China-Vietnam Friendship Bringing Light Tour

At the invitation of the Vietnam Union of Friendship Organizations (VUFO), a delegation headed by CPAFFC Vice President Feng Zuoku and composed of a medical team from Beijing Tongren Hospital made a “China-Vietnam Friendship Bringing Light Tour to Vietnam” from November 13 to 20, 2009 and gave free cataract surgery to about 100 patients in Bac Giang Province.

Huynh Dam, President of the Vietnam Fatherland Front (VFF), Vu Xuan Hong, VUFO President, and Nguyen Dang Khoa, Chairman of Bac Giang Provincial People’s Committee, separately met with and entertained the delegation.

The Bringing Light Tour was warmly welcomed. Everyone of the 97 cataract operations was successful. The average age of the patients was 69.5 years old, the oldest being 87. After seeing light again, many patients expressed their sincere gratitude to the Chinese doctors and the Chinese people for their loving care and benevolence, and applauded the friendship between the people of the two countries. A 71-year-old lady Hoang Thi Hien, who was the first to have the operation, said excitedly when walking out of the operation room: “We are extremely grateful to the Chinese doctors who gave us free operations. In a few days, I can read newspapers to know what are happening at home and abroad. I hope that in the future I will have a chance to visit China and see Beijing with my eyes that have been cured by the Chinese doctors. The Chinese doctors’ kind deeds have made me feel again the warmth of being in one family.”

This was the first time for the “Bringing Light Tour” arranged by the CPAFFC to visit the provinces and cities of other countries other than their capitals. Besides conveying love and friendship, the activity demonstrated the Chinese people’s support and help for under-developed places and poor people in other countries. Dang Van Than, an old man of nearly 70 from Lang Giang County in Bac Giang Province, whose left eye had suffered cataracts for more than two years, said excitedly after the operation, “It would cost six million Vietnamese dong to have such an operation. But now the Chinese doctors treat us for free. You have brought a blessing to the Vietnamese patients.”

The Bringing Light Tour was highly praised by the Vietnamese leaders. In his meeting with the delegation, Huynh Dam, President of the VFF, spoke highly of the activity. He said that, when the two countries were to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations in 2010, the “Bringing Light Tour” jointly sponsored by the CPAFFC and the VUFO vividly reflected the friendship between the Vietnamese and Chinese people and had great significance to further deepening that friendship. The Chinese medical workers with their hard work had helped about a hundred Vietnamese patients restore their eyesight. It is the best help given to the Vietnamese people particularly the poor people. The friendship between Vietnam and China nurtured by President Ho Chi Minh and Chairman Mao Zedong and other leaders of the older generation was very precious. The two countries should carry out cooperation in more fields. Huynh hoped the VUFO and CPAFFC would carry out more cooperative projects similar to this activity to benefit the people of the two countries.

At a ceremony, Chairman Nguyen Dang Khoa expressed his thanks to the Chinese medical team. “The Chinese doctors not only have deeply moved the 97 patients who underwent cataract surgery, but also let all the people of Bac Giang Province experience the Chinese people’s friendship,” he declared. Tran Dac Loi, Executive Vice President of the VUFO, praised the “Bringing Light Tour” as an important activity to celebrate the 60th anniversary of Vietnam-China diplomatic relations. The activity had given precious medical help to the people in the poor and backward areas in Vietnam, and fully reflected that the traditional friendship between Vietnam and China was as profound as that among comrades and brothers.

The Bringing Light Tour displayed friendship between the Chinese and Vietnamese medical workers. In order to successfully fulfill its task, the Chinese medical team needed to choose patients suitable for the operation among hundreds of patients with cataracts from five counties of Bac Giang Province. So, to ensure smooth performance of pre-operation examinations and surgery, the medical team needed support of and coordination with the medical workers of Bac Giang Hospital and Bac Giang Ophthalmic Center. The Chinese and Vietnamese medical workers respected and learned from each other. In close coordination they worked out the best working procedure. When doing pre-operation examinations, they studied together the medical history of the patients to be selected so as to have a good knowledge about the physical conditions of these patients, carefully checked and took down the results of the examinations. In the waiting room and the rooms for preliminary examinations they had a clear division of duties and coordinated with each other smoothly. During the operations, there was excellent teamwork between the Chinese surgeons and Vietnamese doctors so that the operations all went smoothly. Silent acts speak louder than beautiful words. Though the Chinese and Vietnamese medical workers couldn’t understand each other’s language, the “Bringing Light Tour” helped build a bridge of friendship in their hearts.

The Bringing Light Tour has strengthened cooperation between the two friendship organizations. Through this activity, the CPAFFC has built closer cooperative relations with the VUFO, and the two friendship organizations got to know more about each other’s country’s national conditions and enhanced mutual trust. During the visit, CPAFFC Vice President Feng Zuoku said on many occasions that the success of the “Bringing Light Tour in Vietnam” was an example of practical friendly cooperation laying a solid foundation for future work together. VUFO Vice President Tran Dac Loi and Feng had an in-depth discussion. They agreed the activity had made the two friendship organizations feel deeply that the principle of good neighborliness and win-win cooperation between China and Vietnam and the internationalist spirit symbolized by the “Bringing Light Tour” has enabled both sides to feel the warmth of friendship just like sunshine.