Top cardiologist has never forgotten grass-roots upbringing

How did you start in medicine?

I grew up in southern Yunnan , a frontier region populated by Dai people. I had ample freedom as a child, so I indulged in the thousands of books my father collected, and mainly through this self-study I became the first university student in the history of my town. When I was little, my ambition was actually to become a police officer but that goal was never realised because my mother, who used to be a military medic, 'forced' me to choose medicine after I left high school. After graduating from Kunming Medical College, I spent several years at a hospital in Yunnan. I returned to school to do a master's degree in cardiology and graduated in 1995.

What did you do then?

While I was a graduate student, I met some American Christians who came to Yunnan to help out with local health care. I soon got involved in their project. Because I am from a remote and poverty-stricken area myself, I know how difficult the health-care situation can be. Even diarrhoea can kill a person. We came up with a plan to revive the 'barefoot doctors' idea that Mao Zedong once lauded. We looked at high school graduates for candidates and put them through three months of training. There was no textbook, so I compiled the first one and purposely wrote it in a very colloquial style in the local dialect. In the day, the trainees went to local hospitals for experience and at night I assembled them for classes.

What problems did you face?

Permanent residency was a big issue before I made up my mind. The school offered me a job and turning it down meant I would probably lose my urban residency and never become a doctor in a city hospital. As I was struggling to make a decision, my mother offered me some direction. I once almost drowned while swimming alone in a tropical village pond when I was about seven years old. A villager saved my life, but he left without telling me his name. All we knew was he was a youngster from the Wa people. My mother said I owed the local people my life and I should reciprocate. So, I went ahead with the volunteer work, despite all these concerns and the fact that others were busy making money or going overseas. By 1996, the provincial authority had called for our training approach to be adopted across Yunnan. More than 300 students applied for the volunteer work the next year.