So sorry to my readers (if there are indeed any, lol) for my lack of updates; my academic career and my prolonged home refinancing took precedence over my various (important but admittedly secondary) projects. However, I do have some interesting news about the progress that TCM is seeing in modern China.
2011 will see China increasing research and development into the ways in which traditional Chinese medicine can be integrated into modern medical practice.
The announcement was made by the Director of the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine(here’s the English page if you’re interested),Vice Health Minister Wang Guoqiang, during the yearly nationwide conference on traditional Chinese medicine.
Wang encouraged the establishment of databases of TCM writings dating back to antiquity, and the creation of a R&D system consisting of TCM labs with modern facilities and quality-control channels leading ultimately to implementation within the medical industry as a whole.
Already in the past year China has registered 400 of the most esteemed ancient books on TCM, as well as 181 “inheritance studios” for TCM masters. The SATCM established the foundation of a network where TCM and Western medical professionals alike may trade academic and clinical knowledge.
Wang also released statistics charting TCM’s recent growth in China. For example, the country increased spending on TCM by 165% between 2005 and 2009, with an almost 10% increase in the number of TCM hospitals — for a total of nearly 450,000 beds!
Along with last year’s recognition of acupuncture and moxibustion by UNESCO (UN Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization), the 21st Century is proving to be a surprisingly promising time for traditional medicine.
We are constantly finding out that the old ways of healing do hold scientific backing. We have come to find so many new medicines created from plants. People have been using plants to heal for thousands of years. The best medicine always seems to be the old & new ways mixed together in a cohesive fashion. There are good solid high points to natural healing but one can not ignore the major advances of medical science over the same time frame. It was nice to chew on a leaf that would relieve your pain but taking a pill made of a compound containing the pain relieving properties of the same leaf works much faster & is much more effective. In this case as in so many more it takes the modern technology to break the leaf up into compounds & isolate the property that offers pain relief. The technology also offers us the ability to manufacture medicine using just that ingredient or that ingredient in conjunction with others to maximize the effectiveness. This is always our hope to find a more effective way of healing people!