Editor's note: The faces of some of 2016's greatest heroes were never seen but images of their selfless actions and at times, outright bravery, deeply touched the hearts of Chinese internet users.

Xiao Qiang kneels down to help insert a breathing tube into a premature infant's windpipe at Affiliated Hospital of Chengdu University in Chengdu city, Southwest China's Sichuan province, Nov 26, 2016. [Photo from Sina Weibo]

Doctor kneels 30 minutes to save suffocating premature infant

Amid patient-hospital disputes nowadays, actions by a doctor from Southwest China shifted more eyes to the positive side of the relationship.

A photo showing a doctor kneeling down to treat a baby went viral online in November 2016, though netizens only saw his back.

Xiao Qiang, 38, a pediatrician at Affiliated Hospital of Chengdu University in Chengdu city, Southwest China's Sichuan province, knelt on a cold floor for half an hour to insert a breathing tube into the windpipe of a premature infant, who was suffocating and badly in need of emergency treatment on the early morning of Nov 26.

Not until the infant was better did Xiao stand up and put the infant into an incubator.

Responding modestly to praise from many internet users, Xiao said, "Kneeling down to save patients could not be more common for our doctors, since we don't have time to think about anything else, except trying all we can to save dying patients."