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TAINAN, Taiwan

National Cheng Kung University (NCKU) College of Medicine recently opened a special course called “Introduction to Chinese Medicine & Cross-Culture Biomedical Ethics” to help local and international students interested in alternative medicine to familiarize the philosophy of Chinese medicine and get some hands-on experience.

19 students from 5 countries including USA, UK, Vietnam, China, and Taiwan enrolled in the two-week course.

Mangaladevi Patil, an American student from Brown University, who was one of the participating students said, “Before I came, I thought Chinese medicine was very mysterious. However, I learned that it is actually very scientific. I’ll be interested to continue learning more about it and maybe read more research papers about it.”

Prof. Mei-Ling Tsai said that this is a two-week summer course opened as second time in NCKU College of Medicine.” It is designed for international and foreign exchange students at NCKU to raise awareness in cross-cultural differences.”

The course is also part of the Taiwan Comprehensive University System (TCUS) international summer school (ISS), which is carried on in the first session begins from July 17 to 30.

“Our goal is to acquaint students with the essentials of Chinese Medicine and the unique culture of southern Taiwan to help raise awareness of cultural differences.”

“Students attended lectures taught in English on Chinese Medicine, and participated in small group activities to discuss cross cultural and bioethical issues. They also visited Chinese Medicine clinics and observed some Patient-Doctor Interviews,” added Tsai.

Connie Liou who is going to be a medical student in Brown University, said, “This is definitely a great introduction for someone who doesn’t have the background in the Chinese medicine and it’s great to be in the country and culture instead of learning this in America.”

“We met the doctors and professions who really know the subject and we can learn from them,” said Liou, “Also, I really like the debate and group presentation with the classmates.”

As for the issues of cultural differences, Christopher Johnson, one of the instructors of the course, gave some good advice to the students and said, “When you deal with the cultural or religious issues, you have to be flexible.”