A new page of Chinese medicine in Hong Kong rolling out -Xinhua

This photo taken on Dec. 13 shows Cheung Chun Hoi, an assistant professor of the School of Chinese Medicine of Hong Kong Baptist University. (Xinhua/Wang Shen)

In promoting TCM development, Hong Kong lays its focus on TCM modernization and internationalization, led by standardization and innovation efforts.

HONG KONG, Dec. 26 (Xinhua) — Many herbal teas sold around Hong Kong have Chinese herbal medicines as their major ingredients and have long proved to protect health from the local hot and damp weather.

The herbal teas, mostly based on recipes, are considered an outstanding example of the homology of medicine and food, a conception in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM).

Drinking homemade herbal teas to feel fit is a childhood memory of Cheung Chun Hoi. “Certain herbal teas have medicinal value,” he said, professionally, as a registered TCM practitioner.

Cheung in 2014 graduated with a second degree from School of Chinese Medicine of Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU). The 34-year-old is now an assistant professor at the school’s clinical division.

The HKBU school of Chinese medicine was founded in 1998, a year after Hong Kong’s return to the motherland, and was the first of its kind among local universities. “The event marks the commencement of the TCM academic education in Hong Kong,” commented Li Min, associate dean of the school.

This photo taken on Dec. 9 shows Li Min, associate dean of the School of Chinese Medicine of Hong Kong Baptist University. (Xinhua/Qu Junya)

PASSING ON TRADITIONAL CHINESE MEDICINE

“The TCM development in Hong Kong would have been impossible were it not for the policy support from the central government and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region’s (HKSAR) government,” Li stressed.

Regulations including a practitioner registration system and Chinese herbal medicine standards have been introduced in Hong Kong after its return to the motherland in 1997 to turn a wilderness of TCM into order. The moves have ensured higher quality TCM healthcare service for local residents.

Meanwhile, TCM academic education and research have flourished.

According to Li, over 900 students have graduated so far from the HKBU school of Chinese medicine after also receiving adequate Western medicine education, working as doctors, pharmacists, acupuncturists or nutritionists among others.

Li said the school’s students are required to memorize TCM classics for the fundamentals to stay alive and inform while clinical trainings punctuate their study from grade 1 to 6 including three months of specialty research and a one-year internship.

The school has a lot of TCM professors from mainland cities such as Beijing, Guangzhou and Nanjing. Cheung said his mentors had trained him to become a competent orthopedist while inspiring a sense of responsibility in him to carry forward traditional Chinese medicine.

“A life decided!” he said. Although local TCM practitioners earn less than their Western medicine peers, Cheung is proud he can often heal where Western medicine fails using bone-setting tui-na, acupuncture and other TCM techniques. “I have no regrets.”

This photo taken on Dec. 16 shows Cheung Chun Hoi, an assistant professor of the School of…