TCM doctor who remedied a crisis

Physician took his faith in traditional medicine to Wuhan to turn outbreak around

Surrounded by a crowd of anxious COVID-19 patients in a tiny room in a Wuhan clinic, doctor Zhang Boli could sense their fears－as well as hopes－just by looking at them.

It was late January last year, and China was celebrating the Spring Festival. Zhang, head of the Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, had rushed to Hubei province on Jan 27 as he was worried about the risk of cross-infections from the virus.

As a member of the Communist Party of China and an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, he said he felt an enormous duty to volunteer for the front line.