Insights and Updates

Over the past few days, a news story has shocked the Chinese-American community. A young Chinese couple—both graduates of Tsinghua University as undergraduates and of the University of California, San Diego, as master's students, and both later working as engineers at Google—suffered a family tragedy.

Last May Day, my son suddenly asked to buy a cat, so at a flower-bird-fish market at the foot of Zizhu Bridge we bought him a golden shaded British Shorthair kitten—the very one he had spotted at first glance in the market. It looked adorably…

Laozi said in the Dao De Jing that he had three treasures: "kindness, frugality, and daring not to be ahead of the world"—his three great tools for dealing with life. I also have five treasures: understanding, silence, a smile, letting nature take its course, and…

On Wednesday evening my students came to visit me. One of them had just been admitted to Beijing University of Chinese Medicine. I gave her three books: "I Myself, My Brain," "Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for Personality Disorders," and "The Psychiatrist's Handbook," and asked her to…

Although I have repeatedly mentioned in many articles that cancer patients should avoid taking herbal decoctions long-term, I still want to write a dedicated piece to emphasize this and to raise awareness among patients and their families. It is true that the medical records of…

Primary and secondary tumors of the liver are a major cause of death among cancer patients. Whether it is primary liver cancer or secondary hepatic metastasis, patients should prioritize treatment of the hepatic lesion. Because the liver is the second most important organ of the…

Wang Anshi of the Song Dynasty wrote an essay entitled "Shang Zhongyong" (Lamenting Zhongyong). Its gist is that a boy named Fang Zhongyong was extraordinarily clever in childhood, but grew up to become an ordinary man, "merged into the common crowd." We Chinese seem to…

Dr. Li Furen, a disciple of Mr. Shi Jinmo, once treated a number of prostate cancer patients. He had an empirical formula called "Qushi Bushen Tang" (Castration-Supplementing Kidney Decoction). The formula consists of: Shengdihuang (raw Rehmannia root) 15g, Shudihuang (prepared Rehmannia root) 15g, Shanzhuyu (Asiatic…

The craftsman Shi went to Qi, and when he reached Quyuan, he saw an oak tree at the shrine. Its crown could shade several thousand oxen; measuring it, it was a hundred spans around; it rose eight hundred feet above the hill before branching, and…

In Yang Yi Da Quan (The Complete Source of External Medicine) there is a formula called "Wu Xiang Zhui Du Wan" (Five-Fragrance Toxin-Pursuing Pill) that treats boils (ding) and unnamed toxic swellings. It is composed of: Ru Xiang (Frankincense, remove oil), Xue Jie (Draconis Sanguis),…