Zhong Nanshan was born on October  20, 1936, into a family of doctors in Nanjing, Jiangsu province. His father, Zhong Shifan, was a famous pediatrician who studied in the United States in his early years and became a first-class professor in Zhongshan Medical University after 1949. Zhong's mother, Liao Yueqin, also a graduate of advanced nursing, is one of the founders of Guangdong Cancer Hospital.

Zhong Nanshan was lively and intelligent when he was young. His family's influence parented him to show interest in medicine and conceive the idea of becoming a doctor when he was very young. “I can help people, win social respect and find self-satisfaction in being a doctor, and these are reasons why I loved it at that time”, he    said.

In 1955, Zhong Nanshan was admitted to the medical department of Beijing Medical College

(now called the Peking University Health Science Center)  with excellent grades, taking   the first step toward his dream of becoming a doctor. At that time, he was only 19. After graduating in 1960, Zhong chose to remain and teach Radiology at Beijing Medical College. During the Cultural Revolution, Zhong Nanshan was once tasked to operate th  e boiler by the school committee, and also worked and lived with farmers in the countryside. Not until 1971 did he receive an opportunity to leave Beijing on military orders, when he became a doctor at the Fourth People's Hospital of Guangzhou (later renamed the First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical College).

Fig 5: Zhong's father,    Zhong    Shifan  Fig 6: Zhong Nanshan and his family    members

Fig 7: Zhong Nanshan as a student

Fig 8: Health Science Center, Peking University where Zhong completed undergraduate studies

Fig 9: Zhong Nanshan in his youth

Fig 10: The First Affiliated Hospital of Guangzhou Medical College where Zhong worked (Guangzhou Institute of Respiratory  Diseases)