Insights and Updates

Both Fei Xiaotong and Xu Zhuoyun are respected sociologists. Peasant Life in China and From the Soil: The Foundations of Chinese Society are Fei's best-known works, while Xu's may be Watching America, Watching China, and Rivers Without End. I have read both scholars' books and…

I grew up in the countryside. During the busy farming season I had to work the fields with my parents; rural children have followed the same path for thousands of years. The hardest work we did as children was probably transplanting rice seedlings. It required…

Blood is an important component of the human body; it is a liquid connective tissue making up about 7%–8% of body weight. The blood system is the transport thoroughfare connecting organs and tissues, carrying various substances through our bodies like a courier. Our lungs use…

The theory of evolution was proposed by Darwin. All things in nature are, at every moment, undergoing evolution visible or invisible to our eyes. As long as there is pressure of natural selection, there is evolution. For example, when a goshawk hunts a rabbit, the…

Several years ago, a radiologist from Jiangsu Province came to see me. She had unfortunately developed advanced colorectal cancer; after suffering through painful surgery, chemotherapy, and radiotherapy, her condition was still not contained, and she hoped for TCM help. Before coming to me, she had…

Almost everyone who has studied TCM knows of a treatment called "fighting poison with poison." As a four-character idiom, the phrase is known to every man, woman, and child in the Chinese-speaking world. But the great majority of people understand only its surface meaning, unable…

At dusk, when the last streak of sunset on my desk has vanished, I stand up and stretch, looking out the window into the distance. Though the sun has set, the evening glow remains; the Western Hills in the distance stand out in clear outline…

On a weekend morning I read at home, with dozens of potted green plants before my eyes, some in full bloom, and the winter sun falling warmly on me. My heart is both tranquil and faintly joyful; I am infinitely content with this kind of…

A mother of a child patient contacted me, saying that her child's Western attending physician had spoken about the expected effects of chemotherapy without much confidence. The doctor said they could try chemotherapy but could not guarantee efficacy—not the confident assurance that treatment would surely…

For some people, staying alive is not difficult. For others, staying alive is like sailing through stormy seas, full of hardships and dangers. Cancer patients belong to the latter group. Some are indignant at fate's arrangement after a cancer diagnosis; others are crushed in spirit…