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TCM and Olympic Games
The Chinese team stunned the world by snatching 100 Olympic medals in the Beijing Olympic Game, including 51 golds. It had stayed at the top of the gold medals chart and kept its lead to the end, overtaking sports giants like the U.S., Russia and Western Europe. What had made China become the champion of the sports world in just a number of years? The Russia media believed that Chinese medicine (CM) was one of the five major "secret weapons".
"Did CM have anything to do with the triumph of China in the Beijing Olympic Games?" "What is the essence of CM culture?" These were some of the common questions raised by the press in the traditional Chinese medicine culture promotion held on 19 August. Modern Olympic Game is not only a stage for atheletes, but also a platform for multi-cultural exchanges, on which the essence of Chinese medicine had been showcased to the whole world.
In the traditional Chinese medicine culture promotion, Professor Wang Qi and Professor Zhang Qi-cheng of Beijing University of Chinese Medicine briefed the journalist on topics such as “CM culture and life nurturing” and “Taichi Chart and CM culture”. They also introduced the concept of constitution, pattern identification, Yin-yang balance, holismin etc in the CM system. Journalist also toured the Yu Sheng Tang - Beijing Chinese Medicine Museum, watched Tai Chi performance and experienced traditional Chinese medical massage provided by Chinese medicine therapists from top CM universities and hospitals in Beijing.
Visiting journalists were most interested in the individual life-nurturing and health preservation theory of CM and lined up for pulse-feeling diagnosis by Prof. Wang. Others were busy shooting all the treasured articles in the museum or engaged themselves in interviews with the CM experts present. With the basics of traditional Chinese medicine learned at the lecture, the journalists were profoundly amazed at the CM culture. They were also presented a guidebook on Chinese medicine which they found very useful in daily life.
On 15 August 2008, The Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad (BOCOG) and Beijing Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine jointly organized a seminar on “Application of China TCM in Preventive Sports Medicine”. The seminar served to help sports medicine professionals understand and experience TCM. Vice-Minister of Health cum Director of State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine Mr. Wang Guo-qiang attended the seminar and presented a set of display boards of “Chinese Medicine: History and Culture” to the Chairman of the International Olympic Committee (IOC) Medical Commission Dr. Arne Ljungqvist. On behalf of IOC, Dr. Arne Ljungqvist expressed sincere thanks to the Chinese government. He also considered the seminar a landmark event for the encounter of the Olympics and Chinese TCM.
During the seminar, medical doctors reported the latest R&D findings of TCM in the treatment of sports injuries, including methodologies, techniques and acupuncture. Live demonstrations of the clinical techniques by acupuncturists, Chinese massage therapists and orthopedics / trauma physicists were arranged. Medical officers from Beijing Olympics participating teams attended the seminar and enthusiastically involved themselves in various discussions and practicing studies. They were deeply impressed of the efficacy and edge TCM enjoyed in treating sports traumas.
During the Beijing Olympic Games, there were 263 Chinese medicine volunteers and 35 comprehensive clinics at the Olympic venues and the Olympic Village, offering acupuncture, Chinese massage, psychological counseling and other medical services for all participating sports delegations. The comprehensive engagement of traditional Chinese medicine in the medical services for the Beijing Olympic Games made history in the modern Olympic movement.
Sources:
State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine www.satcm.gov.cn
China News of Traditional Chinese Medicine www.cntcm.com.cn
Beijing Yu Sheng Tang www.yushengtang.com/newscontent.jsp?id=187 |
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