hospital in Montreal. Seventy years ago, he went to China to join Mao Zedong’s long march.
He died of blood poisoning in 1939 while administering to the wounded soldiers of Mao’s 8th Route Army.
His monument in Montreal is a copy of one that stands outside the International Peace Hospital at Shih-chia-chuang. Known in China as Pai Ch’ui-en, Bethune is revered for his humanitarian work. His name appears in Chairman Mao’s Little Red Book as “the ideal communist. We can all learn the spirit of selflessness from him.”
Even before Bethune went to China, he had an international reputation for his advances in surgical techniques. He had also organized the first mobile blood transfusion units during the Spanish Civil War.
He is said to have once performed 115 operations, working 69 hours at a stretch. He is buried in China’s mausoleum of martyrs in Shih-chia-chuang.
His reputation in Canada was given a boost in the 1970s after Prime Minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau established diplomatic relations with China. The statue was first offered to the city in 1971 and a memorial committee was established to accept it.
However, many at the time felt it would be politically incorrect to honour a Communist sympathizer on city streets.
The statue was carved in Beijing and is the work of four sculptors: Situ Chieh, Hsieh Chie-sheng, We Chang and Tsui Wu-chin.
It arrived in Montreal in 1977, and was moved around to several sites before finally being unveiled in its present location in August 1978.
The newly-renovated Norman Bethune Square will be unveiled next October, just in time for the 70th anniversary of Bethune’s death.
5 comments
You’re right, anything will be an improvement, especially ridding the attempt at a grassy patch that was never more than two weeds, footworn paths and a flock of pigeons. As much as we require greenery in the city centre, that was never going to work.
I can’t help but wonder what will become of the parking lot between the Tim Horton’s and Second Cup/Son-of-al-Taïb buildings. I remember hearing that the uni was very interested in purchasing it but that the owner was raising the price every time they asked. Maybe with the city’s new War on Parking Lots it will be forced to shut down and turn into a more productive use of space.
I was thinking the same thing about the parking lot. A new building would really help to frame the new park and would be an excellent spot for a new student residence or annex for the school. I always wondered why such a prime piece of property was being left as a parking lot for so long. Does anyone know what used to be there?
the only problem is that today the communist chinese party is torturing and murdering innocent Falun Gong practitioners……..if bethune was a friend of that monster mao then i do not think his statue should be standing anywhere in the world.
Red-Baiting and whitewashing…one should never hide history, be it current atrocities or past heroic actions. Bethune died years before the ideals the communist fought for became corrupt and rotten. It’s his spirit that we are celebrating. A guy who treated wounded Japanese enemy soldiers along with his comrades was a human being period. If that’s communism than we need more of it. There’s always two sides to the coin.
I can’t help but wonder what will become of the parking lot between the Tim Horton’s and Second Cup/Son-of-al-Taïb buildings.