Project 523 was both a good and a bad thing. They held so many meetings, and there were so many competing centres, it was a real mess. Nearly every province had their own research centre, and they all asked me to share my research, which I did. But that's no way to do science. They wasted a lot of money and a lot of time.

My choice of learning pharmacy was driven by my interests, curiosity, and a desire to seek new medicines for patients.

I saw a lot of children who were in the latest stages of malaria. Those kids died very quickly.

It is my dream that Chinese medicine will help us conquer life-threatening diseases worldwide and that people across the globe will enjoy its benefits for health promotion.

I didn't get round to having children until I was 35, and then I wasn't around very much.