Experiencing Chinese Medicine
In our country, Chinese medicine has a long history and is, in everyday life, an indispensable means of treatment and health care. But for many foreigners, TCM is still a mysterious medical art.
At 2 p.m. on 7 August, over thirty foreigners working and living in Beijing came with keen interest to the Pingxintang TCM clinic at Wangfujing to experience traditional Chinese diagnosis and treatment. They included foreign envoys to China, Beijing-resident chief representatives of foreign companies, and other foreign residents in Beijing.
The event was jointly hosted by the Pingxintang clinic of the Cui Yueli Center for Traditional Medicine and the Beijing Weekend paper of China Daily. Its purpose was to introduce and spread the knowledge of traditional Chinese medicine among Beijing's foreigners.
The program included a TCM lecture in English. Dr. Xu Wenbing of Pingxintang, in lively and engaging stories, explained TCM's basic principles and its place in daily health care. The foreign listeners then put their own questions about Chinese medicine. After that, they experienced genuine TCM pulse-taking, acupuncture, tuina massage, and medicinal teas. They also enthusiastically toured the clinic's display of common herbal materials and prepared medicines, and watched the process by which Chinese herbal medicines are made.
According to Dr. Zhang Xiaotong, director of Pingxintang, since Pingxintang's founding in 1999 a steady stream of foreigners in Beijing have come by reputation. Though many foreigners still hold doubts and misunderstandings about Chinese medicine, more and more have begun to accept it, and to take interest in TCM treatment and health-care methods.