Insights and Updates

Mr. Yang, male, a farmer from Dandong, Liaoning Province, born in 1946, first visited on March 5, 2019. He had long eaten pickled foods such as suan cai (pickled napa cabbage), and was Helicobacter pylori positive. On November 28, 2018, he went to Dandong Central…

Over ten years ago, my mother was treated for gastric cancer at a Grade-A tertiary hospital in Beijing. Her attending physician was an associate professor specializing in medical oncology of the digestive tract, a medical doctor around forty. When my mother returned to the hospital…

Waking up this morning, I saw that the death toll from the Ludian earthquake in Sichuan had climbed to over forty, and my heart was heavy. At breakfast, I discussed with my son and his mother that we should donate some money; both agreed. I…

Most TCM doctors probably put spicy foods on the forbidden list for cancer patients, and I have often done so myself. Does that mean all cancer patients cannot eat chili? Not necessarily. Some cancer patients who eat chili suffer no harm at all; on the…

Not only women's breasts develop; in some men the breast tissue also enlarges. But male breast enlargement is not a normal physiological phenomenon—it is a disease, called gynecomastia or male breast hypertrophy. Gynecomastia is classified as primary or secondary. Primary gynecomastia is mostly due to…

Ju Pi Zhu Ru Tang first appears in Zhang Zhongjing's Jin Gui Yao Lue of the Han dynasty. It is composed of five Chinese herbs: Ju Pi (Citri Reticulatae Pericarpium, tangerine peel), Zhu Ru (Bambusae Caulis in Taeniam, bamboo shavings), Sheng Jiang (Zingiberis Rhizoma recens),…

Under the night-shrouded foot of Yuquan Mountain in Beijing, all is quiet and serene. A slender new moon hangs high in the sky; beneath the dim street lamps, pedestrians stroll in twos and threes, and a few night anglers concentrate by the Jin River. The…

Volume 9 of the Wei Sheng Bao Jian contains a formula called Sheng Ma Tang, used to treat Lei Tou Feng (thunder-head wind). Lei Tou Feng refers to brain noise and headache caused by traumatic brain injury or cranial nervous system diseases (such as vascular…

After finishing the American physician Paul Kalanithi's When Breath Becomes Air, my heart would not settle for a long time. On the WeChat Read app this book carries a recommendation score of 95.3% and is hailed as a masterpiece. As I write this, 55,000 readers…

The rice at the foot of Yuquan Mountain in Beijing is ripe. Under the setting sun, the golden panicles glitter especially brightly. The autumn harvest is near; the weeds along the field ridges have been cleared, leaving the ridges exposed. Walking along them, breathing the…