Rural vet who dresses in pink becomes hit online

YINCHUAN — In front of the Simmental cow as it lays under anesthesia is a woman clad in a pink top, pink trousers, pink headwear and pink rubber gloves, who slowly and meticulously digs out the foul-smelling blood clots from a wound on the back of the bovine.

Faced with such a bloody scene, the cow's owner, Li Baiwu, turns his head away not bearing to watch, but the young female veterinarian, her eyes shimmering with pink eye shadow, doesn't even blink.

"It is just a minor surgery, much easier than a Caesarean operation," Bai Hua said, brimming with confidence, after she'd finished sewing up the wound.

After a while, the anesthetized cow stands on its feet again. The veterinarian pushes her hair back and grins at the happy cattle owner before packing the cleaned surgical tools into the trunk of her pink car.

The 27-year-old, a skilled rural veterinarian based in the city of Guyuan in Northwest China's Ningxia Hui autonomous region, maintains a dual role as a vet and an internet celebrity who has 3 million followers on multiple video sharing and streaming platforms, like Kuaishou, Bilibili and Douyin.

In her short videos, Bai can be seen in dirty cowsheds, but she remains beautiful and fashionable while calmly taking care of bloated sick cattle, delivering calves and giving injections. The stark contrast has won her fans nationwide.

"I learned about Bai Hua on Kuaishou. She's a young woman with so much courage, not afraid of treating many illnesses that even experienced veterinarians shy away from. If it weren't for her, my cow would have died, and I would have lost over 10,000 yuan (about $1,500)," said Li, who lives in a mountainous village in Yuanzhou district, Guyuan.

The young female veterinarian, a relative rarity in a dirty, smelly and somewhat risky profession, knew it was not an easy choice for her to embark on such a career.

Bai is fastidious about cleanliness. Even after working late into the night, she still presents herself as clean and as fashionable as possible the next day. Consequently, she has a particular affection for pink, finding the color "clean and healing".

Despite having been splashed in the face with cow manure while pulling a cow's tail, and being kicked by cows multiple times, the image-conscious woman has never entertained the thought of changing careers. She remains determined to dive deeply into veterinary science, and become a leading veterinarian.

Bai made no bones about her desire for fame, which inspired her to carve out a second career.

"I want to help more young people get a close-up view of this profession through my example. I want them to know that veterinarians can also dress in a clean and stylish manner every day, and that the work can be interesting. This will encourage more young people to join me."

Bai grew up in Xihaigu, a region crossing the central and southern parts of Ningxia. Xihaigu was once deemed uninhabitable, and is at the very root of her career choice.

Like many others in the mountainous region, Bai's family made a living raising cows. However, due to the lack of professional breeding techniques and veterinarians, their livelihoods once hung by a thread.

In 2012, seven cows owned by Bai's family died of illness, causing a huge financial loss. Her typically unemotional father appeared very depressed.

"My father looked so sad. If there was someone able to help us, our cattle could have been saved. At that very moment, I decided to be a veterinarian," she said.

Instead of following her family's expectations to attend a university and become a white-collar worker, Bai applied for a veterinary program at a vocational school. Among the 13 female classmates, she was the only one who pursued a career as a veterinarian after graduation.

Initially, Bai was frequently questioned about her veterinary skills due to her age and non-traditional outfit. But years of dedicated and diligent work helped her acquire valuable experience and build a good reputation without a blemish.

Now, all three of her WeChat accounts are filled with farmers from all over the country. Even though her on-site services are limited to Yuanzhou district, she still needs to fill up her car with gas every two days for house calls. The entrance of her veterinary clinic is often crowded with livestock farmers who drive a long way to seek treatment for their cattle and sheep.

Riding on the wave of short videos, Bai has become famous as she wished, and she is occasionally recognized when traveling to other places. But what makes her happiest is that more and more young people are asking her online about how to become a good veterinarian.

Even so, Bai still strives for perfection and often spends tens of thousands of yuan out of her own pocket for further study. "I must continue to learn, I can't let my reputation exceed my ability," she quipped.

Xinhua