What did she leave for China?, "Norman Bethune" passed away in Beijing at the age of 108 | Beijing Foreign Studies University | Isabelle Crook | China

This afternoon, the official WeChat account of the China International Committee for Industrial Cooperation announced that Ms. Elizabeth Crook, an advisor to the China International Committee for Industrial Cooperation, an international communist warrior, educator, anthropologist, pioneer of English teaching in New China, foreign expert and lifelong honorary professor at Beijing Foreign Studies University, passed away on August 20, 2023 at 00:59 in Beijing at the age of 108.

Elizabeth Crook was born in Chengdu, Sichuan, China in 1915 and joined the British Communist Party in 1943. She is an international communist fighter. In 1947, she went to Shanxi Hebei Shandong Henan Liberated Area for fieldwork. When she returned home, she was detained by the CPC, so she decided to stay in China to teach and help the CPC train foreign language talents.

This stay is for a lifetime. After more than sixty years of hard work, Elizabeth Crouch devoted all her efforts and wisdom to the English education cause in New China, cultivating the first batch of foreign affairs cadres, a large number of outstanding scholars, and diplomatic talents for New China. In September 2019, Elizabeth Crook was awarded the Friendship Medal of the People's Republic of China.

We accompanied the mother and son for a walk on campus, recalling the tumultuous years of revolution and construction.

This article was first published in November 2021. Today, we resend this article as a commemoration.

The following is the original report:

"Mom, would you like a piece of this cookie?" 70 year old Ke Makai gently pushed a small piece of cookie in front of his mother, then picked up a white porcelain teapot and poured jasmine tea into a Chinese tea cup with a dragon pattern. The aroma of hot drinks overflowed on the table - a Chinese and foreign afternoon tea.

On November 9th this year, Canadian Isabelle Crouch celebrated her 106th birthday at her home in Beijing. During the day, she took a long nap. In the evening, her youngest son, Ke Macai, had to wake her up and say, "Mom, you need some fresh air from sleeping after lunch until evening. We'll go downstairs and take a walk later."

This is a secluded family courtyard located on the west campus of Beijing Foreign Studies University. After moving in with her family in 1955, Elizabeth devoted herself to foreign language teaching and cultivated a group of foreign language talents, some of whom are still active on China's diplomatic stage today.

Under the influence of his mother, Komakai, who holds dual citizenship in the UK and Canada, has long regarded China as his hometown. In the 1990s, he founded Beijing Jingxi School for the children of foreign visitors to China, where graduates spread Chinese culture like seeds to various parts of the world. In 2004, Komakai was awarded the Friendship Award by the Chinese government.

We visited on the most pleasant days of autumn in Beijing, and Ke Makai, who came to pick us up, wore cloth shoes and spoke a Beijing accent, resembling an authentic old Beijing. Nowadays, as her mother ages faster and faster, Komakai takes care of her while continuing to care for and participate in China's development with family and friends as the Chairman of the China International Committee for Industrial Cooperation.

Our visit started with taking a walk with the mother and son.

"Obey organizational arrangements"

Perhaps due to his father being British, Ke Makai, who was born in Beijing, still retains traces of British humor. When we first met, we sat in his car and saw a piece of paper stuck in front of the co pilot: "Please fasten your seat belt, otherwise pay the driver 500 yuan." Seeing our curiosity, he shrugged and spread his hand, "So far I haven't received any money."

The car drove into the campus of Beiwai and stopped in front of an old-fashioned apartment building. The dark gray walls were very old and looked no different from ordinary apartment buildings. This is a house built in 1954, which has been equipped with wheelchair specific slides in the hallway over the years. However, with the help of the nanny, 106 year old Elizabeth can still slowly climb up and down the stairs on her own.

But most of the time, this old British Communist Party member's physical strength has declined significantly, and his body often cannot stop trembling slightly. Komakai helped her mother out of the bedroom and learned that we were from Shanghai. When her son mentioned that our newspaper had a "liberation," she looked up at us and said softly, "I am very happy to see you."

From the day she checked in, Elizabeth lived in this building for 66 years. When he was young, this internationalist soldier born in Chengdu conducted in-depth research in rural China and published several books documenting the Chinese revolution. Now, her memory is no longer as good as before, and the small blackboard at home is written in crooked English: "I'd like to have a nice walk and sleep."

But her eyes remained clear. This reminds me of the photo displayed in the History Museum of Beijing Foreign Studies University: at the end of 1947, Elizabeth conducted a field survey in the liberated areas at the foot of the Taihang Mountains. Dressed in a military uniform of earth cloth, she rode on a horse, pulled the reins, and the wind blew up her long hair. Looking at the camera's face, she was confident, graceful, and proud.

