Janez Janež
Encyclopedia
Janez Janež was a Slovene medical doctor
and surgeon
, who worked for most of his life in mainland China
and Taiwan
.
In Chinese
he's known as Fan Fenglong or simply Doctor Fan .
, Slovenia
. His parents Ana and Franc Janež had three other sons (Franc jr., Karel and Viktor) and one daughter (Mimi).
After baccalaureate
on classical gymnasium
his mother encouraged him to study theology
. Janež however decided to study medicine
in Ljubljana
, Zagreb
and Graz
. He promoted on May 28, 1937. Later he continued special studies in Belgrade
and Viena.
Since 1937 he has been working as a surgeon in Ljubljana hospital. He continued to work as physician and surgeon during the World War II
. In the war time he was neither military nor politically active. He was never collaborating with German or Italian forces, but after the war Yugoslav communist authorities accused him of collaborationism
and put him on death-sentence list. To save his life he fled to a refugee camp in Carinthia
, Austria
. This camp was under British military command. When Yugoslavia demanded the repatriation of these refugees, British soldiers loaded them on a train saying that they're going to Italy. Janež however suspected that they're going in wrong direction and he fled again. It was a right decision - most of the people on the train were slaughtered in Kočevski Rog
and several other locations in Slovenia, without trying to find out who's guilty and who not.
Janež spent a while hiding in Austria. In 1947 he went to Rome
, Italy
. There he met Ladislav Lenček, a lazarist who proposed him to go to China
and help Italian missionaries as a physician. Janež decided to become a layman
missionary
- a Christian missionary who has not received Holy Orders
, but dedicates his life in serving other people and giving them a good example of Christian love and virtues. Soon he left Italy, and after a shorter stop in South America
, he came to China.
In mainland China
he worked as a medical doctor
in Zhaotong
(昭通, WG
: Chaot'ung), Yunnan
. The hospital in Zhaotong was supervised by Camillian monks
from Italy
and school sisters from Slovenia
. On his arrival the hospital was in quite bad condition - it was lacking modern equipment and the staff was not suitably qualified. Janež organized educational training of staff and bought some modern equipment (thanks to donations made by sponsors from abroad): X-ray machine
and surgical instruments
. Soon the hospital experienced a real boom and the fame of a miraculous doctor who can cure any illness began to spread among the neighboring population. In this period Janež realized that he won't be able to establish a sincere contact with his patients without the knowledge of language, so he began learning Chinese.
In 1952 the Chinese communist authorities arrested the entire hospital staff. Janež was (along with some colleagues) sentenced to death but later his sentence was changed to the expulsion from the country. He moved to Taiwan
to the city of Luodong
(羅東, WG
: Lotung). He intentionally chose this small and undeveloped town because he saw that the people living there have a greater need of his medical help.
The situation in the city was desperate: Taiwan accepted many refugees from the mainland, the people were struck by poverty and diseases caused by lack of hygiene. There was no hospital. The Camilian monks established a small ambulatory clinic which over years evolved to a modern hospital, now known as St Mary's Hospital. In this hospital Janež lived and worked for the next 38 years. He worked since dawn till late evening, he often had 10 or more difficult operations in one day. In all this time he refused wage - he requested only a small apartment, food and a little pocket money.
He died on October 11, 1990. He was buried on October 19 in Luodong. On the day of his burial an enormous crowd came to Luodong to honor the memory of this great man whose entire life was a sacrifice to the simple people in need.
Pope awarded him Order of St. Sylvester
and Order of St. Gregory the Great
. Taiwanese authorities awarded him the medal "The Good Man". In 2007 Dr Fan Fenglong Memorial Center (范鳳龍紀念大樓 Fan Fenglong jinian dalou) was opened in Luodong.
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
and surgeon
Surgeon
In medicine, a surgeon is a specialist in surgery. Surgery is a broad category of invasive medical treatment that involves the cutting of a body, whether human or animal, for a specific reason such as the removal of diseased tissue or to repair a tear or breakage...
, who worked for most of his life in mainland China
Mainland China
Mainland China, the Chinese mainland or simply the mainland, is a geopolitical term that refers to the area under the jurisdiction of the People's Republic of China . According to the Taipei-based Mainland Affairs Council, the term excludes the PRC Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and...
and Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
.
In Chinese
Chinese language
The Chinese language is a language or language family consisting of varieties which are mutually intelligible to varying degrees. Originally the indigenous languages spoken by the Han Chinese in China, it forms one of the branches of Sino-Tibetan family of languages...
he's known as Fan Fenglong or simply Doctor Fan .
Life and work
Janež was born on January 14, 1913 in Dolsko near LjubljanaLjubljana
Ljubljana is the capital of Slovenia and its largest city. It is the centre of the City Municipality of Ljubljana. It is located in the centre of the country in the Ljubljana Basin, and is a mid-sized city of some 270,000 inhabitants...
