The People's Doctor: George Hatem and China's Revolution

by Edgar A. Porter

Book Overview

The young George Hatem journeyed to Shanghai in 1933 to practice medicine and see the sights. The deplorable health and social conditions he found there caused his sympathies to veer quickly to the revolutionary efforts of the Chinese Communist party, and before long he joined the underground Party members in conspiratorial meetings and activities. In 1936 he left Shanghai on a secret Province after completing the Long March. For the next 14 years,...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0824819055
• ISBN13: 9780824819057
• Release Date: January 1997
• Publisher: University of Hawaii Press
• Length: 360 Pages
• Weight: 1.20 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.9" x 6.2" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

Making History--A Public Health Doctor in New China

George Hatem was a the son of Lebonese Maronite Catholic immigrants to the East Coast of the United States. I want to say that his childhood was uneventful, but that would not really be accurate, because it is quite certain that his childhood had a tremendous influence on him, and was a big part of his decision to stay in China and give up his American citizenship. So let's put it this way: He was the son of immigrants. He tended to be picked on a bit while he was growing up. During his later grammar school years, he became unmanageable, and was placed in a reform school by his parents. He eventually went back to Lebanon for medical school. After medical school, he went to China, perhaps more out of curiosity than anything else, and that is where he stayed for the rest of his life. Now, I could spend quite a bit of time speculating on what elements of his childhood predisposed him toward rejecting the land of his birth and becoming a Chinese citizen. But I don't want to do that, because that is not what this book is about, and when it comes right down to it that is not what George Hatem was about. So I will leave you with the brief summary, and let you draw your own conclusions.The world waited. World War II was over. The Japanese had been defeated, and the conflict between the Communists and the Guomindang was heating up. Nobody knew for sure who would come out on top. There were problems with both options. The Guomindang reeked with corruption. The Communists had some weaknesses in their organizational structure which allowed a few people at the top to wield too much power. One thing is certain: if the Communists had not come out on top, this story would probably not have happened. George Hatem was a good doctor. But there are lots of good doctors in the world. George Hatem's defining quality was not some sort of dazzling, unreal brilliance. He shined because he happened upon a society, a world, a system that really, really needed what he had to offer, and because, by temperament, he was essentially apolitical. But most of all, he had an uncanny knack for finding what he was good at, and sticking to it with a pertinacity which outshone all his peers. Do men make history, or does history make the man? Nobody knows the answer to that question, but, when it comes to George Hatem, I would say that history made him. Definitely. The greatness of Hatem is that he took what history had made and used it to again make history. Dogged persistence, the ability to stick to his work and not put his nose in where it didn't belong, and the tireless pursuit of a goal which was of benefit to the masses-these were the traits that defined him as a person, and these are the traits that he used to define the way he would approach the monumental events happening around him. While we are on the subject of history, let me say that history is the main reason I read this book. Of course, I always like a good story, and I liked this one. B