Traditional Chinese Medicine, or TCM, has lately returned to be the
focus of public attention as it proved effective in preventing and
curing SARS. The news has greatly heartened over 100,000 domestic
and overseas students studying traditional Chinese medicine in
universities around China.
In
the remote southwest province of Guizhou, Zhou Wenyuan, a herbal
doctor in his 50s, held a long-cherished wish that one of his two
children should succeed his business and as things turned out they
didn't let him down as both of them chose to be a doctor of
Traditional Chinese Medicine after they had graduated from high
schools.
As
a radical departure from the family instruction on the medical
skills handed down from their ancestors, that their father received
from their grandfather, the sister and brother both went thousands
of miles away to attend Beijing
University of Chinese Medicine for five years. Only when back
home for summer and winter vacations could they acquire knowledge
on the rich medical experiences of their father.
"I
might have chosen traditional Chinese medicine because of my family
tradition, and I have become more and more conscious of the
responsibility for me as an offspring of a family of herbalist
doctors as well as a modern medical student majoring in traditional
Chinese medicine," said the sister, Zhou Lu, who just passed the
national graduate school admission examination.
Now in Chinese universities, over 100,000 students -- like Zhou Lu
and her brother -- have chosen to study Traditional Chinese
Medicine as their specialty in order to relay this ancient subject
into modern society.
"The year 1949 (on October 1 of that year the People's Republic of
China was founded) is a watershed for Traditional Chinese Medicine.
Before that year expertise had been always privately handed down
from older generations of families and masters, but afterwards all
students of traditional Chinese medicine have been set to receive
systematic professional training in higher education institutions,"
said Wang Minglai, the assistant director of the Research and
Education Department of the State
Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine of China.
China now has 23 colleges and universities of traditional Chinese
medicine, with the oldest ones among them established in 1956 in
major Chinese cities of Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Chengdu.
Also, some medical universities also have set up Traditional
Chinese Medicine departments. These schools have trained nearly
180,000 Traditional Chinese Medicine doctors and pharmacists
including over 8,000 masters and doctoral students in the past 47
years.
Zheng Shouzeng, the president of Beijing University of Chinese
Medicine, said that a contemporary school of Traditional Chinese
Medicine should teach basic knowledge and skills of modern medicine
as well as expertise of traditional Chinese medicine.
Zhang Yi, a student of 1998 majoring in acupuncture and massage
therapy in Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, said that one of
the courses he considered most important was the two half-day human
anatomy classes that he attended each week.
"The anatomy course makes me have more certainty about my
acupuncture treatment. We are really much more fortunate than the
doctors of our elder generation, who could only sting themselves
for practice," said Zhang.
With the establishment of more than 20 multi-media classrooms on
the campus, teachers of Beijing University of Chinese Medicine have
been able to use computer-aided education technologies instead of
old-fashioned teaching methodologies of purely verbal instructions,
wall pictures and model demonstrations to enliven their
lectures.
"It is in class that my potential in Traditional Chinese Medicine
has been tapped and my interests in the subject have been steadily
deepening as I pursue my study of it," said Zhou Lu's brother Zhou
Qi.
"Students only lay a foundation' in undergraduate education. To be
an excellent herbalist doctor, they need to accumulate experiences
in medical practices and in particular, learn from veteran doctors
of traditional Chinese medicine. The old-style master-apprentice
instructional bond has never been belittled or abandoned," said
Zhai Shuangqing, the dean of Beijing University of Chinese
Medicine.
A
nationwide campaign mobilizing young doctors of Traditional Chinese
Medicine to learn about academic heritage from famous veteran
herbalist doctors is now underway in China. The movement will take
not less than three years. So far 2,243 young doctors have been
found with teachers totaling over 1,600 and 1,343 of the students
basically completing their study, according to Wang.
(China.org.cn by Chen Chao, July 7, 2003)