Robert Chong

University of New South Wales, Australia
Exchange to City University Hong Kong, Hong Kong

Writing this article brings back fond memories of the most unforgettable six months of my life. My fellowship has not only allowed me to learn about challenging ophthalmological conditions inflicting the Chinese people, but more importantly to learn more about the culture of my forefathers.

China is a highly diverse country with many ethnic groups, cultures and dialects. Although I learnt Mandarin as a child, I had to relearn it quickly to function in the hospital. Mandarin is the medical language in mainland China unlike Hong Kong, for example where medical notes are written in English. I relied heavily on my helpful local colleagues for translation and interpretation. Fortunately, they had a desire to learn English as well so this was mutually beneficial. To complicate matters, even though Mandarin was the means of communication among medical staff, a significant number of our patients (especially those with limited schooling) could only speak in the Chongqing dialect (which was foreign to my ear). Another language to acquire if I wanted to take a medical history! Towards the end of my stay, I was rather pleased when a doctor I had just met mistook me for a local Chinese because of my improved proficiency in Mandarin.

Food is central to Chinese culture. Chongqing was part of Sichuan (also known as Szechuan) and its food is therefore the most spicy in the country. Despite growing up on curries and chilli, the Chongqing Hotpot was unbearable to my gastrointestinal system. Not only was it temperature hot (the hotpot is kept boiling by a stove on the table) but the stock which cooked the vegetable and meat looked like pure chilli oil. The only consolation was the cold wet winter outside negating some of the fire in the hotpot. I can only imagine what it would be like to eat this in the hot, humid, 40 degree-plus Chongqing summer – after all this is one of the 3 “furnaces” of China.

To whet the appetite of the customer and to advertise the freshness of its food, some restaurants keep its live game in cages. Customers would point out the poor creature destined for slaughter and consumption later that evening. Personally, I prefer not to have met beforehand the creature that is to become my dinner.

Transport is quite cheap to a foreigner. Hailing a taxi in a busy shopping district though is quite an experience. I was told that Chongqing people had tempers as hot as their food and this I experienced first hand at the taxi ‘queue’. To successfully hail a taxi at peak hour, one needs to chase it down and grab hold of the door handle while the vehicle is still moving. If you waited for it to stop there will be a crowd three rows deep around it. Occasionally, two individuals will challenge for the same slowing vehicle and both will get in together. I presume the one with the ‘hotter’ temper wins.

If you were planning a trip to China, try to coincide it with Chinese New Year (known locally as Spring Festival) in January or February. Southwest Eye Hospital organised a party to celebrate this most important of festivals. Entertainment includes short sketches, singing, dancing and martial arts performances by members of the hospital staff. I was asked to sing Hotel California, popular among the Karaoke-crazed people of Chongqing. Technical failure of the Karaoke machine saved me from completely embarrassing myself before the entire hospital.

The new silver-painted hospital is impressive, twenty storeys high with lots of glass windows in its futuristic design. This is the teaching hospital to the Third Military Medical University located immediately adjacent to it. I have never seen medical students as disciplined as these, marching (literally) across the campus in white gowns over military uniforms. The hospital has state-of-the-art equipment and almost every doctor is doing or has completed a post-graduate degree. As expected there is a large variation of hospital standards in the country; the Southwest Eye Hospital rates as one of the country’s best.

There are many memories and stories to take away with me from China but the fondest ones are of the friends I made there. They made me feel welcome and at home in the department. I was taken to the many sights and restaurants the city has to offer; they even organised trips hours away from the city to a number of historical sites. The hospitality of Professors Zhengqin Yin, Wang Yi and Xie Hanping were especially noteworthy. They were generous not only in sharing clinical knowledge and skills but also in ensuring that my family and I were well looked after during our time in Chongqing.

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