TCM students' journey to the south

Guangzhou is gaining ground as a new center for the study of traditional Chinese medicine, especially among foreigners who are flocking to the city to take up the challenge.

Across Asia, Europe and the United States, more and more people see TCM as a viable alternative or complementary adjunct to Western medicine - acupuncture in particular - since it is now accepted as a medical treatment in many countries.

In Germany, acupuncture treatments for chronic spinal or knee joint diseases are now covered by medical insurance and around two million people each year obtain TCM there, says Fu Wenbin, director of the Guangzhou Acupuncture Institute. Of these, around 80 percent receive acupuncture.

In Japan, statistics show that 29 percent of people in Tokyo have been treated with acupuncture. Currently, there are around 100,000 practitioners doing acupuncture in 140 countries and regions, he says.

The growing demand has prompted plenty of course offerings. In Japan and South Korea, there are an increasing number of acupuncture courses being offered in medical colleges.

In Guangzhou, three universities offer full time TCM courses with majors in acupuncture geared toward mainland and overseas students. Jinan University and Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine are among them. There, the fees for overseas students range from 24,000 to 30,000 yuan ($3,175-3,969) a year for the five-year program, says Linda Wu, a student liaison officer at the Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine.

"Because of the acceptance of acupuncture in the rest of the world, most students come to study this. Full time students come from South Korea, Japan and Indonesia, while short course students are usually from Europe or other Western countries," she says.

"Many full time students already have another major, but want to learn about TCM, including acupuncture because they want to enter the field. Short course students are often acupuncture practitioners who already have some experience and want to see how it is done in China."

There are around 3,000 foreigners currently studying TCM full time in Guangzhou while each year several hundred come for three-month courses.

"I wanted to study acupuncture because it is interesting," says Lukas Hanes, a Swiss native who just completed his bachelor's degree in TCM, majoring in acupuncture and moxibustion.

"It is a good way to learn about Chinese culture, Chinese language and learn a skill at the same time. I hope to return home to open up my own practice or work with a Chinese doctor to increase my knowledge. There are a lot of opportunities."

Elen Toeante, another TCM student from Indonesia, says she decided to come here to study because her Chinese grandmother encouraged her to do so.

"I like the courses very much," says the 23-year-old. "I want to study the masters program at the Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine next year and bring acupuncture and other medical skills back to Indonesia."

(China Daily 08/08/2007 page19)