Carry It Forward 承志
This is an invitation.
Cui Yueli gave his life to the inheritance and global spread of Chinese traditional medicine. Zhang Xiaotong stepped away from public office to found Pingxintang on a single conviction: the lifeblood of Chinese medicine is its efficacy. They put down the root. They pointed the direction. They said what needed to be said. What's left needs more people.
We hope this page is not an extension of the memorial but a call outward — to individuals, institutions, and partners — to take part in five concrete tracks for the next generation of pure Chinese medicine (Chinese medicine practiced strictly by its own scientific principles).
The Five Phases, generating one another Water → Wood → Fire → Earth →
Water Establishing the Source · Global Foundation for Pure TCM
Water governs closure-and-storing; it is the qi of winter. The Foundation is the deep well of this work — storing the essence of pre-Heaven, nourishing the use of post-Heaven; the four other tracks all flow from this source.
What. A non-profit institutional backbone that raises funds and provides legal and operational support for the other four tracks. Starting with a US 501(c)(3) and extending over time to Hong Kong, Singapore, the EU.
Why. The revival of Chinese medicine cannot rest on scattered goodwill. A trusted, transparent receiving and dispensing body — credible to overseas Chinese and to international TCM scholars alike — is the precondition for everything else. Establish the source in water, and the ten thousand streams begin.
Support needed. Founding donors, board members, cross-border legal counsel, grant writers.
Wood Cultivating Talent · Continuous publishing and teaching
Wood governs sprouting; it is the qi of spring. Education is the sowing of the wisdom our forebears accumulated in the hearts of those who come after — seeds sprout, and a forest forms.
What. A continuous publishing outlet for TCM education — textbooks, case compilations, video lectures, lecture notes, annotated translations of the classics — beginner through advanced. Bilingual (Chinese / English) from the start, expanding to Japanese and Korean. Yueli, Zhongyi Chensilu, and the Annotated-Vernacular Series of Classical Chinese-Medical Works are the earliest seeds of this outlet.
Why. Genuinely high-quality TCM textbooks and genuinely high-quality TCM teachers are the two foundational prerequisites of the revival. Without continuous educational output, Chinese medicine survives only as scattered oral transmission. Water feeds wood — with the source nourishing, the grove flourishes.
Support needed. Editors, translators, video producers, senior masters willing to teach, students and learners as the feedback loop, video CDN hosting.
Fire Bringing to Use · Open-source pure-TCM diagnosis-and-treatment platform
Fire governs brightness; it is the qi of summer. The diagnosis-and-treatment platform is the heart of Chinese medicine — where qi-and-blood circulate, where treatment transforms; where trained talent is brought into service for patients, and theory becomes efficacy.
What. A standardized, self-hostable open-source platform for the daily work of a pure-TCM clinic — patient records, herb inventory, prescription tracking, follow-up, pulse-and-tongue documentation, billing. Designed for pure-traditional practice, not as an adjunct module under Western medicine. Multi-language from day one (Chinese / English / Japanese / Korean), open data formats so the world's pure-TCM clinics can verify each other and aggregate research.
Why. Contemporary Chinese medicine cannot accumulate systematic evidence because every clinic keeps its records in its own non-interoperable, non-public way. A platform built on TCM's own modes of thought would let the world's pure-TCM practitioners verify and learn from each other for the first time. Wood feeds fire — what is learned is brought to use, and efficacy comes forth.
Support needed. Engineers with healthcare-software experience, TCM practitioners as design partners, translators, ops / hosting, pilot clinics willing to early-adopt.
Earth Sustaining Harmony · Open-source pure-TCM international community
Earth governs supporting; it is the qi of the center. The community is the thick soil of pure Chinese medicine — that on which the four directions rest; where the world's pure-TCM practitioners meet, befriend, and entrust one another.
What. A global network of clinics, researchers, students, and supporters who appreciate and advocate for pure Chinese medicine across borders. Quarterly and annual gatherings, an online community, a partner directory, a speaker bureau, an ambassador program. Not competing with existing TCM associations — this is a connective layer specifically for pure-traditional practitioners.
Why. Without a visible, mutually-responsive community, individual commitment fades. A warm global network is the last safeguard for the long-term existence of pure Chinese medicine. Fire feeds earth — many fires gathered become the deep ground.
Support needed. Regional coordinators, community managers, event partners, sponsors.
Where we are now
This vision page is step one — an open call, not yet a fundraising tool. Until the Foundation (Water) is in place we are not accepting donations. For those interested in taking part, please write to us telling us which pillar draws you. We will reply individually and bring you in as conditions permit.
The Five Phases generate one another: water feeds wood, wood feeds fire, fire feeds earth, earth feeds metal, and metal in turn feeds water again. The Foundation is the deep well; its waters nourish the sprout of education; trained talent kindles the fire of clinical work; many clinical fires gather into the thick ground of community; from the gathered ground, research distills the finest essence; and that essence flows back to renew the Foundation's source.
Whether this vision becomes real depends on how many people, over the next several years, choose to put their time, craft, and resources into this cycle. Our forebears already made the case for why. What we now need is enough of the how.