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Chinese Medicine Liberation: Starter
should be classified as higher education and not as secondary education or vocational training
such as that of midwives.
Students nowadays spend six years in primary education and another six years in secondary
education before they move on to higher education. Needless to say, the curricula of primary and
secondary education are very similar, facilitating the transition. Similarly, the subjects in
secondary schools are closely related to different majors in universities so that students can learn
new things by linking to and building on prior knowledge. For example, history and similar
subjects are related to various social science majors; biology, mathematics and other science
subjects are crucial to majors like science, medicine and agriculture.
Up to today, curricula and standards of medical education are formulated based on the ultimate
goal of training students to become professional physicians. Currently, hygiene classes in junior
secondary grade have already adopted the new science theory. Although there are no more
hygiene classes in senior secondary grade, those who enter medical schools should already have
some knowledge of human anatomy and physiology and even some basic understanding of
etiology and prevention of disease so they are not lost when they study basics of medicine. What
they learnt in science lessons in both secondary school and university could be even more useful.
Nevertheless, this only applies to Western medicine students and not to Chinese medicine
students. After the integration, schools—be it universities or specialised schools—shall introduce
a new curriculum of Chinese medicine. For those who choose this major of study, what they have
learnt in secondary schools, except Chinese writing, history and geography, seem to have no
relation whatsoever to Chinese medicine. Some subjects of Western medicine like anatomy might
be helpful to Chinese medicine, but most of them aren’t. What’s more, jargons like ‘’Qi
transformation” and ‘’five elements’’ cannot even be seen in primary or secondary school
textbooks.
Here comes the question: should we reform the curricula of our primary and secondary schools
as well? As an alternative, we can add new subjects such as Tang Tou Ge Jue 湯 頭 歌 訣 7 to prepare
students who would like to study Chinese medicine in the future. Some say that these subjects
can be electives where they can choose between those and the science subjects. Some disagree,
saying that it would be a good opportunity for the modernization of Chinese medicine. They
bluster that subjects like chemistry, biology and science are also necessary for those students who
would like to study Chinese medicine at university level. Maybe it would be even better if those
who study Chinese medicine are those who excel in science as well. Here comes the second
question: will these students feel disoriented when they study Chinese medicine, for they have indepth
and concrete knowledge in science?
7 Text teaching herbal formulas published in 1694 by Wang Ang 汪 昂 .
http://www.chineseclassics.org/liberation.html 10