Justin Trudeau's official gifts to China a nod to his father - Action News
Home WebMail Monday, November 11, 2024, 12:45 AM | Calgary | -0.4°C | Regions Advertise Login | Our platform is in maintenance mode. Some URLs may not be available. |
Politics

Justin Trudeau's official gifts to China a nod to his father

Justin Trudeau presented two Norman Bethune medallions made in the same run as the medallion his father presented to chairman Mao Zedong in 1973.

PM gives 2 portrait medallions of famed Canadian Norman Bethune to Chinese president and premier

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau tweeted this photo of him giving one of China's leaders a Norman Bethune medallion made in the same run as one presented by Pierre Elliott Trudeau in 1973. (Justin Trudeau/Twitter)

Prime Minister Justin Trudeauturned to the history books for inspiration when selecting an official giftto China.

Trudeau presented ChinesePresident Xi JinpingandPremier LiKeqiangtwo portrait medallions ofNorman Bethune made in the same run as the medallion his father, then prime minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau, presented to chairman Mao Zedong in 1973.

The senior Trudeau'stripwas the first official visit tothePeople's Republic of China by a Canadian prime minister.

Canada's then prime minister Pierre E. Trudeau, right, shakes hands with Mao Tse-tung, party chief of the People's Republic of China on Oct.13, 1973. The two met at Chungnanhai while Trudeau was on an official visit to China. (Canadian Press)

Seventy-five medallions were originally produced for the Canadian government in 1973.

The prime minister's press secretary said the medallions"symbolize the history of our two countries."

Seventy-five Norman Bethune medallions were originally produced for the Canadian government in 1973. (invaluable.com)

Bethune's communist beliefs made him a controversial figure in his home country of Canada,but thephysician is still revered in China as a hero for helping treat wounded soldiers during the country'swar with Japan in the late 1930s. He died from an infection contracted during surgery there in 1939.

There are numerous statues and memorials in his memory in China, as well as the 800-bed Norman Bethune International Peace Hospital and the Norman Bethune Medical School.

The medallions were designedbyDora de Pedery Hunt, who died in 2008.