Many patients in Beijing are surprised and even shocked when they first meet one unique practitioner of traditional Chinese medicine.

"Laowai! Laowai!" they often cry, as if there is any question that the muscular 38-year-old intern, who towers over most of his patients at 1.87 meters tall, could be anything but a foreigner.

Fernando Davino, who has worked at six Beijing hospitals while completing his master's degree in TCM, says it usually takes a few days for his patients to respond to him as a doctor. But, by the end of the week, they are requesting that he treat them.