- Gordon Dumoulin
Known in China, little known beyond (7) - Kyoko Nakamura ไธญๆไบฌๅญ

๐๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐บ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณโ๐ด ๐๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฏ๐ช๐ข๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ช๐ด๐ต ๐๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐บ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐ข, ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ช๐จ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ-๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐ข ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐ช๐ค๐ช๐ฑ๐ข๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ช๐ญ๐ฅ-๐ถ๐ฑ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ข๐ณ๐ต๐บ (1921) ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฆ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆโ๐ด ๐๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ถ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ช๐ค ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐ข (1949) ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฃ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฅ๐ถ๐ค๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ด๐ฆ๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฌ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ด๐ต๐ด โ๐๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐ข, ๐ญ๐ช๐ต๐ต๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐บ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฅโ
Two sets of clothes have been part of her closet since her youth; one is a Japanese kimono, the only present from her mother; the other is her Eighth Route Army uniform that she wore more than 70 years ago. ๐๐๐ผ๐ธ๐ผ ๐ก๐ฎ๐ธ๐ฎ๐บ๐๐ฟ๐ฎ ไธญๆไบฌๅญ (91) was just 15 when she arrived from Japan at Jinzhou Nurse School, in Northeast China's Liaoning province in May 1945 (an area at the time still controlled by the Japanese army), to pursue her dreams of becoming a nurse. After 3 months, Japan surrendered to the allies, ending the occupation and the nursing school was taken over by the Eighth Route Army of the Communist Party. The 20 odd Japanese students were given two choices: Return to Japan, or join the Eighth Route Army. Nakamura weighed her options and joined the Eighth Route Army as nurse in the battlefields of the Liberation war.
In 1946, she was assigned as assistant of the famous ๐๐ฟ. ๐๐ฎ๐ป๐ ๐ ๐๐ฒ๐น๐น๐ฒ๐ฟ ๆฑๆฏยท็ฑณๅ. Dr. Mueller, born in Duesseldorf 1915 from a Jewish father, fled Germany duzing the Nazi era and studied Medicine at the University of Basel in Switzerland. In 1939, he left Switzerland for China, became related with Mao Zedong and started working as a doctor and medical teacher in the Eighth Route Army and Peopleโs Liberation Army during the wars.


During this period, Nakamura admired Mueller's skills while Mueller was drawn to her intelligence and diligence. But at that time they were only comrades and Nakamura was soon transferred from the frontline hospital. However fate brought them together again two years later in a clinic in the suburbs of Tianjin. And the story goes that she overheard people asking him why he didnโt get married as he was already 39 years. And he answered that he was in love with a Japanese girl. To much surprise for many, they got married in the spring of 1949, just before the founding of the Peopleโs Republic of China. Their marriage left comrades confused, two โdevilsโ, German and Japanese getting married while both fighting with their hearts for the cause of the Peopleโs Liberation Army. But praise, wedding gifts and congratulations came from all over China.



After the founding, they stayed in Beijing and got a daughter and son in the early 1950โs. Nakamura continued to work as medical expert and Mueller worked as professor in different universities, including being Vice-President of the Beijing Medical University. In the early 1970โs Zhou Enlai granted the family to visit Nakamuraโs relatives in Japan and Mueller used this time to discuss the causes and diagnosis of Hepatitis B with Professor Nishioka. Upon return, he continued to research and developed the Hepatitis vaccine B in China for which he is especially known in China today.
While Mueller is more well-known in China than his wife Nakamura, remember following saying in China ๆฏๅๆๅ็ทไบบ็่ๅพ๏ผ้ฝๆไธๅๅๅคง็ๅฅณไบบโWhenever there is a successful man, there is always a great woman behind the scene.โ



Her husband passed away in 1994 and Kyoko Nakamura is living in a Beijing hutong, their home since decades. Some of Muellerโs last words to her: โWe can have this kind of life today. It was given by the Communist Party. Over the years, what I believe most is the Communist Party. It's always for the people... After I die, you must stay in China and let my faith continue!"
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Read other episodes of "Known in China, little known beyond" here :
Known in China, little known beyond (1) - Isabel Crook
Known in China, little known beyond (2) - Dwarkanath Kotnis
Known in China, little known beyond (3) - Edgar Snow
Known in China, little known beyond (4) - Anna Louise Strong
Known in China, little known beyond (5) - Rewi Alley
Known in China, little known beyond (6) - Nguyen Son
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