Medical advice that will have you in stitches

Miao Zhongrong and He Yizhou work together to promote correct health and medicine knowledge through cartoon stories. [Photo provided to China Daily]

His formal name is Ailuropoda melanoleuca, which may be enough to scare you off, but behind that fancy moniker is the most docile, unpretentious of creatures, a giant panda, and he has bestowed on himself the title of doctor.

Dr Panda's mission in life is simple: Just as he prefers simplicity in his name, he is keen to deliver us from medical mumbo jumbo so that we have a clear idea about our bodies, their illnesses and how to prevent and heal them, and an essential element of his manner is humor.

Dr Panda is the central character in the Little Doctor Cartoons, a series posted on a WeChat public account that has more than 70,000 subscribers, each story having thousands of readers, and many of them more than 10,000 readers.

The central character, with the cuddliness and cuteness that only a giant panda can exude, is from the mountains of Lanzhou, Gansu province, and loves eating Lanzhou lamian and runs a restaurant in Beijing that specializes in the famous noodles.

His clientele come from all over the country, and when he has time he chats with his friend Sha Daidai, literally the silly one, but their conversation is often interrupted by patients coming to the restaurant seeking medical help.