Another Cultural Revolution Story

Hospice care for the terminally-ill elderly is not yet widespread in China, but one of the pioneers in the area is Li Songtang (李松堂), or Li Wei (李伟).

In 1992, he set up the Beijing Songtang Caring Hospital (北京松堂关怀医院) based on the belief that "life begins for 10 months in the nurturing comfort of the womb, and should similarly end with 10 months of care and nurturing." (人的生命诞生必须在母体子宫中经过10个月的呵护, 而当生命即将终结的时候, 同样需要10个月的临终关怀)

Li was compelled to set up the hospice after his experience during the Cultural Revolution when like many young people caught up during the revolutionary fervor, he was sent to labor in the countryside. But in Li's case, he served as a "barefoot doctor" (赤脚医生), which is a euphemism for unlicensed and unqualified doctors who roamed the countryside dispensing medical treatment and medicine to the rural population.

As Li recalled, one of his patients was an elderly intellectual suffering from a terminal stage of liver cancer. Physically tormented, the elderly intellectual would grab hold of Li's hands and begged him to listen to his sad life story. In particular, the elderly intellectual was tormented about the prospects of after-life.

As he told Li: "I am not sure if there is a heaven, but I heard that good people go to heaven and bad people go to hell. I have never done any bad things in my life. I love life, I enjoy helping people, but now I am not even known as a "human being". They call me "cow spirits and snake demons" (牛鬼蛇神). I fear that I would not even qualify for hell when I die."

In order to placate and comfort the elderly intellectual, Li lied to him, saying that "the leaders already know that you are a good man, and they have agreed to rehabilitate you."

Even before Li could finish his sentence, the elderly intellectual grabbed hold of Li's hand and thanked him profusely. That night, the elderly intellectual died in his sleep, with a calm and serene smile on his face.