I thought I was early enough to meet Dr. Nikola Vasilyevich Dusan before his workday began when I arrived at Daqing Ophthalmology Hospital at eight on the rainy morning of May 6, but 67-year-old Dr. Dusan was already busy seeing patients. A dozen people were already waiting for this "laowai" expert to check their eyes ("laowai" is a somewhat affectionate Chinese term for a foreigner).

About an hour later, I met Dr. Dusan in his office. He is a humorous and energetic Russian ophthalmologist who has been working for more than a decade in the hospital, which is one of the best ophthalmology hospitals in northeast China's Heilongjiang Province.

He had just finished checking the eyes of Xu Xiuzhen, a 74-year-old patient who was to receive an operation on her left eye that afternoon. "I am not afraid at all. I have much confidence in him. This ‘laowai' expert is very professional and very nice," Xu said.

Two days later, Dr. Dusan and a few other Russians who have worked extensively in China met with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Moscow, where Xi joined Russian President Vladimir Putin to mark the 70th anniversary of victory in World War II.

"As a Russian, I will represent China to meet President Xi back in Moscow," Dusan joked. He said that Chinese soldiers' participation in Russian Victory Day parades spoke powerfully for China-Russia relations and both countries' wish for long-term world peace.

"I feel honored because I am not only an ophthalmologist but an ambassador for the friendship between China and Russia," said Dr. Dusan. He first came to the hospital in 1998 as an ophthalmology professor with People's Friendship University of Russia. Dr. Dusan has remained with the hospital since 2000 as the head of the foreign experts group and has performed operations on more than 2,000 patients so far.

Dr. Dusan now regularly sees 20 to 35 patients every day. As a senior doctor, he is able to focus on patients with eye diseases. He often says to his colleagues, "I see not just the patient's eye under my surgical knife but also all the patient's hopes for life."

Dr. Dusan advocated for cornea donation and said he believes that the media should shoulder more responsibility to encourage this. "Once you are dead, you won't see light anymore. There is still a shortage of cornea donors in China," he said.

In 2014, a total of 49 corneal transplant surgeries were undertaken at the hospital.

China has always had a special place in the doctor's heart. "I like everything here: the people, the food, the environment, etc." He applauded China's rapid economic development. "When I came to the hospital in 1998, I had to take medical equipment with me from Russia. But now the hospital has world-class equipment," he said excitedly.

In 2009, Dr. Dusan received the Chinese Government Friendship Award and was invited to attend the ceremony celebrating the 60th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China. "That is one of my most exciting experiences in China," he said.

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