Vice-premier at groundbreaking for TCM center in Hungary

Vice-Premier Liu Yandong attended a groundbreaking for a traditional Chinese medicine center at Semmelweis University's Faculty of Health Sciences in Budapest, Hungary's capital, on Sunday.

"Traditional Chinese medicine is a treasure of the Chinese nation - it belongs not only to China but also to the world," Liu said at the event.

Construction on the China-CEEC Traditional Chinese Medicine Center at the university is considered to be another important step for Hungary, the first European nation to create detailed laws overseeing the vocational qualifications and requirements for practicing TCM. CEEC stands for Central and Eastern European countries.

Acknowledging the difference between Western medicine and TCM, Liu highlighted the complementary functions of the two methods and said synergy can be achieved.

One example of that is the joint teaching program of China's Heilongjiang University of Chinese Medicine and Semmelweis University, which allows students to obtain a bachelor's degree in TCM after spending four years in Hungary and one year in Heilongjiang province.

The program, which started in 2010, has seen more than 30 students graduate with bachelor's degrees, said Xia Linjun, visiting professor at Semmelweis University. "We are starting to enroll students pursuing their master's and doctoral degrees," he said. "In fact many Hungarian doctors are willing to undergo TCM training, too, including some dentists," Xia said.

Liu described cooperation in healthcare as a "beautiful calling card" for Sino-Hungarian people-to-people communication. She stressed the indispensable role that TCM plays as a window on traditional Chinese culture and Chinese philosophical wisdom.

For students, mastering Mandarin is the first big challenge they face. "Chinese is so difficult to learn," said Adrienn Stehlich, who, along with two peers, received her degree in TCM on Sunday.

"I have studied it (Mandarin) for five years now and I am OK with it," she said.

Zhang Yao, a professor at Semmelweis University, described the way to help students tackle the language problem, especially Chinese TCM terminology. "I need to explain it in a simple and understandable way. Students here never let me down."

Describing job prospects as "solid", Stehlich said she will join her father's private clinic as a partner because her father is a doctor practicing Western medicine, and combining East with West is something new in Hungary.

Mark Oravecz, who graduated from Semmelweis University with a TCM major in 2009, said he benefited from the changing attitude toward TCM of both the government and the people. "I have my own clinic and I am teaching TCM at Semmelweis University as well," he said in fluent Mandarin. "Western medicine and TCM combined can produce better effects."

leixiaoxun@chinadaily.com.cn