Goodbye, Dr. Ho: The Passing of a Chinese Doctor (and Tourist Attraction)

A herbalist in a small ethnic village in the mountains of southwest China who became a much-visited tourist attraction has died, a few years short of his 100th birthday.

Known as “Dr. Ho,” English-speaking He Shixiu rose to prominence after being profiled in a New York Times article by travel writer Bruce Chatwin in 1986, and later featured in Michael Palin’s BBC television series “Himalaya.”

Over the last three decades, He was listed as an attraction in travel guidebooks, including the popular Lonely Planet. Since being thrust into the limelight in the late-1980s, the self-taught doctor received over 100,000 patients and guests, mainly visitors from abroad, including celebrities, dignitaries, royalty, and journalists. As his fame spread, the renowned physician became the subject of over a thousand articles in more than 50 languages, making him the most-written-about Chinese doctor in the world.

Nakhi-minority He Shixiu initially taught himself traditional Chinese medicine and studied Western medical textbooks in order to recover from tuberculosis contracted in 1949 while serving with the People’s Liberation Army, shortly after graduating. Having cured himself, he continued his study of the healing properties of plants found only in the Tibetan borderlands of Yunnan province, along with traditional Nakhi knowledge of herbs. From his home in Baisha, located at 2,500 meters (8,200 feet) above sea level, he started to treat people’s ailments.

His university education and family background led to him being labelled a “counter-revolutionary” and “imperialist running dog” in the late 1950s. Sent to harsh countryside “re-education” camps, he continued his research while hiding in the hills. During the Cultural Revolution, he buried his medical and botanical books under the floorboards to avoid having them seized and burnt by the rampaging Red Guards. “We were very, very poor,” He said of this time. “We had nothing.” He lost most of his teeth.

Having been barred from practicing for decades, it was only following the 1978 Open Door Policy of Deng Xiaoping that the “rehabilitated” doctor was finally granted a license to practice. He was already in his 60s. In 1985 he set up the Jade Dragon Snow Mountain Herbal Clinic in his traditional-style red-painted wood and mud-brick house.

China’s opening up and the lifting of foreign travel restrictions and permits for “foreign aliens” in the mid-1980s saw intrepid travelers make it inland and up to the cobblestone and canal town of Lijiang, and to Dr Ho’s village, famous for its temple frescoes, traditional crafts, and the rare English-speaker such as Dr Ho.