By Staff Reporters

A TCM doctor is diagnosing a patient.

The South African Chinese Community and Police Cooperation Center in Johannesburg looked the very picture of busyness. Doctors consulted among themselves, there was the clatter of medical equipment and a long line of people, including both South Africans and Chinese living in Johannesburg, waited patiently for their turn. It was April 27 and they were there for traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) treatment as a team of TCM experts kicked off the last leg of their Africa medical tour in South Africa.

The six TCM experts were from Sichuan province in southwest China and the event was jointly organized by the Chinese and South African authorities. The mission also covered Egypt and Kenya and Johannesburg was their first halt during the South Africa leg of the trip. From there they will proceed to South African capital Cape Town.

Pan Qingjiang, the Chinese consul-general in Johannesburg, hoped the medical camp would introduce Johannesburg residents to the cultural heritage of TCM and the skills of its practitioners. He also lauded its role in promoting TCM in Africa and nurturing China-South Africa relations.

Li Xinzhu, director of the South African Chinese Community and Police Cooperation Center, told the audience how TCM, a profound and extensive medical system, embodied the medical wisdom and cultural heritage of the Chinese nation. This event, Li added, would promote the TCM culture locally and foster medical exchanges between the two regions.

Wen Su, director of the Overseas Chinese Affairs Office of Sichuan, said as a leading province in TCM, Sichuan has organized numerous TCM medical missions, providing high-quality TCM diagnosis and treatment overseas. It has established medical stations and libraries in South Africa and 19 other countries. Online TCM diagnosis and treatment, and epidemic prevention training have received much praise.

The medical team examined the patients using the four traditional methods of diagnosis: observation, listening, asking questions, and taking their pulse. The fields of diagnosis and treatment included internal medicine, orthopedics, acupuncture, and massages.