One morning at the end of September 2003, I was making a routine round the ward. I came to a bed and saw an elderly patient curling his body sideway. I looked at his medical history and knew that his name was Ren Huizhong, 61 years old from Fujian. He was suffering from IV stage non-small cell lung cancer. I asked him, “Mr. Ren, where do you have discomfort?”He did not reply. I asked again, “Where does it hurt?” He suddenly turned over and said snappily, “Painful, very painful, it is killing me! Let me die by euthanasia.!” He coughed till he was almost out of breath.
After the end of the ward round, I returned to the office. Dr. Niu handed me two books and one of the book titled “Materials, Conscience and Field”. The other book titled “A Study on the philosophical Ideas of Ren Huizhong” was the record of a seminar organized by the Propaganda Department of the Fujian Provincial Party Committee in 2000. It was a Friday night. I went back to my house in Shenzhen and began to read the two books immediately. I was amazed to find out that the elderly patient I saw in the ward was one of the “two and a half philosophers” in China.
Ren Huizhong was obsessed with philosophy since young. When he was in high school, he started reading Engel’s “Das Kapital”. In 1958 he graduated from high school and applied for Beijing University but he was not accepted into the university. He did not yield to fate and went to work as a forestry technician in Fujian Mountain region. During the day, he would plant trees and at night he would read philosophical works and wrote about philosophy until 3-4 a.m. in the morning. At the end of 1979, he completed the first draft of the book “Contradiction between Multiplicity and Infinity”. He printed two hundred copies and sent to many philosophers in China for comments. Many philosophers gave criticism on his work. He was undeterred. In 1995 he further modified his work and changed the title of the thirty-million-word book to “Materials, Conscience and Field” published by Xue Lin Publication, Shanghai. November the same year, he suddenly received a letter from a famous physicist in China, Professor Qian Xuesen. In his letter Professor Qian said that the book had broadened his horizon and he had benefited greatly from the book. In 1996, fifty philosophers from all over China gathered in Fuzhou City for the "Materials, Consciousness and Field cum Contemporary Philosophical Studies Symposium”. The “small person” that dared to get involved in great philosophical studies was finally recognized by the society. In 1998, Ren was invited and made a visiting professor to Beijing University. Many universities invited him to present his academic reports. Just as he was to scale new heights in philosophy, he was struck by disease. November 2002, he suddenly developed bad cough. He went for medical examinations and was discovered that he had advanced lung cancer. He went to places such as Beijing and Shandong for treatment. The pain did not go away even though he had spent more than RMB50,000 on his treatment. When he learned that there were some special treatments in our hospital, he decided quickly to give it a try. Late in June 1993, Ren was admitted into our hospital as mentioned in the earlier part of this chapter.
After I had read the book “A Study on the philosophical Ideas of Ren Huizhong” non-stop and read the comment by a philosopher that “Ren Huizhong lives in the ascetic world of philosophy. He has given his views on many concepts that philosophers find it difficult to comprehend. All of us admit that Ren is so much better than us!” Some professors said that there were not many creative philosophers in China. There were only two and a half philosophers in China and Ren was one of them. I was very saddened. I did not hear my wife when she asked me to have my dinner after she had laid the table. When she walked toward me she was shocked and asked, “You are weeping! Why?” Only then did I realize that I had subconsciously immersed in the philosophical world of Ren.
The next Monday I went back to Guangzhou. I immediately went to see Ren in his ward. I understood the reasons why he was depressed. Firstly, he had spent almost all his saving and he was beyond cure. Secondly, he was sick in Guangzhou and felt the society was cold toward him and he was neglected. Thirdly, there was not much time left for him to complete his three books, “A Balanced State of Mind’, “A Scientific Revolution that is not understood” and “Philosophical Consideration in the Face of Death”
I sent out letters to many newspapers in Guangzhou titled “Save the Philosophical Thinking of Philosopher Ren Huizhong - the common Asset of mankind”. The following day, reporters from five newspapers came to our hospital for interview. On 7th July 2003, the Yangcheng Evening News and the Nanfang Daily published in their front page a long article entitled “A Small person who carries the Fate of Philosophy” and “Trying to use his Copyright to Save His Life” respectively. A week later, two officers from the Guangdong Provincial Party Committee General Office came to visit Ren Huizhong. They gave a donation of 8,000 Yuan which comprised of a sum of 3,000 Yuan donated by a retired secretary of the Municipal Party Committee. They requested to remain anonymous and no picture to be taken. An entrepreneur from Hong Kong remitted 20,000 Yuan to Ren after reading the article in Yangcheng Evening News in the plane. The deputy Publicity Chief of Fuzhou city and the deputy mayor of Fuqing City also conveyed their comforting words through letters, bouquets of flowers and a total donation of 310,000 Yuan. Many newspapers in Fujian published articles on interviews with Ren in prominent locations of their newspapers. CCTV also broadcasted live their interview with Ren.
Ren Huizhong requested a desk from the hospital and began to write his second book on philosophy. I requested him to give a talk on philosophy to our doctors. He delivered the talk non-stop for 90 minutes without any coughing. He wrote testament-like letter to his daughters and sons saying, “President Xu is a dear brother of mine. You must always remember this!”
Not long ago, Ren’s daughter working in the CPPCC in Fuqing City called me to say that Fuqing City had set up a memorial for her father. She was completing the book titled “The Wisdom of Life and Death”. In the book was recorded the memorable days Ren spent in our hospital.