AFTER more than 40 years in the United States, Zhou Daxu returned to his native land where he now does everything he can to help the people in his neighborhood without asking anything in return. Tan Weiyun reports.

Zhou Daxu is something of a celebrity in his neighborhood. Almost everyone -- from the gatekeepers, cleaners, gardeners to the residents and the property company's manager -- reveres him as "Teacher Zhou" or "Doctor Zhou."

The 74-year-old Chinese American offers free medical services to his neighbors, gives free English lessons to the locals, acts as the "big brother" to solve disputes between residents and the property management company, in addition to having helped found the community's home owners' committee.

"More than 40 years of my life has been sacrificed to the United States. Now I should do something for my homeland," he says.

Zhou's early years were spent drifting from one place to another. Born in Yangzhou in Jiangsu Province, he finished his secondary education in Hangzhou, Zhejiang Province and Sichuan Province.

Then his family moved to Taiwan. After graduating from university there, Zhou went to the United States to further his studies and gained a PhD degree at University at Maryland.

After postdoctoral training, he was offered a faculty position in the Internal Medicine Department at Wayne State University's Medical School in Detroit, Michigan.

Later, he re-entered a school to obtain a clinical degree and found his love in treating cancer patients at M. D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston, Texas, the world's most famous cancer center.

Having been living in America for almost 50 years, Zhou returned to China in 2007. Seeing the great changes happening in his motherland, he decided to settle down in Pudong New Area's Zhangjiang Town.

Shortly after he settled in the Tomson Garden, Zhou knocked the door of Zhang Feng, director of the neighborhood committee in the community.

"I just want to be a volunteer. Is there anything I can do to help?" he asked. Soon, with the help of the director, Zhou had his own clinic room and was providing free medical consultation and diagnosis not only to residents but also locals from other communities.

His clinic is open from 1pm to 4pm each Monday, but his actual working hours can be from 6am till midnight every day if his patients call him.

With four decades of medical practice, Zhou covers almost each section from pediatrics to gynecology and orthopedics, treating arthritis, fevers, bad colds and tumors, among other diseases, as well as testing blood pressure for patients.

He also has a home-care service -- putting stroke patients on a drip at home, driving sick kids to hospital at midnight and even offering psychological consultation to cancer sufferers and people thinking about suicide.

He also sends his patients medicine he buys during his regular trips back to the US.

Zhou keeps a notebook, where he meticulously records his patients' information including age, blood pressure and medical histories.

He is often woken up in the early morning and has also rushed to a patient's home late at night.

"This is what a doctor is supposed to do, a kind of responsibility he has to take," Zhou says.

And that is not all. Last January, Zhou offered to give free English lessons to neighbors as he found the community was populated with many young office workers working in foreign companies who have a strong desire to improve their English.

English class

It was difficult at first as there were no proper teaching materials.

The doctor found the English books in the bookstore "too out-of-date" and the students who took part in his class were at different language levels, ranging from primary school kids and college students to office workers and even some who had lived in America for many years.

Zhou decided to compile textbooks himself from his decades of working and living experience in the US, including shopping at the supermarket, seeing a doctor and asking directions.

He divided the students into three levels -- elementary, intermediate and advanced. Zhou has never missed the 9am-5pm class on Saturdays, despite twice having fainted as a result of working too hard.

No tuition fees, no exams, no attendance checks, Zhou's class has attracted more than 100 people in the community and nearby, including a pilot, a ship's captain, a manager, a teacher and a doctor during the past 18 months.

Some people even drive two hours from Minhang and Songjiang districts to learn English.

Once a parent offered Zhou an envelope stuffed with money, asking him to be a private family tutor for her high school kid. But Zhou replied: "If he wants to learn, just come to my class on Saturday." Although in America, his fee for a medical lecture was US$2,000, here he refuses to accept payment.

In some people's eyes, he might appear frightening.

He can pound the table angrily at meetings, reproach those chatting while someone else was talking, telling them to "learn to respect the speaker."

He pulls aside queue jumpers and scolds them sharply to "keep in line and wait for your turn."

He politely offers a piece of paper napkin to a woman who has just spit on the ground.

Once, two burly men, both with cigarettes in their mouths, asked him the way to the Metro station. "Sure, of course," he said, "but please throw away your cigarettes first."

"As a doctor, I'm fully aware of the harm smoking does to the human body," he says.

Zhou's life in Shanghai is pretty simple. He usually gets up at 7am, watches the morning news, checks his emails and goes jogging for 40 minutes.

The rest of day is usually dedicated to English class preparation and his patients.

His meals are simple, usually a bowl of noodles at noon and a simple dish for supper.

"I want to do something for my compatriots. If there is any way I can help, I won't refuse," Zhou says.