New Semester, New Journey, New State of Mind

The new semester has been under way for three days. I arrived at school on the evening of the 13th day of the first lunar month, and it was snowing heavily when I came. After it snowed all that night, when I got up the next morning the whole campus had become a vast, white forested snowland; the scenery was beautiful and refreshing. Spring snow does not melt as slowly as winter snow; over these two days the snow has basically all melted away, and I plan to start morning runs in a couple of days.

We have many courses this semester and must complete the professional courses of Physiology, Pathology, Pathophysiology, Biochemistry, Medical Microbiology, Parasitology, Medical Immunology, Medical Psychology and Medical Ethics. In addition we must study Medical English, Military Theory, Current Affairs and Policies, and National Security Education, and there are also two physical-education periods each week. Deducting vacations and exam weeks, the actual study time is only about sixteen weeks, five days a week, which works out to about 80 days of real study time.

So actually the time allocated to each professional course is not much, and I rather like this arrangement. At my age, I do not much like wasting time; having a tight study schedule keeps me from idling away the days. But the young people around me may not like it, because such study reduces their entertainment time.

Starting from the 14th day of the first lunar month, we have had full-day classes. I have also been binge-watching courses on Bilibili to see which teacher explains things better, planning to pick one teacher's video course for each subject and follow along. The teaching resources on Bilibili are truly abundant: courses by doctoral supervisors from renowned medical schools such as Peking University Health Science Center, Xiangya School of Medicine, Tongji Medical College and Southern Medical University are all there, and each course is very complete. So studying in this era is truly different from when I first went to university: as long as we are willing to learn, we can follow famous teachers no matter where we are.

The only thing online learning cannot replace is laboratory courses that require venues, instruments and hands-on operation. Clinical-medicine majors have a large proportion of laboratory classes, with several sessions every week. Laboratory classes are the biggest difference between Western and Chinese medicine education: Western medical teaching values these "seeing-is-believing and data-driven" courses, which leave a deep impression.

We can use laboratory classes to verify the knowledge in textbooks; with this process, it is easy to develop confidence in what we learn. Learning TCM, by contrast, one only gets such "seeing-is-believing" opportunities after entering the clinical-practice stage, and TCM practice is not easy to subject to statistical data analysis.

This semester we will finish all the basic Western-medicine courses, and next semester we will begin clinical content. Judging from the basic Western-medicine courses, much of Western medicine coincides with TCM; it is just that, constrained by the conditions of their times, TCM could not develop its theory as finely and precisely as Western medicine. For example, the most important homeostatic idea in Western medicine closely resembles the TCM concept of "yin-yang balance," and many things in Western pathology can likewise be found in basic TCM theory. The Western pathology concepts of thrombosis and infarction basically correspond to the TCM theory of blood stasis. There are many points of communication between Chinese and Western medicine.

Moreover, in practice we have indeed cured many diseases that Western medicine could not solve. The excessive refinement of Western medicine means that many difficult and complicated conditions that cannot be defined by existing theories find no solution in the Western-medicine system; TCM, with its holism and idea of treatment based on pattern differentiation, can help some of these patients recover. Of course, to be factual, the overall level of TCM is not as good as modern medicine. In practice, TCM is used only as complementary medicine, and this situation is reasonable.

Comprehensively studying both Chinese and Western medicine has long been my aspiration, and now that it has come true I am very satisfied. Although this requires me, approaching fifty, to return to university, start everything from scratch, and endure the pain of temporary separation from my family, I still feel the effort is worthwhile. One's field of vision must be broad enough to have a relatively comprehensive understanding and not remain trapped in prejudice. This world is fragmented by prejudice, which again and again ignites war among human beings. I cannot change other people's prejudice, but I can at least broaden my own horizons, so that my heart also becomes wider.

Through last semester's study and final exams, I have re-familiarized myself with campus life and with the tricks of school exams; this semester's study has become smooth and familiar, with no pressure at all. Compared with majors such as mathematics, physics and engineering, clinical medicine is far less difficult; it is just that clinical medicine requires learning a great deal of fragmented, scattered knowledge points, demanding much time and energy. To study this major well, what is needed most is patience, emotional-regulation ability and self-discipline, which happen to be my strengths, so studying this major gives me the lightness of a fish in water.

Moreover, after reaching middle age, one clearly recognizes the importance of health and hygiene knowledge. The birth, aging, illness and death of those around us and of ourselves are our living textbooks. Young people do not know medicine's value; only in middle and old age do they realize medicine is a treasure. I am nearing the age of knowing destiny, and I have a firsthand appreciation of Zhang Zhongjing's statement in the preface to the Shanghan Lun (Treatise on Cold Damage) that studying medicine enables one "above to treat the illnesses of ruler and parents, below to rescue the destitute from distress, and in the middle to preserve the body and nurture one's own life."

In my world, medicine has no division into Chinese and Western; as long as it is practical, whether TCM or Western medicine, I like it. I am not bored by medicine's triviality and complexity; on the contrary, learning something new every day keeps someone like me constantly fresh. I always feel I have not grown up, and like a youngster I enjoy constantly encountering new things. Medicine happens to meet this need: medical knowledge is endless, and as long as one enjoys learning, one could study until one's hair is white and still not finish—not finish even by death. Such a life is hardly boring.