Isabella rode on a horse's back

In November of that year, Elizabeth and her husband David Crook, who was already a member of the British Communist Party, came to Shilidian Village to investigate land reform. On the occasion of their resignation and return to China, the couple was deeply persuaded by the person in charge of foreign affairs work at the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China. After careful consideration, they decided to "obey the organization's arrangements", participate in the establishment of the Central Foreign Affairs School, and stay in China to teach, helping the Communist Party cultivate foreign language talents.

This stay is for a lifetime. The school was relocated and renamed several times back then, and has developed into today's Beijing Foreign Studies University. In 1949, Beiping was peacefully liberated, and Elizabeth, who was already pregnant, took a truck with the Communist Party from Shijiazhuang to Beijing. During the founding ceremony, on the makeshift wooden stands set up on the streets of Chang'an, Elizabeth witnessed the founding of New China with her 6-month-old son in her arms.

At school, Elizabeth and her wife participated in the compilation of the first set of college English tutorials in New China and the compilation of a Chinese English dictionary. The school history museum still displays foreign language textbooks donated by Elizabeth to this day.

Nowadays, the furnishings in the elderly's homes almost still retain the style of that era, with yellowed books, covered sofas, and calligraphy hanging on the wall, displaying traces of time. On the table was a large font poetry collection printed by Komakai on A4 paper, which included dozens of poems that Isabelle liked, as well as lyrics and pinyin for Chinese revolutionary songs such as "Unity is Strength," "Socialism is Good," and "The East is Red.".

The traces left by time on revolutionaries are equally clear. With her wrinkled face covered in silver hair, Isabella sat at the dining table muttering to herself, making it impossible for others to hear what she was saying. On the wall behind her, there is a portrait of Chairman Mao and a poem that reads, "The four seas churn with clouds and water, the five continents shake with wind and lightning." On the west wall, there are eight words that read, "I have worked hard and died." In the middle, there is a statue of Premier Zhou.

In the evening, the sunset illuminated the bookshelf filled with books, DVDs, and photo frames. Among them are documentaries introducing the Chinese revolution such as "Mao Zedong in China" and "The American Observation Team in Yan'an", as well as books introducing Western culture. But the most prominent thing at home is a blue square box placed in the center of the living room, which contains the "Friendship Medal".

"You can open the box and take a look." Seeing us curious, Komakai smiled mysteriously and made a decision for his mother. Lift up the heavy box lid, the medal is shiny and dazzling. Komakai leaned in his mother's ear and said happily, "Mom, they are admitting your 'gold medal'."

Isabella didn't answer, she just nodded lightly and smiled in the direction of the medal.

"It seems Mom needs to wake up," Komakai mischievously blinked at us. "She'll be happy to go downstairs and buy her an popsicle later. She loves eating popsicles."

"All contribute to the revolution"

In the evening, Elizabeth sat in a wheelchair, while Ke Macai pushed her mother for a walk in the courtyard. From time to time, someone would come forward and say, "Take Mom out for a walk?" "Yes, take a walk." Komakai turned his head and whispered to us, "These old people have been living here for 60 years. They watched me grow up."

A century ago, Komakai's ancestors set foot on the land of China. His parents, as members of the British Communist Party and international friends, participated in the revolution and construction of China. His family witnessed the journey of ancient Eastern countries from hardship to victory. After spending his childhood and adolescence in Beijing, Komakai returned to China in 1988 and settled in Beijing before never leaving.

Over half a century has passed, and the layout of the courtyard where family members grew up has not changed much, with some of their former neighbors still present. Before retirement, they were mostly school teachers, familiar with the Elizabeth family, and did not treat them as outsiders. "All contribute to the revolution."

Komakai's kindergarten is located in the courtyard. Nowadays, there are at least three aunties who lived here when he was in kindergarten. When I was a child, the aunts called Ke Makai "Michael". Once, Ke Makai attended a conference in Shanghai and was recognized by the daughter of an aunt who was teaching at an international school in Shanghai that recruited foreign children.

A collective way of life has passed away. In the 1950s, units implemented a supply system, where they ate three meals a day in a cafeteria and didn't have to buy clothes themselves. Barber shops, laundry rooms, bathhouses, canteens, and boiler rooms were all located together. The downstairs of Komakai's house used to be a wheat field, and from the window, it looked golden. He smiled and said, "At that time, people from the old district loved to work!"

At the beginning, the Komakai family lived in a tube shaped building with three floors, each with a large corridor and more than ten rooms side by side. "I have to wake up at six or seven in the morning, grab a seat with a basin, jar, toothpaste, and toothbrush. There is only one faucet in the sink, and there is no hot water. If I need hot water, I need to go to the boiler room to get it."

