A secondary school pupil in China who provides volunteer traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) consultations for his classmates has gone viral online and won admiration from internet users.

Zhao Tianyu, a grade three pupil at Kailu No 1 Middle School in Tongliao in the northern Inner Mongolia autonomous region.

He attracted attention thanks to a video clip released on December 29 by his teacher, surnamed Liu, which amassed 120,000 likes on a leading social media platform alone, the China Youth Daily reported.

In the video, Zhao, like a professional TCM doctor, placed his hand on the wrist of a pupil to check his pulse in a move called ba mai in Chinese. This is a critical step in making a TCM diagnosis.

The footage showed many pupils queuing up for his service.

“Your problem is caused by your habit of eating cold and spicy food. They are irritating to your body,” he was heard telling a boy.

“Most of these ‘pupil patients’ are from other classes. They heard there is a ‘little TCM doctor’ in our class. They are curious and want to see if he can provide reasonable consultations,” Liu was quoted as saying.

Zhao’s skills are in so much demand that long queues of his classmates form for a consultation. Photo: Baidu

“So far, the feedback from teachers and pupils is that Zhao Tian’s diagnosis is almost exactly what the doctors at hospitals said,” added Liu.

Zhao became interested in TCM three years ago when he accompanied his grandfather to seek medical treatment and was intrigued by the TCM treatment procedures.

Since then, he has been teaching himself the subject in his spare time by reading old TCM textbooks at home and watching online courses.

Zhao learned his traditional Chinese medicine skills by reading old textbooks. Photo: Baidu

He made a name for himself not long ago when he checked the pulse of a classmate sitting next to him and precisely pointed out that the pupil must often stay up late and that his spleen and stomach were weak.

After that, his classmates regularly come to ask Zhao to check their health during class breaks.

“He always tells them he only makes a very initial judgment. He reminds them if they feel uncomfortable, they should go to the hospital in time. I think Zhao has got the traits of meticulousness and responsibility that are beyond his age,” said Liu.

Zhao’s academic scores are above average, his teacher said.

He is scheduled to sit the national university entrance exam, known as gaokao in Chinese, in June 2026.

The story stirred a flurry of complimentary comments online.

“TCM has found a successor,” said one online observer.

While another person said: “His facial expression is like an old, experienced TCM doctor.”