At Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine

Tuesday. An early visit to the park in Shanghai allowed more delegates to participate in T'ai Chi. The locals are so welcoming and I believe we are being allowed to see true Chinese culture with an open spirit.

By 7am the park was full with different groups and individuals doing their own thing – background music was provided by the birds in the trees around.    I was struck by the sight of an elderly gentleman in a wheelchair who seemed to have had a stroke. With him was another similar-aged gentleman massaging his legs, feet and ankles to encourage his recovery -  a real demonstration of care in the community.

Massage seems central to the community and around the hotel there are several massage clinics. A foot massage before bed seems be the ideal way to improve sleep after a busy day with no need for sedatives. The traffic is chaotic and busy but global warming is beginning to be addressed, with motor bikes apparently powered by battery rather than petrol or diesel.

After checking out of the hotel, we travelled to Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and met Professor Xiao Zhen, Director of International Communication Division and Deputy Director WHO Collaborating Centre for Traditional Medicine.

This very impressive campus with over 8000 students was established in 1956 and is one of the four earliest colleges of TCM in China.

The University has taken a leading role in TCM, integrating education, medicine and scientific research. The University also has an International Acupuncture Training Centre entrusted by WHO.  In the past 30 years nearly 6000 TCM doctors, acupuncturists and physical therapists were trained here, hailing from some 100 countries and regions worldwide.

Professor Zhen explained to us the nature of the courses, repeatedly stressing how TCM and Western Medicine complement each other - they are not separate entities. During the five year TCM course (there is also an extended seven year course which includes two years spent learning English), 40% of the time is spent on Western Medicine and 60% TCM, with 70% of the course classroom based and 30% direct patient contact.

Entrance to the University is by a national entrance exam. Professor Zhen stressed the importance of a good diagnosis and the need for correct balance of all the systems within the individual – a concept that appears in the medical text Huang Di Neijiing dating from 2500BC.

We thanked the Professor for a most fascinating introduction and invited him for a future visit to England - I do hope he will take up the offer.

Following the talk we walked to the Shanghai TCM museum. The Medical History part contains over 14,000 relics from the Stone Age to contemporary time and offers an insight into the historical facts and major achievements in TCM development in the last 5,000 years.

Acupuncture was certainly in use by the Han period of China (206 BC - 220AD) as tombs in Hebei dated to 113BC have yielded acupuncture needles made of gold and silver.

The Specimen room of Chinese Herbal Medicine covers over 3,000 items of Chinese herbal medicine and prepared herbal products to illustrate the form and function of Chinese herbal medicine.  We also visited the well kept herbal garden.

In the TCM education room on the top floor of the museum, we watched a demonstration of diagnostic techniques. Fascinatingly, computer technology now allows for objective learning techniques for pulse diagnosis, acupuncture and massage treatment. It’s evident that academics at the University recommend the importance of good quality research, which is most encouraging.

Some interesting facts provided to us by Zhong:

Shanghai has been recorded as having one third of all the world cranes (according to records from seven years ago) which shows how much development is taking place.

In the west of China 60 new airports will be built in the next ten years to narrow the economic gap with the east.   Life span is 71 years for men and 73 years for women. Ten years ago, it was illegal to keep dogs but they can now be kept – with a tax of up to £500 per dog!

After a two hour journey on extremely busy dual carriageways we arrived in Suzhou, known as the Venice of the East because it’s built around a  collection of 24 canals. The population of 7 million makes it a small city!

Another great day which has further demonstrated to me the importance of harmony and balance with health. The teaching of TCM at Shanghai University is progressive and provides and encourages integration with Western Medicine as well as research. Tomorrow we visit a hospital in Suzhou.