Winning the hearts

Zhong decided to leave her job at a hospital in the provincial capital, Guiyang, when her husband had been relocated for work in the town of Longchang in 2008.

"I didn't want us to have a long-distance relationship," she says.

Zhong had already visited Longhe in 2006, when she learned that many elderly villagers had arthritis or other age-related conditions, and that gynecological problems had rendered some women infertile.

So she set up the small clinic in the village, the only one there, by digging into her own pocket-20,000 yuan ($3,000), which was her life savings at the time.

Yet new surroundings were not the only thing to which she had to adapt in the new venture; she had to deal with the mistrust of villagers, too.

"There was no clinic in the village, and villagers saw a doctor only when serious health issues emerged,"Zhong says, adding that they were skeptical about her medical expertise because she was so young.

"If they had to see a doctor, they opted to go to hospitals in town, more than four hours' walk away."

Zhong then came up with a plan to encourage them to go to her.

"I said a first consultation would be free of charge, and only if they were completely satisfied with my diagnosis and prescription and returned for another visit would I charge."

Sick villagers whom Zhong had nursed back to good health were soon making return visits and paying for the service, and in quick order her good reputation had spread to nearby villages.

However, just as her practice began to thrive, fate served up a quandary for her.