Foreign medical practitioners study TCM in N China

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By CGTN's Hu Chao

Traditional Chinese Medicine, or TCM, is attracting more people from abroad interested in studying it. China has been offering opportunities to foreigners to learn TCM for decades, and many TCM colleges and hospitals nationwide often see curious students from around the globe signing up for courses.

48 medics from 14 African countries are currently visiting Taiyuan, the capital of north China’s Shanxi Province, to learn acupuncture and massage techniques.

The visiting students are doctors, nurses and therapists in their home countries. /CGTN Photo

Azali Yasser, 27, is one of them. He is a general practitioner from the Comoros, an island country in southeast Africa.

When asked why he came to China to learn TCM, he said that sooner or later he would have to deal with this branch of medicine, as China's economy continues to grow.

More young foreign medics are coming to China to learn TCM. /CGTN Photo

As part of their training, the students learned how to find the exact acupuncture points by making marks on each other’s arms.

Yasser said it is important to find the right points because if they get it wrong by a centimeter, they will not be able to achieve the desired effect.

Before becoming a general practitioner in his hometown, Yasser studied western medicine at China’s Peking University for six years. Now that he’s studying TCM, he feels it’s a challenge to adapt to TCM concepts.

Yasser said he found that Chinese medicine does not follow the concept in which one organ controls all of the body. Instead, as far as TCM is concerned, the whole body controls itself.

Many find the training a whole new experience. /CGTN Photo

These foreign medics will study TCM theory for about a month, and will begin clinical practice at a local TCM hospital in mid-July. Many of them hope for another opportunity to come back in order to learn even more.

Shanxi is among many provinces in China that have been offering opportunities for foreigners to learn TCM.

Nearly 1,000 foreign medics from over 100 countries and regions have studied TCM in the province.

Many students hope for more future opportunities to learn TCM. /CGTN Photo

Zhao Lijun, Deputy Director of the International Exchange Center of Shanxi Health Bureau, has been overseeing the training program for many years.

She said she’s seen more young foreign medics coming to learn TCM and many of them already knew some basic knowledge prior to their arrival, showing that TCM is becoming better known around the world.

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