American's decades-long bond with Chinese hometown leaves legacy of kindness

XINING, Nov. 11 (Xinhua) -- In 1987, when David V. Plymire first returned to Huangyuan, the plateau county in China he had left decades earlier for the United States, locals were surprised that he still spoke the local dialect fluently.

"I simply talked to myself in front of a mirror so that I wouldn't forget the dialect of my hometown," he later explained to a local journalist.

Born in 1931 in the United States, Plymire spent his formative years with his family in Huangyuan County, now in northwest China's Qinghai Province, before leaving at age 18. Now, the 95-year-old regards the county as his only hometown.

Though an ocean away, Plymire never stopped thinking about the people of Huangyuan. Between 1987 and 2016, he returned more than 20 times, helping improve local health care and education.

To support the once-underdeveloped county, he donated over 30 pieces of medical equipment worth some 6 million yuan (about 895,500 U.S. dollars) to the Huangyuan County People's Hospital.

The donation included a CT scanner worth 350,000 U.S. dollars -- a piece of equipment that no other county-level hospital in Qinghai possessed at the time. The procurement and customs clearance process for the large machine was cumbersome, and only after numerous setbacks did it finally arrive in Huangyuan in 2000.

Standing before the device, Plymire bowed deeply. "This scanner must serve the people of my hometown well," he said in the local dialect.

In 2002, Jia Chengwu, a neurosurgeon from Shenyang, capital of northeast China's Liaoning Province, was dispatched to Huangyuan as part of the country's efforts to promote large-scale development of the western region. There, he performed the county's first craniotomy on a migrant worker with a head injury.

"Without the CT scanner donated by Mr. Plymire, which enabled a timely diagnosis of the worker's intracranial hematoma, I could not have completed that surgery," Jia recalled. "With this batch of donated hardware and the paired assistance from supporting doctors, the hospital became a well-known medical institution in the surrounding area."

Huang Jiong, head of the hospital, said the CT scanner remained in service for 15 years until around 2015, benefiting more than 20,000 people.

The equipment allowed doctors to quickly diagnose hundreds of critically ill patients suffering from cerebral hemorrhage, cerebral infarction and meningitis, securing precious time for surgical rescue and saving numerous lives, Huang said.

In addition to donating medical equipment, Plymire also coordinated with foreign friends to teach English at local schools.

His sister, Mary Ann Plymire, who was born and grew up in Huangyuan, funded the purchase of the county's first ambulance.

In 1998, the Huangyuan county government awarded both of them honorary citizenship.

At Mary's request, her ashes were brought back to the county after she died in 2016, allowing her to rest in peace in the place where she spent her childhood.

The roots of their devotion trace back to their father, Victor G. Plymire, a missionary who arrived in China in 1908 and settled in Huangyuan in 1921.

According to David's book depicting his father's life in Huangyuan, the senior Plymire dedicated himself to treating villagers free of charge with modern medicine. He also sheltered locals from a warlord's massacre in a self-built gospel hall in 1929 and provided relief to refugees from Gansu and Shaanxi provinces in the 1940s during the Chinese People's War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression.

"I believe the father and son are remembered not merely for the medical donations and educational assistance, but more importantly, because they sheltered the common people during an extremely special and life-threatening era," said Huo De, a cultural scholar at the county's federation of literary and art circles. "This is the foundation of the local people's deep affection for them."

Now, the hospital incorporates David's story into its orientation training for new employees and internal study sessions, keeping alive this legacy of cross-border goodwill.

"David did not simply donate a few pieces of equipment. He has become a moral role model," Huang said.

The example set by the Plymires has continued to inspire others to follow.

Influenced by Plymire, Jia, now 74 and retired for many years, overcomes altitude sickness to regularly visit Huangyuan at his own expense to lecture, see outpatients, and perform surgeries at the hospital. He has also sponsored three local students from Huangyuan and its neighboring area, including a Tibetan pupil.

"We should follow David's example and do more good deeds," said Jia.