“ What Dr . Downes , other Life U administrators and I have tried to explore are things such as certificate courses in China for professionals who already have basic backgrounds in anatomy , PT or other traditional Chinese medicine .”
Additionally , there is the hope that their visibility on such as grand stage , such as with their work with the Chinese Olympic teams , will help influence the younger generation in China to see Chiropractic as a desirable career choice .
“ We are promoting [ Chiropractic ] to young kids who are setting us as examples because we serve for the highest level of athletes in China ,” noted Dr . Li , “ and we tell them that if they want to study Chiropractic , go to Life U and study full time . There are a lot of responders . I think in the future , our goal would be to send more students to Life U to get the degree and have them to come back and join us as peers to develop the profession in China .”
Dr . Li is looking forward to building for more success and awareness of Chiropractic in China , as he feels a debt of gratitude for the education and opportunities that Life U has afforded him over the last decade of his life .
“ Dr . Downes is really putting his heart in promoting Chiropractic globally . I really appreciate the young chiropractors who studied at Life U and then came back to China : Dr . Zi Liu , Dr . Yue Hou and Dr . Mansan Ho . I ’ m grateful they came back and joined the group , and we all have the same goal , which is to promote Chiropractic and make it big in China and make Life U big in China . Now we are starting to generate some revenue for Life U , and we would like to work our best to pay back and give back to Life U in the future .”
Mainland China — Dr . Zi Liu “ Eva ” (’ 20 )
Dr . Zi Liu “ Eva ” majored in English while in college in China , which led to a job as a translator for former Life U Director of Global Initiatives in China , Dr . David Bellin , when he worked as a chiropractor in Tsingua . With her mom in constant low back pain , Dr . Liu brought her to see him , and Dr . Bellin helped her a lot with relieving her pain .
“ That ’ s when I really had the thought
Dr . Zi Liu (’ 20 ) that this is a good thing that he and Chiropractic are doing ,” explained Dr . Liu . “ I then began to wonder if I could be a chiropractor in the future . This was about six or seven years ago .”
And the rest , as they say , is history . Dr . Liu learned of a program Life U had that provided an experience for Chinese students to go attend Life U for their Doctor of Chiropractic degree and then come back to China while working for Life U , so she came and started the program in 2016 and graduated in March 2020 .
“ It definitely was very hard for me to just arrive in the States without knowing anybody ,” said Dr . Liu . “ Also , English was still my second language , so when I first went to school , I had to work really hard to understand what the professors were saying . The class speed was really fast , so I had to keep up with it ; that was really hard at first . Then , I got to know a lot of friends in school and also had Dr . Downes as a mentor , so that helped me a lot .”
“… our goal is to actually make more people know what Chiropractic is and know what we are worth and actually know that we can help them with their problems .”
Since graduating and returning to China , Dr . Liu has joined Dr . Peng Li “ Fresh ” in working for the Chinese Olympic Game Preparation Office as a chiropractor for Chinese Olympic teams .
“ I feel like that ’ s a really high stage for a new graduate — to work with Olympic athletes for their own country , so that was actually a really big role for me . Fresh helped me a lot . Dr . Downes actually trained me for three months before I came back [ to China ]. So far , it has been a really good experience to see the athletes we are adjusting to gain medals … gold medals in the Olympics , so that felt really good .”
While Dr . Liu feels that helping out the premier athletes in China is a great thing , she is trying to keep the big goal of spreading chiropractic awareness to the general public in mind as well .
“ With so many people in China , only a little percentage are professional athletes , so I feel like we can help more people — like the general public . But working with the Olympic teams first I think gives us an edge to be known by people . So , I think it ’ s a good start , but our goal is to actually make more people know what Chiropractic is and know what we are worth and actually know that we can help them with their problems .”
She has been reminded though that her work thus far , along with patience , will be fruitful in the end from the seeds that have already been planted .
“ So I have a niece that has seen me adjust her parents before , and now every time she ’ ll be like ‘ Auntie I can show you how you adjust ,’ and I ’ ll be like ‘ OK , you can go to school in the future to Life [ U ].”
Mainland China — Dr . Yue Hou
Dr . Yue Hou was enjoying her early career in China within the field of physical therapy before , perhaps by accident , she met Dr . Bellin while he was working with Life U in Tsingua University .
“ We had a research center there , and a lot of my patients went to him and got really , really well from his adjustments ,” explained Dr . Hou . “ I treated that patient for two years , and he didn ’ t get a lot of improvement from his low back pain , but Dr . David Bellin just treated him twice , and then he fully recovered from the low back pain . Then I met with him to talk about Chiropractic and eventually decided to come learn this ‘ magic ’ called the adjustment .”
58 Alumni . LIFE . edu | 2021