Thoughts on Promoting TCM Intercultural Communication in UK

Liu Guowei (劉國偉) , Zhang Jing (張晶) , and Lu Tian (盧甜)

UK is an English-speaking country which is famous for her rich historical and cultural traditions; meanwhile,UK is conservative in economic and political policies.The spread of TCM in UK is not ideal out of several reasons: firstly, British people are attached to and be proud of their own cultural traditions, which make it harder for them to accept TCM, a totally different culture; secondly, UK has an advanced welfare and national health system, which covers almost all the British people; thirdly, there is no stable TCM customer group in UK due to many factors, such as the immigration policy and so on. To spread TCM in UK，all these factors need to be taken into consideration, and here are several proposals.

TO ENHANCE THE PUBLICITY OF TCM CULTURAL TASTES

As a constitutional monarchy, UK forms her intense nobility complex, which manifests itself in common people. British people are famous for their being gentleman-like. Therefore, they pay attention to taste,and even in presenting an ordinary gift they would like to introduce its history, value and distinctiveness in a formal way. They focus on the Royal family closely,because those of high taste always draw their attention naturally. Undoubtedly, TCM cultural tastes should meet the taste of British, which makes it possible and easier for the British people to accept TCM by following those tips.

Firstly, TCM spread should focus on high-end service and quality. TCM clinics should be set up in buildings with Chinese decoration and traditional Chinese settings and provide upscale health service with obvious therapeutic effects, which will be self-evident in attracting all walks of British people, who will naturally combine TCM with Chinese history and culture.Meanwhile, they would be the live advertisement of TCM in the future. In the long run, this will help TCM to gain favorable position in the medical market. There are two major and tough problems in setting up those high-end clinics. The first one is financial concern,Generally, it is beyond the TCM practioner’s personal ability to provide and maintain such service; the second concern lies in the TCM practioners. In China, it is not hard to fi nd some noted Chinese doctors. However, it is not easy to invite those celebrated doctors to British. To solve those problems, Chinese government, hospitals and medical universities and organizations should cooperate in setting up high-end TCM hospitals or clinics in UK, selecting well-known doctors and staff for those clinics and hold related TCM health lectures regularly. At the same time, the staff should be shifted at regular intervals to provide services in different fi elds and to attract more potential customers. This will not conf l ict with native clinics and drug stores, because they provide different services.

Secondly, TCM diagnosis and treatment should lay emphasis on procedure and ceremony. Generally,Chinese lay emphasis on results and seldom care about the procedures, which form a contrast with most European countries, especially in UK, who believes that procedures guarantee ideal effects. Therefore,procedures and ceremonies should be emphasized to improve TCM in UK. Uniforms should be set up in procedure, dressing, etc., to achieve the standardization,which could be different from what we have in China and be realized through the efforts of TCM associations in UK. This will make it easier for the British people to accept TCM. As for ceremony, it is strongly symbolic and has become a synonym for history and culture to some degree; it is understandable for British people,who care about tradition and taste, lay great emphasis on ceremony. When it comes to TCM, its cultural taste would be greatly enhanced, if ritual elements such as traditional environmental setting, historical sense and cultural features are incorporated into TCM diagnosis and treatment.

TO STRENGTHEN THE CONSTRUCTION OF TCM EDUCATION SYSTEM

The education quality determines the possibility of TCM’s continuous spreading in UK. TCM education in UK is just budding, and needs strategic guidance and support, which would be realized through officially efforts, including sponsoring TCM faculty and encouraging communication and academic seminars among medical universities. This in the long run will accelerate the standardization of TCM education in UK and help to solve lack of professional staff. Currently,the formal TCM in UK adopts the mode of Sino British cooperation to guarantee the teaching quality, which will be the main stream educational mode in a long time; it will be practical to make full use of this mode.

Firstly, we should try to train British TCM teachers in addition to educating students. There are lots of British who are in the practice of TCM acupuncture and tuina.It is advised to select some of the excellent members to receive further education in China, after deepening their knowledge in TCM and accumulating more experience,they would become qualif i ed TCM teachers in UK and start their teaching. In this way, the spread of TCM could realize its localization in UK, which is sign that TCM has completely incorporated into UK.

Secondly, more practice opportunity should be provided for the TCM learners in UK. The practical operational ability is vital to TCM learners, especially the British TCM learners. One solution lies in inviting them to China to practice in Chinese hospitals; another way is to organize TCM promotion activities on a volunteer basis, during which TCM learners could improve practical ability in their familiar language environment.

TO MAKE FULL USE OF OVERSEAS CHINESE STUDENTS IN UK

The high quality of British education is attracting more and more Chinese students. According to the statistics reported by China News on Feb, 27th, 2012,there are over 90,000 Chinese students studying in UK, among whom 70,000 students are seeking higher education, which accounts for 1/5 out of the total 445,000 international students in UK. Besides, Chinese students have the best reputation, because they are diligent and achieve good grades. Due to the limitation of British immigration policy, most of the Chinese students would leave UK after graduation; however, this group has great advantages in contributing to the spread of TCM in UK: Chinese students have no language barrier in communicating with the natives; they enjoy a high reliability because of their good general images;their own experience and conf i dence in TCM are more convincing to their British teachers, classmates and friends and so on. Therefore, we should make full use of Chinese students in spreading TCM in UK.

Firstly, we should enhance traditional culture education of Chinese students in the early days to improve their understanding and recognition on TCM. They would become volunteers in introducing our traditional culture in contacting with foreigners.Representatives of a nation are always safe topics to strike up a conversation when we come across foreign friends. For example, we tend to talk about beer when we meet Germany. Similarly, Brazil Samba, Cuban Cigar, Spanish bullfight are safe topics, which are always associated with their sense of national pride.When it comes to China, delicious foods, table tennis and traditional culture would be mentioned, in which TCM is an important ingredient. To improve Chinese students’ understanding and recognition on TCM would build up patriotism in them in addition to helping to spread TCM.

Secondly, we should provide TCM health maintenance among Chinese students. Actually, Chinese students who stay in UK over six months are covered by free NHS services. However, due to the age features of Chinese students, they seldom suffer from serious illness. On the contrast, they frequently have colds or diarrhea, and have to wait for a long time to enjoy NHS service due to the problem of procedures, such as to make a reservation and so on. TCM health maintenance would be of help under those occasions, which could guarantee Chinese students’ health and provide potential market for TCM in UK.

To sum up, the primary is to improve British people’s understanding and recognition on TCM and to accelerate the legalization process of TCM in UK, which would be long and tough to achieve. We believe that TCM would fi nally get accepted through the cooperation of all those who are involved.