Traditional Chinese medicine has its unique characteristics and advantages. As long as these characteristics and advantages are handed down, the traditional Chinese medicine surely will make new contributions to human health.
Since the Shenzhou-9 spacecraft flew to the space and successfully docked with the Tiangong-1, China turned into the third country in the world to master the rendezvous and docking technology of manned spacecraft. Li Yongzhi, director of Medical Department of the China Astronaut Research and Training Center, said that the astronauts of Shenzhou-9 take a "Space Heart-Nourishing Pill" three times a day. The "Space Heart-Nourishing Pills" are made of traditional Chinese medicine and are used for the health of the astronauts of Shenzhou-5, Shenzhou-6, Shengzhou-7 and Shenzhou-9 and can help realize the dream of manned space flight.
In the rendezvous and docking, the astronauts of Shenzhou-9 had worked and lived in the space for more than 10 days. The astronauts are likely to suffer from space motion sickness, decompression sickness and orthostatic intolerance. These actually are not real "diseases" but the reactions induced by cardiovascular dysfunction, loss of bone salt and decrease of red blood cells in a weightless environment and a physiological stress response of a healthy person in abnormal conditions.
Chinese medicine values the whole and the balance while Western medicine emphasizes the parts and antagonism. Therefore, the Western medicine and Chinese medicine are complementary. Although Russia and European and American countries have attached great importance to the diseases suffered by astronauts, they cannot effectively resolve the problem of their health due to the limitations of Western medicine. However, the Chinese medicine experts can help astronauts to nurse their bodies. Before setting out, the astronauts must take Chinese medicines to nurse their liver, kidney and blood and enhance physical fitness through massage and acupuncture. Especially the "Space Heart-Nourishing Pills" can prevent disease and help the imbalanced blood circulation return to normal.
The magical effects of Chinese medicines have been certified in the space flight. The Chinese space center and the Belgian Catholic University of Leuven had checked the bodies of astronauts when they returned to the Earth. The result shows that Chinese astronauts have the optimal health. Just as what the space hero Yang Liwei had said, "In the field of contemporary aerospace medicine, the Chinese medicine had effectively ensure the normal work of astronauts in special circumstances and played an important role in keeping their physical health from the shooting of Shenzhou-5 to the spacewalk of Shenzhou-7 astronauts."Traditional Chinese medicine has high status “in heaven,” but low status “on earth.” traditional Chinese medicine treatments are relatively cheap, and are often wrongly believed to be unscientific. Due to financial problems and other factors, certain traditional Chinese medicine hospitals are losing their Chinese features and becoming almost the same as Western hospitals in diagnosis and treatment of diseases. For instance, the traditional Chinese medicine treatment of a closed fracture though splints only costs a few hundred yuan. In order to gain more profits, many traditional Chinese medicine hospitals choose to perform surgery which costs at least 10,000 yuan to cure the same disease. In addition, certain unique traditional Chinese medicine treatment techniques are on the verge of extinction.
The traditional Chinese medicine sector has undergone ups and downs, and people have frequently doubted the effects of traditional Chinese medicine and opposed its use. Facing numerous practical problems, China must upgrade the development of the traditional Chinese medicine sector to a national strategy. The country must “continue to transform the development model, and bring into full play the features and advantages” of the traditional Chinese medicine sector, according to the 12th Five-Year Plan for Traditional Chinese Medicine. The most urgent task in the traditional Chinese medicine sector is to protect and carry forward the traditional Chinese medicine culture. The traditional Chinese medicine sector will achieve better development if it maintains its unique advantages.
Traditional Chinese medicine’s value lies in its features and advantages. The spectrum of human diseases will be mainly made up of chronic non-communicable diseases in the next few decades, which may be a significant opportunity for the revival of the traditional Chinese medicine sector. As long as its features and advantages are maintained, traditional Chinese medicine will make greater contributions to human health.
Read the Chinese version: 航天英雄为何赞中医, source: People's Daily, author: Wang Junping
