Ezz El Din (center) poses with UN peacekeepers. The boy's father, El Sheikh Jihad Al Saidi, wants him to study traditional medicine in China. Provided to China Daily

BEIRUT - A Lebanese sheikh holds the hope that his son will learn traditional Chinese medicine.

The highly respected El Sheikh Jihad Al Saidi dropped in on a peacekeepers medical unit with his 12-year-old son on Tuesday morning and met with the team sent from Chinese General Hospital of Chengdu Military Region.

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"In a few days you will go home, but I have brought Ezz El Din (the boy) with me today so that he'll get to know our Chinese friends in person," Al Saidi said, bowing politely in the outpatient hall.

"I hope my child can learn traditional Chinese medicine in China one day," he said.

That hope may stem from his "amazing" experience with traditional Chinese medicine.

The 44-year-old has long suffered from various ailments, including severe shoulder pain that has plagued him for 12 years.

He benefited from his acquaintance with members of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in his area in December, when the Spanish contingent sent a car to take him to the Chinese hospital for traditional Chinese medical care.

Al Saidi was impressed by the months of treatment he received. During an interview, he couldn't stop praising the quality of Chinese medicine and the techniques of the Chinese doctors.

"I got a warm feeling from the experience because the doctors and nurses treated every patient in the same caring way. There was no discrimination against anyone, whether you were a member of the UN peacekeepers or an ordinary local resident," Al Saidi said.

"And I trusted my doctor, Yun Mingdong. Whenever I came to see him, he was reading books about traditional Chinese medicine. Seizing every second to learn like this, he must be an excellent doctor."

Al Saidi said he was so amazed by the completely natural treatment. "I had heard from older family members that Chinese medicine is amazing, and I was always curious about it. Now I've seen it with my own eyes, and I'm very impressed."

He showed how smoothly he could move his arm and said, "You see, my shoulder is now completely healed!"

War brought the people of Lebanon great hardship and suffering, Al Saidi said, and it left many people needing help. He hoped that in a few years, when his son was grown, he would go to China to study Chinese acupuncture techniques.

"Then he can come back and open a clinic, to the benefit of our people."

Yun Mingdong, the doctor in charge of Al Saidi's case, and an expert on orthopedics and rheumatism with over ten years medical experience, gave Ezz El Din a model of the human body to study acupuncture with. The doctor promised he would later meet the youth in China and teach him acupuncture techniques and what he knew of traditional Chinese medicine.

The team members gave Ezz El Din their best wishes and gifts, including a toy panda and a Chinese knot.

And this reporter gave him a book written in English and Chinese, with the inscription on the title page: "Study hard so that you can achieve your goals. Looking forward to seeing you in China!"

"But you will have to learn Chinese first if you want to understand the extensive and profound theory of traditional Chinese medicine."

Ma Liyao contributed to this story.