Han Qide, chairman of the Association for Science and Technology, talks to Yunnan university students:Is Chinese medicine a science? Source: China Science and Technology Network – Science and Technology Daily Author: Liu Yin Liu Li May 26, 2014 00:46 Guangdong Provincial Dermatology Hospital Department of Dermatology Wu Tieqiang [Introduction] Chinese medicine is not science? He cautioned students studying Chinese medicine, if Chinese medicine is described as a science, it is the same as pushing themselves to the edge of failure. Han Qide said that the combination of Chinese and Western medicine is a very good path, if the Chinese people can combine the essence of Chinese medicine and the essence of Western medicine, it will be the greatest medicine of mankind. Han Qide talks to Yunnan university students about whether Chinese medicine is a science? It is worth exploring! By Liu Yin, Liu Li, our correspondent Is Chinese medicine a science? On the afternoon of May 24, Han Qide, vice chairman of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) and president of the Chinese Association for Science and Technology (CAST), walked into Yunnan University’s Qinglai Hall and had a fascinating conversation with students. “I am a fifth-year student of Yunnan College of Traditional Chinese Medicine and I am about to enter clinical work. I would like to ask, in the face of the current tense doctor-patient relationship, how should the state deal with this issue to ensure that we clinicians have a relatively safe working environment?” Faced with the question, Han Qide did not answer and asked rhetorically: who would have a better relationship with patients, a Chinese doctor or a Western doctor? With his own experience in hospital practice, the university student believes that “the relationship between TCM doctors and patients should be better than the relationship between Western doctors and patients”. “Is Chinese medicine a science?” Han Qide continued to ask the question with a turn of phrase. The university student gave an affirmative answer. “Raise your hand if you think TCM is not a science?” Less than half of the students raised their hands, and in terms of votes, Chinese medicine is a science won. Han Qide said, “I don’t really agree that TCM is a science.” He cautioned students studying TCM that to describe TCM as a science would be tantamount to pushing themselves to the brink of failure. Chinese medicine is a human art, something we should strongly promote; there is no denying that Chinese medicine can cure diseases; Chinese medicine should be strongly promoted and we should inherit and carry it forward without any problem. “But is Chinese medicine a science? It is worth exploring.” Han Qide explained that the science we speak of is a subject of study, which must contain scientific elements, must be questioned, constantly leaning toward the truth, constantly correcting errors, must be able to empirical evidence, quantifiable, must use the methods of logic, etc., “and many scientific elements, there are many that Chinese medicine can not reach.” Chinese medicine relies on feeling and experience, so has it been empirically proven? In Han Qide’s opinion, the answer is still yes. “But it does not meet many of the elements inside science. Is science the only correct one? This is the misconception we have now, that science is absolutely correct. Quite the contrary, science is often talking about the wrong things, because the process of constantly correcting mistakes is the process of scientific development.” Han Qide studied Chinese medicine for nine months in his early years as a doctor in the countryside. “Later on, the number of people who sought me out for Chinese medicine was no less than the number of people who sought me out for Western medicine, because a lot of diseases were cured.” He said with deep feeling that Chinese medicine is good, but not necessarily scientific, and that not being scientific does not make it incorrect or bad. “If you insist on leaning our Chinese medicine with modern science, it will always make people feel that you are not as good as modern science, that you can’t compare with modern science.” Likewise, Han Qide does not believe that modern science is pure science, “Many modern medical visits are also without evidence. More than half of the doctors’ diagnostic treatments are not evidence-based, and are based on experience as in Chinese medicine.” For example, normal blood pressure is defined as 140 mmHg systolic and 90 mmHg diastolic, beyond which is hypertension, “whether it is scientific or not, all hospitals follow this exactly”. Han Qide stressed the importance of having a correct understanding of science and not associating science with absolute correctness. Because, science is only a system identified by a part of the earth’s population within a few hundred years after the development of human civilization to 1500 AD; Chinese medicine is a system identified by the Chinese nation for thousands of years. “Why must the two systems be completely equated? We should have this confidence and should also absorb the strengths of each other.” According to Han Qide, the combination of Chinese and Western medicine is a very good path, and if the Chinese nation can combine the essence of Chinese medicine and the essence of Western medicine, it will be the greatest medicine of mankind. (Science and Technology Daily, Kunming, May 25)