The 94-year-old Wu Mengchao is revered as the father of hepatobiliary surgery in China.

Wu is the President of the Eastern Hepatobiliary Surgery Hospital, the third auxiliary hospital of the Second Military Medical University. In spite of his great age, Wu still does many complex hepatobiliary surgeries every week. Furthermore, he manages the daily work of the hepatobiliary department and trains postgraduates and doctors. 

Wu was born in a poor famer's home in southeast China's Fujian province in August 1922. When he was five years old, Wu went to Malaysia with his mother and rejoined his father who made a living there. He helped his father tap rubber trees after school.

The Guanghua School which Wu studied in was founded by overseas Chinese. 

According to local customs, a middle school and students' parents should arrange a meal for all the graduates from a middle school. When enough money had been raised for the graduates at the Guanghua School, Wu as the class monitor recommended that it would be better to donate the money to the officers and soldiers who fought against Japanese invaders during WWII. Wu's proposal received unanimous support from all his classmates. 

With the help of Chen Jiageng, a patriotic overseas Chinese, all their money went to the Eighth Route Army in Yan'an of northwest China's Shaanxi province. During the graduation ceremony, the school received a telegram written in the name of Mao Zedong and Zhu De from the headquarters of Eighth Route Army. In this telegram, the Eighth Route Army expressed their gratitude.

In 1940, the 18-year-old Wu Mengchao went back to China and decided to contribute his efforts in the fight against the Japanese invaders. After landing in southwest China's Yunnan province, he could not find his way to Yan'an for a while. Therefore, he continued his study in Kunming, the capital of Yunnan province. Later, he learned from Qiu Fazu, the father of modern Chinese surgery. 

In 1949, Wu Mengchao, a graduate from Tongji University in Shanghai, became a resident in the People's Medical College of the East China Military Commanding Region, which was called the Second Military Medical University later. From that moment, Wu has been applying for the membership of the Chinese Communist Party. In 1956, Wu joined the Communist Party of China and became a chief doctor. 

"It is already a great suffering for a patient to endure the afflictions and pains brought by illnesses and diseases. Furthermore, they might spend all their savings or even become overburdened with debts. As a doctor, we should put ourselves in their shoes and reduce treatment cost for them," said Wu. These are the most frequently mentioned words during Wu's talk with young doctors. 

Wu emphasizes once and again that a doctor should prescribe the cheapest one among all the medicines should they have the same medical efficacy on a patient.

Wu said that he might not be able to realize a cure for liver cancers during this life and hopes to cultivate more talents in the fight against cancers. Wu has trained more than 70 doctors and postdoctoral research fellows specializing in hepatobiliary surgery.