My name is Xinhui Liu from Shanxi Medical University in China. This is the first time for me to be in US. Although it’s only been a week, I am already in love with Stanford and San Francisco. Getting to know medical students from Japan and Taiwan is exciting, with all those different culture backgrounds we share our stories and have fun. Stanford offers us with the best environment I can ever possibly dream of. Doctors who came here to give presentations are also amazing. Especially Dr. Pompeii. In his class, I was able to know medical education systems in US, Japan and Taiwan. We may never find out how to fix our problems without comparing to others, others who are better than us.
Of all those places we have visited, I believe Strut Clinic strikes me the most.
China has a history of more than 5000 years, we enjoy the rich culture deposit the same time as we struggle to embrace the new world. Currently, China is going through a lot of changes, new things coming from the outside have great impact on us and it caused a colossal gap between us and the older generation. We are trying as hard as we can to close the gap but it seems we still have a long way to go. In the matter of LGBTQ+, America is a great model for us to study. The Strut Clinic showed me exactly where we were doing wrong. LGBTQ+ is not a disease, they do not need shelters and the public do not need hatred. We just need a simple place for people to communicate without discrimination. In there, we offer necessary help to them both in physically and spiritually, we talk with the public and get them ready for people who are different from them. Unfortunately, we don’t even have one place like this in China. In Chinese traditions, ‘sex’ is not a topic to be brought to light. We naturally avoid talking about it in public. Everyone is trying to act normal, to ‘fit in’ because that’s the way you don’t get pushed away. However, pretending problem do not exist is not a solution, maybe there is nothing much we can do, but slowly moving forward is always better than stand still. There are measures being taken in China we shall do our best to make sure them keep going.