Walking on campus, Komakai enthusiastically recounted the various details of his childhood here: "Look, there used to be a large auditorium below that tower." "That area, it used to be all tube shaped buildings." "This side is the public restroom, and that side is the bathhouse."

"As a 70 year old, I can't help but feel a bit nostalgic." As he passed by the gym, Ke Makai recalled that there used to be outdoor movies on Saturdays here. A projector was placed in the second floor window, two poles were used to support the screen, and then tied with ropes. Everyone moved small stools from home to sit in rows, becoming a collective memory of that generation of Chinese people.

When he was young, Komakai was an introverted child who was teased by some Chinese adults for his appearance: "British people don't eat dates, eat dates without spitting pits, fart and snore.". But he didn't care: "Children, it's inevitable to joke."

In the 1960s, Isabella took her children to climb the Great Wall, with Komakai in the middle

Komakai's sense of intimacy towards Chinese people partly stems from the influence of his parents since childhood. In childhood memories, parents in the classroom were always full of energy, and they were intimately connected to their classmates. "My father is willing to be with young people. He always eats in the student cafeteria, chats with students while eating, and cares about their lives and thoughts."

"That was an era where cooperation was greater than competition," Komakai remembers. At that time, her mother often encouraged good students to help drive poor students, and she often invited students in need to come home to answer questions.

"When I came home from elementary school, I did my homework in the back room, and my parents helped the students with tutoring in the living room. Many years later, Komakai went to the government to handle affairs, and the person in charge was a student of Elizabeth's time. He recognized at a glance, 'Isn't this Michael? I watched you grow up!'"

Many of the students of the Isabelles who entered the Ministry of Foreign Affairs are still active on the diplomatic stage in China. When they were young, they also studied homework at the dining table in the living room of the Ke Ma Kai family.

"Anthropologist's perspective"

During those days of interviews, the sky in Beijing was as blue as a wash. We walked to the vicinity of the International Building near Beiwai, and Ke Makai pointed to the endless traffic on the West Third Ring Road and sighed, "When I was a child, this was still a dirt road." Until the late 1960s, the Xizhimen City Tower was still there, only 5 kilometers away from the Beiwai School Gate. Along the way, there were still crops on the side of the road.

The earth shattering changes that have occurred in China over the past half century were unexpected for both him and his mother.

Isabella, who was known as an English educator, returned to China for the first time as an anthropologist. The figure of this foreign scholar was left in the fields of Tibetan tribes, Qiang villages in Sichuan, and rural areas of the liberated areas.

At that time, the international revolutionary movement and anti fascist struggle were vigorous. Her later husband went to Spain to fight against fascism, was injured and hospitalized. He borrowed a copy of Snow's "Journey to the West" from doctor Norman Bethune, which sparked his interest in the Chinese revolution.

In 1959, the collaboration between the two authors, "Ten Mile Shop - A Revolution in a Village in China," was published in London, England. Twenty years later, the more comprehensive "Ten Mile Shop - A Mass Movement in a Chinese Village" was published in New York, USA. These two works, based on field investigations, provided Westerners with a real opportunity to understand China's land reform movement.

To some extent, foreign countries today need more opportunities to gain a deeper understanding of China than before. Influenced by his parents, Komakai often said that he wants to examine the development and changes of Beijing from an anthropological perspective, which is his way of loving this place.

Over the years, Komakai has focused on environmental protection. As we walked through the courtyard, a smell of pesticide floated in the air. "Some people think that the cleaner these insects are killed, the better. I'm not like that," he frowned and walked away quickly. "To maintain biodiversity, we need an environment that can coexist."

Childhood Beijing seems to have more fun. "When I was a child, I could see a beetle with two big horns, like a Bull Demon King." A few days ago, Komakai was walking on the road and saw a "hanging ghost" falling from a tree. "It excited me, it's been years since I last saw it!"

With the continuous acceleration of urbanization, the swiftlets that used to live under the eaves of ordinary people's homes are becoming increasingly difficult to find habitats. Komakai, along with students and old men and women from the street community, formed a team of dozens of people and walked into hutongs, streets, and communities to mobilize businesses to leave a nest for Swift. He smiled and said, "I am the only 'big nose' in the crowd."

Ke Makai likes to stroll through the alleys of Beijing. He said that the constantly demolished and separated mixed courtyard buildings are like living creatures, reflecting the vitality of the city. But in recent years, the face of Beijing has also become unfamiliar. "Nowadays, China's material development is very rapid, but while promoting modernization and improving people's lives, we also need to preserve China's cultural characteristics."

