In 1987 I graduated in Medicine and Surgery at the University of Milan, Italy. The long journey to become one day a cardiac surgeon had officially begun.
The same year, a few days after the graduation ceremony, I saw the epic biographical drama film “The Last Emperor”, directed by Bernardo Bertolucci, about the life of Puyi, the last Emperor of China.
The film was a great success both with critics and audiences and taught me something about the history of China and the lives of a billion people with whom I shared this planet.
At that time, I didn’t know that nearly 30 years later I would visit the Museum of the Imperial Palace of Manchukuo in Changchun, the palace that was the actual setting in Bernardo Bertolucci's 1987 biographical film of Puyi. And above all, I didn’t know that I would consider Changchun my second hometown, scenario of a human and professional rebirth.
But let’s proceed with order.
In 1987 I knew that in pursuit of the dream of becoming a cardiac surgeon I had a very long and difficult journey ahead. However, I was proud of my choice and ready to overcome any difficulty.
The next 30 years were intense, marked by the daily commitment to the search for professional excellence, putting the rest of life in the background.
As often happens after years of constant dedication towards a cause, when the goal is achieved you feel that there’s something else beyond it, something that you cannot clearly understand but that you miss intensely.
As popular wisdom says, the one who seeks, shall find.
I received a phone call from a cardiologist friend of mine who told me he was leaving for China, and that he would work for 1 year in a city named Changchun in the far north-east of the country.
I thought to myself, why not follow him?
At the beginning of November 2015, I was flying from Milan to Changchun with a stopover in Shanghai. The purpose of the trip was to visit both my colleague’s hospital, named Jilin Heart Hospital, and have a look around the city of Changchun. And possibly sign a collaboration contract.
At that time my knowledge of China was very poor, and of Changchun even less, so I surfed the internet to find out what I could. I rediscovered the story of Bernardo Bertolucci and his movie and the historical details about Puyi and the Japanese invasion.
I also found out that Changchun means “long spring” and that the city could be considered both the Detroit and Hollywood of China, being automotive and film industry very well rooted.
It was also pleasant to discover that Changchun is known as “the garden city” for the extensive parks and gardens that characterize it.
The first time I landed in Changchun was an unforgettable experience.
It was about 9 pm, I had a window seat on the Air China flight from Shanghai, so I could see the dark landscape while the aircraft was approaching the airport.
After a quick check-in, for the first time in my life, I started to feel uneasy for the total absence of reference points, with road signs and shop bright signs written in an incomprehensible language.
I had the feeling to be dipped into a different space-time dimension that reminded me the Ridely Scott’s dystopian movie “Blade Runner”.
Although funnily enough, in that very moment I could perceive a strong attraction to the place, an attraction arising from the blend made of fear for the unknown and desire to discover. An attraction that would accompany me for many years to come.
My first stay in Changchun lasted just two weeks and during the return flight back to Italy I thought back through the whole experience.
I should have taken an important decision shortly, if accept or not the position that had been offered to me by the Jilin Heart Hospital as Director of the Cardiac Surgery Department. Accepting the offer would mean leaving Italy for many years and I was a little scared by this eventuality, even if deep down my thoughts I knew that in the end I had found just what I was looking for.
During my last meeting with the Vice President of Jilin Heart Hospital Dr. He Huang, while he was describing me that the vision and the mission of the hospital were directed towards guaranteeing the highest quality cardiac surgery treatment to poor people through the “Jixin Program”, I understood that in Changchun I could have given a valid answer to the lack of professional motivation I felt back in Italy.
I could devote myself more to the care of poor people who would otherwise surely have died due to their heart problems, not being able to pay for the treatment.
However, I felt doubtful about whether I would be able to cope with all the endless differences between Italy and China. Would I have been able to adapt?
There was a fight ongoing in my brain between choosing what was safe and known, the rational side of me that was telling “stay at home”, versus what was insecure and unknown, the passionate side of me that was saying “accept the job and leave Italy”.
I took a sleeping pill and drank a glass of wine.
I soon fell asleep and when I woke up a few hours later, in the dark of the aircraft cabin, the decision was made: my “gut feeling” had won. I would be accepting the job and becoming a citizen of Changchun.
The following six years have been characterized by a progressive and constant process of falling in love with the city that would become my second and current home.
I didn’t fall in love with it immediately, as there was not a burning initial passion but more of a steady growth of daily good feelings.
Changchun did much the same, blooming every day more and more.
At present the air is constantly fresh and clean and it is a pleasure for the senses walking to the hospital in the morning, looking at the perfectly groomed flower beds and the long rows of green trees that characterize the city during the “long spring”.
It is also a pleasure in wintertime when the temperature goes down far beyond -20 degrees Celsius, walking in the dark of the early morning when you hear the dull noise of your steps on the compact snow and you fell and see the steam of your breath as your eyelashes quickly freeze.
What I love most of the city of Changchun are its inhabitants or to put it better its “patients", those I meet every day while working at Jilin Heart Hospital.
Knowing now better their past, all the difficulties they historically went through and the hard life of the farmer that the vast majority of them lead, I perceive them as strong and proud people ready to face all the rapid changes that Chinese society is going through, however still aware of their history and traditions.
With their calm acceptance of suffering, with their bodies marked by endless hours of working in the fields they have taught me a lot and are still teaching me more every day.
They make me understand that in caring for their sufferings my technical skill and scientific knowledge are of paramount importance but that they must be accompanied by a deep sense of human understanding for others.
And this creates benefits to the other and to myself.
Thank you, Changchun, for everything, as you’ll always hold a very special place in my heart and have become my second hometown.
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