Traditional Medicine in Asia

Traditional Medicine in Asia
rabbit, 51 points of guineapig, 42 points
of rat, and 20 points of mouse.
Study on acupuncture literature
Sifting through the literature on
acupuncture of past generations, the
proof and annotation of some important
ancient acupuncture books such as
Miraculous Pivot, Systematic Classic of
Acupuncture and Moxibustion, the
revision of Huangdi’s Mingtang Classic,
and the publication of the Four Mirrors of
Chinese Acupuncture and Collective
Works of Chinese Acupuncture, laid a
strong foundation for scientific research
and clinical practice. On the other hand,
publication of the index of acupuncture
papers, establishment of the consulting
and analysing system of acupuncture
literature, and exchange of literature
amongst China and foreign countries
facilitated the analysis of acupuncture
information and literature consulting and
promoted academic exchange on
acupuncture throughout the world.
Acupuncture education
Education in China
There are various forms of acupuncture
education in China: high-level professional
education, medium-level professional
education, postgraduate education,
correspondence college, night college,
doctors training as apprentices, self-study
examination, and social strength running
schools. These have opened up avenues
for training acupuncture personnel.
Medium-level education
At present, there are 51 medium-level
schools of Chinese medicine, which have
51,260 students. Most of these schools
offer acupuncture courses. Through
teaching reforms and standardization, the
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teaching of medium-level schools has been
improved. Among these schools, the
School of Chinese Medicine of Shandong
Province was chosen as an important one
at the State level, and 19 of these schools
were named as standard ones by the State
Administration of TCM.
High-level professional
education
In 1956, TCM colleges of the first batch
were established in Beijing, Shanghai,
Nanjing and Chengdu. Till the end of
1997, there were a total of 30 colleges of
TCM and national medical colleges in
China, and all of them offered acupuncture,
or acupuncture and massage
courses. The school system included
undergraduate, postgraduate and
doctorate, seven years’ undergraduate,
and doctors of Western medicine learning
Chinese medicine, and so on. Up till 1998,
a total of 88,665 TCM students and 5000
doctors of Western medicine had been
trained in acupuncture. There are 2056
personnel above the level of associate
medical professors in universities and 690
professors. The reforms in higher education
stress on teaching content and courses are
continuing in full swing.
Adult education
Adult education is of two kinds–informal
and formal. In addition to education
through correspondence, night college,
social college, self-study examination and
full-day courses, there are also continuing
education, postgraduate training, doctors’
training apprentices, and inheritance of
famous TCM experts’ experiences, which
form the system of adult education in TCM.
Some lectures and symposia are also part
of the activities of continuing education;
the participants get credit for attending.