There used to be a military machinery alley in Haidian. Ke Macai read historical records that the late Qing eunuch Li Lianying once had a house there, so he went to visit and saw several elderly people sitting at the entrance of the house. As he was looking around, the old man asked him, "Who are you looking for?" Ke Ma Kai replied, "I heard that Li Lianying has lived here before."

"Guess what he said, Li Lianying? No, no, there's not such a person here." After speaking, Ke Macai laughed heartily.

When Ke Markai's friends who were teaching in the United States brought foreign student study tours to China, they always approached him to lead the students on a trip to hutongs because he moved to real hutongs and lived in real residents. "Not riding a tricycle over there to introduce, please have a few gentlemen and aunties sit there."

Over the years, the disappearing alleys have also taken away an ancient way of life. When Ke Makai was a child, he attended Chongwen Elementary School. The most popular place to visit was the flower market next to the alley. At that time, there were many people who raised flowers, insects, and birds, but now it is difficult to see them. The only ones are also hidden deep in the alley.

But Komakai has a way to knock on those tightly closed doors. He talks to residents about history and architecture, and usually after 5 minutes, they let him in to take a look. "Perhaps I have a foreign face, which others also find fresh. If I had a Chinese face, the success rate might have been lower."

"Throughout my life, I will be a friend of the Chinese people"

On the day of the interview, he rushed back to Beijing Foreign Studies University to meet us after finishing a meeting at Beijing Jingxi School. Although he, as the founder, was gradually stepping back from behind the scenes, his work on external communication never stopped. "International friendship is a very important job, and now some Western countries are maliciously attacking China. I think China should make more friends."

In 1988, Ma Haide, a friend of Elizabeth and the first foreigner to join the new Chinese nationality, passed away; In 2000, Elizabeth's husband, staunch communist David Crook, passed away; In 2005, my friend Israel Epstein passed away

When the first batch of "Norman Bethune" goes far away, will a new "Norman Bethune" appear?

The family portrait of the Komakai family, taken in the 1980s

Komakai inherited his parents' aspiration to focus on education. After the reform and opening up, the number of foreigners working in Beijing has increased, many of whom are short-term residents, and there is an urgent need for international schools that can meet the educational needs of their children. In 1994, Ke Makai and several friends jointly founded Beijing Jingxi School, which is an international school specifically designed for foreign children.

When it comes to the school's training objectives, Ke Makai repeatedly emphasized, "I hope that students who come from Jingxi, whether they have stayed for 1 or 10 years, will always be friends of the Chinese people and appreciate Chinese culture, including traditional culture and new culture."

How to make foreigners truly understand and identify with China? Ke Makai said directly, "I think it's better to run to the street office and chat with a few aunties there. What are the young people in your community doing? What do the elderly do? How do disabled people receive subsidies? What is community security? What do people with red armbands do? Chinese society is very interesting."

"Human emotions are not built by gnawing books, but by interacting with living people." Komakai once led more than 20 American students to a residential area near Jishuitan Hospital, where he hardly saw a single tourist. More than 90% of them were neighbors living and working in the area. "Beijing residents are very cute and friendly to chat with. I take American students to neighborhood committees or street offices, and they are willing to chat."

This immersive observation method comes from his parents. In the 1940s, when conducting research in rural areas, Elizabeth shared food and housing with farmers, and often squatted on the ground with her rice bowl to eat with them. Faced with poverty and backwardness in China, this internationalist warrior not only did not discriminate, but also integrated with the simple Chinese people.

In Shilidian Village in the western mountainous area of Hebei Province, Isabella talks with local villagers

Authentic experience undoubtedly infected Komakai. Although growing up in the city, Komakai had a special affection for the countryside and farmers. Every year, he takes the children from Jingxi School to rural areas in the suburbs of Beijing for on-site investigations, which is part of the school curriculum.

He divided dozens of children from different countries into different households, and ordinary people made dumplings for foreign children to eat. The children sat at home and felt the authentic Chinese family life. "Children will be curious, who lives in that house? Who is this house? Where do grandparents live? Which shed is the washing machine stored in? This will deepen our understanding of China."

Once, Ke Makai took five senior students to the countryside to investigate land use reform issues. In a rural household, the students saw the kang in the north for the first time and found it magical. They said we would sleep on the kang at night. After a meal of feeding firewood and setting fire, the room was filled with smoke and smoke, but a few foreign students found it endless and particularly happy.

In 1949, Elizabeth followed the Communist Party into Beijing. At that time, Mao Zedong said that winning the national victory was only the first step of the Long March. At that time, Elizabeth felt that the Chairman was so humble. Decades later, she realized that socialist construction was indeed a long process.

She has devoted her whole life to it, and her descendants are still steadfast in their determination - her son Komakai founded Jingxi School, and her granddaughter is now a teacher in an English kindergarten.