Yolanda Zhang

Student

“It’s so funny. It was actually a German I met in China who taught me how good ancient Chinese medicine can be.”

These days—with trouble brewing between her native Taiwan and mainland China—Yolanda Zhang has uneasy thoughts of home. “Everybody is very tense in Taipei,” says the young woman who has studied medicine both in Taiwan and on the Chinese mainland. “I have friends in both places, so I hope there will no trouble, because we are the same people.”

Yolanda is the ICC representative for the International Student Club, where she has developed great appreciation for understanding among all people. “I love all the different cultures I get to learn about at SMC,” she says. “We hope we get more American students in our club because it’s good to network with people from other countries.” Yolanda has networked a good deal herself while studying traditional medicine in China. “A lot of Europeans and Americans came to China when I was there to study T’ai Chi and Chinese herbs,” she says. “My major is in Western medicine, but traditional Chinese methods have a lot to offer too. There are 5,000 years of medical history in China,” she continues. “And I think it’s good to combine both kinds of medicine. Western medicine is very strong, but Chinese medicine heals the whole person.”

Yolanda reports that good counseling at SMC has her well on track to transfer to UCLA’s School of Medicine. “My father is a neurologist at UCLA, so I know my way around there pretty well,” says Yolanda. “But when I have to go, I know I’ll be ready because I had a lot of good people at SMC explaining what I needed to do at every step.”

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