The reason why there’s a monument dedicated to a Romanian in China

You rarely see monuments dedicated to foreign people. So, when coming across the news that a Romanian couple is buried in China and the authorities have built them a monument we wanted to find out more.

Apparently, in the 1930-1940’s several Romanian doctors, David Iancu, Bucur and Gisela Clejan went to China to help treat the wounded while the Chinese were fighting against Japan. The doctors worked in the Yunna, Guizhou, Hunan, and Jiangxi with the military units. They have not only helped lives but they have also contributed to the modernization of the medical divisions. Gisela, Bucur’s wife, unfortunately, got an infection during the war due to a typhus epidemy and has died at only 39 years old. Luckily, the other two doctors survide the epidemic.

Clejan has continued to work with Iancu throughout the war and then Iancu moved to Myanmar. After a few years Bucur while working for the Red Cross in China has met his second wife, a Chinese medical assistant called Zhao Jingpu. After 1948 they moved back to Romania. The couple has also contributed to the establishment of the first Chinese embassy in Bucharest. In 2004 when Chinese president Hu Jintao visited Romania he said that the Chinese people will never forget their achievements.

Thus, a monument was erected in the Song Qingling mauseloum in Shanghai in their honour. This is the only monument erected for a Romanian in China.

Vitruviu publishing house has published doctor David Iancu’s war memoirs. As well, last year a special phto exhibit was organized in Bucharest honouring their legacy.