, Slovenia
Slovenia
Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...
. His parents Ana and Franc Janež had three other sons (Franc jr., Karel and Viktor) and one daughter (Mimi).
After baccalaureate
Bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...
on classical gymnasium
Gymnasium (school)
A gymnasium is a type of school providing secondary education in some parts of Europe, comparable to English grammar schools or sixth form colleges and U.S. college preparatory high schools. The word γυμνάσιον was used in Ancient Greece, meaning a locality for both physical and intellectual...
his mother encouraged him to study theology
Theology
Theology is the systematic and rational study of religion and its influences and of the nature of religious truths, or the learned profession acquired by completing specialized training in religious studies, usually at a university or school of divinity or seminary.-Definition:Augustine of Hippo...
. Janež however decided to study medicine
Medicine
Medicine is the science and art of healing. It encompasses a variety of health care practices evolved to maintain and restore health by the prevention and treatment of illness....
in Ljubljana
Ljubljana
Ljubljana is the capital of Slovenia and its largest city. It is the centre of the City Municipality of Ljubljana. It is located in the centre of the country in the Ljubljana Basin, and is a mid-sized city of some 270,000 inhabitants...
, Zagreb
Zagreb
Zagreb is the capital and the largest city of the Republic of Croatia. It is in the northwest of the country, along the Sava river, at the southern slopes of the Medvednica mountain. Zagreb lies at an elevation of approximately above sea level. According to the last official census, Zagreb's city...
and Graz
Graz
The more recent population figures do not give the whole picture as only people with principal residence status are counted and people with secondary residence status are not. Most of the people with secondary residence status in Graz are students...
. He promoted on May 28, 1937. Later he continued special studies in Belgrade
Belgrade
Belgrade is the capital and largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers, where the Pannonian Plain meets the Balkans. According to official results of Census 2011, the city has a population of 1,639,121. It is one of the 15 largest cities in Europe...
and Viena.
Since 1937 he has been working as a surgeon in Ljubljana hospital. He continued to work as physician and surgeon during the World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. In the war time he was neither military nor politically active. He was never collaborating with German or Italian forces, but after the war Yugoslav communist authorities accused him of collaborationism
Collaborationism
Collaborationism is cooperation with enemy forces against one's country. Legally, it may be considered as a form of treason. Collaborationism may be associated with criminal deeds in the service of the occupying power, which may include complicity with the occupying power in murder, persecutions,...
and put him on death-sentence list. To save his life he fled to a refugee camp in Carinthia
Carinthia (state)
Carinthia is the southernmost Austrian state or Land. Situated within the Eastern Alps it is chiefly noted for its mountains and lakes.The main language is German. Its regional dialects belong to the Southern Austro-Bavarian group...
, Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
. This camp was under British military command. When Yugoslavia demanded the repatriation of these refugees, British soldiers loaded them on a train saying that they're going to Italy. Janež however suspected that they're going in wrong direction and he fled again. It was a right decision - most of the people on the train were slaughtered in Kočevski Rog
Kocevski Rog
The Kočevski Rog or Kočevje Rog or simply Rog is a karstified plateau in the Kočevje Highlands above the Črmošnjice Valley. The plateau is part of the traditional Lower Carniola region of Slovenia and of the Dinaric Alps. The highest area is the central part, with the 1099 meter high peak Veliki...
and several other locations in Slovenia, without trying to find out who's guilty and who not.
Janež spent a while hiding in Austria. In 1947 he went to Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
, Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
. There he met Ladislav Lenček, a lazarist who proposed him to go to China
China
Chinese civilization may refer to:* China for more general discussion of the country.* Chinese culture* Greater China, the transnational community of ethnic Chinese.* History of China* Sinosphere, the area historically affected by Chinese culture...
and help Italian missionaries as a physician. Janež decided to become a layman
Laity
In religious organizations, the laity comprises all people who are not in the clergy. A person who is a member of a religious order who is not ordained legitimate clergy is considered as a member of the laity, even though they are members of a religious order .In the past in Christian cultures, the...
missionary
Missionary
A missionary is a member of a religious group sent into an area to do evangelism or ministries of service, such as education, literacy, social justice, health care and economic development. The word "mission" originates from 1598 when the Jesuits sent members abroad, derived from the Latin...
- a Christian missionary who has not received Holy Orders
Holy Orders
The term Holy Orders is used by many Christian churches to refer to ordination or to those individuals ordained for a special role or ministry....
, but dedicates his life in serving other people and giving them a good example of Christian love and virtues. Soon he left Italy, and after a shorter stop in South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
, he came to China.
