Overseas students get a taste of TCM under 'Experiencing China' program
Fifty international students took part in this year's "Experiencing China" activity at Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine.
Fifty international students have experienced the appeal of traditional Chinese medicine at the Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine.
The students are from 22 countries and are enrolled at five local universities: Shanghai Ocean University, Shanghai New York University, Shanghai Conservatory of Music, Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, and Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine.
The event is part of the China Scholarship Council's "Experiencing China" program, which aims to increase opportunities for overseas students to learn about China and its culture.
Students learn the art of five-animal boxing.
Notably, 54 percent of the students come from countries involved in the Belt and Road Initiative.
"This year marks the initiative's tenth anniversary. TCM has become an 'envoy for health' in the last decade, bridging people-to-people relationships in BRI participating nations," said Han Chouping, dean of Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine's international education school.
"We hope this activity will enable the participating students to have a close look at TCM elements and know more about China."
During the program, students learned about TCM's five elements: wood, fire, earth, metal, and water, and their relationship to people's five organs: liver, heart, spleen, lung, and kidney.
At the Shanghai TCM Museum.
They were separated into five groups, each named after one of the five elements.
They had to visit several sites on the campus, including the TCM Museum, the herb garden, the Building of International Standardization for TCM, and the university's dragon boat wharf, and complete TCM-related tasks, such as looking for bronze status for practicing acupuncture.
They also took part in the "What the Doodle" game with herb names and learned the motion of five-animal boxing, a traditional fitness sport in China that mimics the movements of tigers, deer, bears, monkeys and birds.
They also experimented with producing sachets with TCM herbs and herbal tea bags.
Students made herbal sachets and tea bags
