Tag: Rural

Healthcare in China: Old Medicine vs. New Medicine

mgeran / / Health Care and Medicine

By Anna Lanford, Sal Donzella, and Matt Geran

This blog entry is written from the perspective of an old woman who is witnessing the changes occurring in the Chinese healthcare system as modern medicine is taking over the traditional.

Back when I was a young girl, doctors in my town used traditional medicines that have been passed down for generations, such as herbs and acupuncture. Today, there are some doctors who still choose to use medical care based on Traditional Chinese Medicine, like in the past, and others choose to use a more modern method. I have even seen traditional treatments like acupuncture and homeopathy used alongside modern practices and medications. I have witnessed Traditional Chinese Medicine treat all kinds of illnesses: mental, physical, and emotional. The old ways work so well because they address the source of balance within the body, or qi. When the qi is unstable, we become sick, and traditional medicines can return our qi to normal. These long-established remedies can be individualized to fit each patient, and therefore make the treatment more effective. I have heard stories of people who have been cured of pain and had their urge to smoke cigarettes cease after receiving acupuncture sessions. There was even one miraculous story of the traditional working alongside modern treatments. A woman was able to undergo open-heart surgery with very little pain as a result of acupuncture that was used during the procedure. As much as I believe that the old way is the best way to treat the entire body, I can see there is no way to slow modern medicine from creeping into our society.

Even with these breakthroughs in modern treatment, many of us in the countryside struggle to have any access to healthcare. In the past, the Ministry of Health has tried to bring in private investors to help poorly performing public hospitals, but even with the change in ownership, the hospitals continued to reflect poor management. Places like Hong Kong, Japan, and Taiwan, as well as America, Southeast Asia, and Europe are looking to put investments into Chinese healthcare, but I don’t see how they could understand the traditions in medicine that we have used for our whole lives. I worry that they will try to replace hundreds of years of our heritage with machines and computers. I know that these foreigners would let us be able to have more access to modern medicines, but I worry that they will take away what is rooted in the past.

If you want to learn more about acupuncture check out this video about acupuncturists in Shanghai:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Pf5Habm3O8.

Related Blogs

False Hope and Despair

The Harbin Scandal 

Bibliography

Fontes, Mario, and Stephanie Pina. “Homeopathy and Chinese Medicine: Uniting Two Forms of Energetic Medicine.” Townsend Letter. February/March 2009. 79-82.

Skyes, Kathy. “The Science of Acupuncture.” Alternative Medicine Series. BBC 2006. Web. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41vm87qq1KU

Shobert, Benjamin, and Sandra Ward. “China’s Healthcare Reforms: Addressing Discontent while Creating a Consumer Economy.” The National Bureau of Asian Research, March 7, 2013.

Early Education in China: Effects on Higher Education

gfilipski / / Education, Urbanization

By Grace Filipski, Emily Martin, Matt Turner, and Adam Becklehimer

As the film Education, Education discussed, in China, a child’s performance in early education has a significant effect on all aspects of his or her life.  At the end of their early school training, kids take a universal test which determines where they are able to attend school.  The top students are offered spaces at subsidized universities, while the students who did not perform as well are forced to attend expensive private colleges, if anything at all.  The students who did poorly are often from rural communities, as the schools there are not well funded, and therefore not very functional.  The private institutions that they attend to attempt to escape the difficulties of rural life are extremely corrupt, as they function more like companies than colleges.  The teachers are not qualified for their positions and are forced to spend their summers presenting to these underprivileged families.  In these talks, they lie about the existence of facilities and the proficiency of professors, as the students will likely learn nothing during their time at the university.  Since the families are so desperate to free their kids from the woes of rural life, they will do anything to provide them with the money to attend these institutions to get a skill or certificate and, eventually, a job.  Though having a degree can help get the students’ foot in the door for a job, often they find themselves inadequately prepared for the workplace and are therefore fired.  The inability for students who are born into bad living situations to succeed is a major flaw of the Chinese education system and will only create more problems of poverty in rural China.

For more information on Early Education in China, check out these blogs:

Early Educaiton in China: Progression of Society

Early Education in China: The Exciting History

Early Education in China: Culture

Weijun Chen, dir., Don Edkins, prod. “Education, Education.” Part of the Why Poverty project. Steps International. Video file, 58 min. January 4, 2013. Accessed March 4, 2014. http://www.whypoverty.net/en/video/education-education/.