Insights and Updates

"Yangxin Tang" (Heart-Nourishing Decoction) is recorded in Renzhai Zhifang Lun (Renzhai's Discourse on Prescriptions). It is composed of prepared Astragalus (Zhi Huangqi), White Poria (Bai Fuling), Poria Spirit (Fushen), Pinellia Mass (Banxia Qu), Chinese Angelica (Danggui), and Sichuan Lovage Rhizome (Chuanxiong), each half a liang…

Life cannot be as good as you imagine, nor as bad as you imagine. — Guy de Maupassant Last night I returned to Beijing. In the week I had been away, Beijing underwent a cliff-like temperature drop. The moment I stepped off the high-speed train,…

In the county town of my home province there is a street specializing in funeral supplies—various ritual and mourning goods. Last night, returning from elsewhere to my sister's home, I passed that street. It was nearly deserted, the streetlights flickering, and my heart suddenly gave…

It rained hard in the small hours. The rain was so heavy, and the house so poorly soundproofed, that it woke me. Lying awake, I thought that if it rained like this all day, I might not be able to leave as planned. But by…

Days in my hometown pass slowly. Apart from the elderly and children left behind, few young people are seen in the village. The countryside and a first-tier city full of hurried young people feel like two different worlds: the countryside is peaceful and quiet, the…

When I was small, every second day of the Lunar New Year, my father would carry me and my brother on a shoulder pole, one of us in each wicker basket, to visit my maternal grandmother's home. We crossed mountain after mountain, walking a long…

On November 5, 2023, the weather forecast called for rain, but although the morning was overcast, the sun was still visible. I had been gloomy for days over the early death of my cousin, and I felt I could not sink further into that state…

On November 4, 2023, a light rain fell, finally cooling the weather after several sweltering days. It was the day our family gathered to mound fresh earth over the grave of my cousin, Dr. Zhou Zhiqiang. Barely a week had passed since the 45-year-old collapsed…

Over this year, I have seen, one after another, about ten patients who died from long COVID. Almost all died of sudden cardiac death—cerebral infarction, myocardial infarction, or cor pulmonale—too suddenly to be rescued. On hospital imaging, most showed a white lung. There were reasons…

On November 2, 2023, when I arrived home from Beijing, my cousin, who had just died suddenly of cor pulmonale, had already been buried. I missed his funeral procession, but according to our local custom we will mound earth over his grave the day after…