In mainland China
Mainland China
Mainland China, the Chinese mainland or simply the mainland, is a geopolitical term that refers to the area under the jurisdiction of the People's Republic of China . According to the Taipei-based Mainland Affairs Council, the term excludes the PRC Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and...
he worked as a medical doctor
Physician
A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...
in Zhaotong
Zhaotong
Zhaotong is a prefecture-level city located in the northeast corner of Yunnan province of Southwest China.-Demography:The prefecture, almost exclusively agricultural, is one of the poorest in China, which led the authorities to encourage young people to migrate to eastern and southern parts of...
(昭通, WG
Wade-Giles
Wade–Giles , sometimes abbreviated Wade, is a romanization system for the Mandarin Chinese language. It developed from a system produced by Thomas Wade during the mid-19th century , and was given completed form with Herbert Giles' Chinese–English dictionary of 1892.Wade–Giles was the most...
: Chaot'ung), Yunnan
Yunnan
Yunnan is a province of the People's Republic of China, located in the far southwest of the country spanning approximately and with a population of 45.7 million . The capital of the province is Kunming. The province borders Burma, Laos, and Vietnam.Yunnan is situated in a mountainous area, with...
. The hospital in Zhaotong was supervised by Camillian monks
Camillians
The Camillians or Ministers to the Sick are a Roman Catholic religious order of the type of Regular Clerks, founded by Saint Camillus de Lellis. A red cross was chosen by Camillus as the distinguishing badge for the members of the Order to wear upon their black cassocks...
from Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
and school sisters from Slovenia
Slovenia
Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...
. On his arrival the hospital was in quite bad condition - it was lacking modern equipment and the staff was not suitably qualified. Janež organized educational training of staff and bought some modern equipment (thanks to donations made by sponsors from abroad): X-ray machine
X-ray machine
An X-ray generator is a device used to generate X-rays. These devices are commonly used by radiographers to acquire an x-ray image of the inside of an object but they are also used in sterilization or fluorescence....
and surgical instruments
Surgical instruments
A surgical instrument is a specially designed tool or device for performing specific actions of carrying out desired effects during a surgery or operation, such as modifying biological tissue, or to provide access for viewing it. Over time, many different kinds of surgical instruments and tools...
. Soon the hospital experienced a real boom and the fame of a miraculous doctor who can cure any illness began to spread among the neighboring population. In this period Janež realized that he won't be able to establish a sincere contact with his patients without the knowledge of language, so he began learning Chinese.
In 1952 the Chinese communist authorities arrested the entire hospital staff. Janež was (along with some colleagues) sentenced to death but later his sentence was changed to the expulsion from the country. He moved to Taiwan
Taiwan
Taiwan , also known, especially in the past, as Formosa , is the largest island of the same-named island group of East Asia in the western Pacific Ocean and located off the southeastern coast of mainland China. The island forms over 99% of the current territory of the Republic of China following...
to the city of Luodong
Luodong, Yilan
Luodong is an urban township in the central part of Yilan County, Taiwan . Its name derives from the Kavalan word rutung, meaning "monkey", referring to a large population of monkeys there half century ago...
(羅東, WG
Wade-Giles
Wade–Giles , sometimes abbreviated Wade, is a romanization system for the Mandarin Chinese language. It developed from a system produced by Thomas Wade during the mid-19th century , and was given completed form with Herbert Giles' Chinese–English dictionary of 1892.Wade–Giles was the most...
: Lotung). He intentionally chose this small and undeveloped town because he saw that the people living there have a greater need of his medical help.
The situation in the city was desperate: Taiwan accepted many refugees from the mainland, the people were struck by poverty and diseases caused by lack of hygiene. There was no hospital. The Camilian monks established a small ambulatory clinic which over years evolved to a modern hospital, now known as St Mary's Hospital. In this hospital Janež lived and worked for the next 38 years. He worked since dawn till late evening, he often had 10 or more difficult operations in one day. In all this time he refused wage - he requested only a small apartment, food and a little pocket money.
He died on October 11, 1990. He was buried on October 19 in Luodong. On the day of his burial an enormous crowd came to Luodong to honor the memory of this great man whose entire life was a sacrifice to the simple people in need.
Pope awarded him Order of St. Sylvester
Order of St. Sylvester
The Pontifical Equestrian Order of St. Sylvester Pope and Martyr , sometimes referred to as the Sylvestrine Order, or the Pontifical Order of Pope St Sylvester, is one of five Orders of Knighthood awarded directly by the Pope as Supreme Pontiff and head of the Catholic Church and as the Head of...
and Order of St. Gregory the Great
Order of St. Gregory the Great
The Pontifical Equestrian Order of St. Gregory the Great , was established on September 1, 1831, by Pope Gregory XVI, seven months after his election.It is one of the five orders of knighthood of the Holy See...
. Taiwanese authorities awarded him the medal "The Good Man". In 2007 Dr Fan Fenglong Memorial Center (范鳳龍紀念大樓 Fan Fenglong jinian dalou) was opened in Luodong.