Justin Trudeau's official gifts to China a nod to his father

Prime Minister Justin Trudeauturned to the history books for inspiration when selecting an official giftto China.

Trudeau presented ChinesePresident Xi JinpingandPremier LiKeqiangtwo portrait medallions ofNorman Bethune made in the same run as the medallion his father, then prime minister Pierre Elliott Trudeau, presented to chairman Mao Zedong in 1973.

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The senior Trudeau'stripwas the first official visit tothePeople's Republic of China by a Canadian prime minister.

Seventy-five medallions were originally produced for the Canadian government in 1973.

The prime minister's press secretary said the medallions"symbolize the history of our two countries."

Bethune's communist beliefs made him a controversial figure in his home country of Canada,but thephysician is still revered in China as a hero for helping treat wounded soldiers during the country'swar with Japan in the late 1930s. He died from an infection contracted during surgery there in 1939.

There are numerous statues and memorials in his memory in China, as well as the 800-bed Norman Bethune International Peace Hospital and the Norman Bethune Medical School.

The medallions were designedbyDora de Pedery Hunt, who died in 2008.