Outlook
Outlook
Mountain-climbing ‘miracle doctor’ who learned to read at 16
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17 September 2025
41 minutes
Available for over a year
As a result of polio, Dr Li Chuangye walks with extreme difficulty - by squatting on his heels. To get stronger he began climbing mountains in his 20s, and despite a gruelling first ascent he loved it and now shares his hikes with thousands of followers on social media. “We shouldn't fear setbacks and failures—they're stepping stones on our path forward,” he says.
And Li Chuangye knows all about setbacks. He contracted polio as a baby, and his parents - hard-up farmers from Henan province - got into debt trying to find treatment for him. When a stranger approached him aged nine offering work, Li Chuangye thought he could help repay his family’s debts and followed him - against his parents‘ wishes. But it turned out the stranger ran a begging operation, and that‘s how Li Chuangye spent the next seven years, before making it back home. By then he was 16, couldn‘t read or write, and was desperate to go to school.
Joining a class with children ten years younger didn‘t put him off, and hard work led to a degree in medicine. Dr Li now runs a clinic in Xinjang province, where his patients call him their “miracle doctor.”
Presenter: Jo Fidgen
Producer: Vibeke Venema
Translation: Benny Lu
Voiceover: Tony Han
Get in touch: [email protected] or WhatsApp +44 330 678 2707
(Image: One photo showing Dr Li Chuangye on a mountain hike in China, another photo showing him reading a book wearing his doctor’s coat. Credit: Courtesy of Li Chuangye)