Dong Suzhen attends the 2018 FIFA World Cup Belt and Road National Brand Cooperation Forum. [Cnwomen.cn]

A descendant from a well-known traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) family from east China's Shandong province has thrived in the country's health industry over the past years by vigorously promoting the concept of disease prevention.

Dong Suzhen was born into a family of practitioners in the city of Gaomi. The family tradition and virtues have endowed her with the idea of benefiting the world, with a passion for TCM and an aspiration to promote traditional Chinese medicine.

After the then 19-year-old Dong graduated from school in the 80s, she followed the expectations of her family and began her work in a foreign trade company.

With her enthusiasm for business, meanwhile she also secretly got involved in a wide scope of business, including selling seafood, motorcycles, auto parts and clothing.

Dong later entered the hairdressing industry. After visiting a number of salons, she decided to open a shop and provide hairdressing supplies with 20,000 yuan borrowed from relatives and friends.

With her previous sales experience, coupled with her unique personality, the hairdressing store began to make a profit.

She paid back all the loans at the end of the year. Soon, she had her own trading company specializing in Chinese medicine cosmetology, and started her own chain brand operation in the province.

A chance experience inspired her to adjust her operation principle and increase her investment in treatments using Chinese medicine.

Though many people proposed their disapproval of the action as it was a new field with uncertain future, Dong firmly believed that the transformation of beauty salons to TCM health care is an inevitable trend of the market.

In 2007, Dong registered an international group and beauty products company in Hong Kong and Qingdao respectively, initially introducing concepts such as the preventive treatment of disease into the health care and physical welling industry.

She has established over 20 branches across the country, with herself acting as president of the TCM Health Chain Group.

In response to the nation's call for vigorously advocating the treatment of TCM and health maintenance, Dong founded the Selero Business School in 2008 to pass on diagnostic methods and physiotherapy techniques so as to benefit more talents.

Under her leadership and active promotion, the business school has carried out nearly 10,000 activities including science lectures and free health checks, to improve the concept of disease prevention among the general public.

While the country advocates the constant standardization of the health industry, Dong founded the Selero TCM Vocational Skills Training School in 2010.

She also established a school-enterprise joint relationship with major Chinese medicine colleges and universities to jointly establish a health and wellness management program.

The program aims to cultivate health management talents, strengthen academic exchanges, and compile practical skills and professional knowledge into teaching materials, promote the combination of theory and practice in major universities, and spread the health concept of disease prevention.

With the support of relevant national policies, Dong became president of the Traditional Chinese Medicine Treatment Committee in 2015.

She has committed herself to promoting the concept of Chinese medicine treatment; creating health standardization; and, set a benchmark for the health industry.

She also took the lead in establishing the health management center for preventive treatment of disease, which has made valuable contributions to the promotion of the country's Chinese medicine treatment project.

After three years of development, Selero TCM has now had over 7,000 healthcare centers set up across the country.

Dong said, "It is imperative to construct a Chinese medicine preventive healthcare system with preventive treatment at the core. Health is related to every family and every individual, it is therefore not only a matter of the state and the government, but also the responsibility of enterprises and every social organization."

(Source: Cnwomen.cn/ Translated and edited by Women of China)

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