Chinese Daily Photos, 2011 to 2019!
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Blackstone
Brigadier
Given the breath of traditional Chinese medicine, it's likely there are more cures to benefit mankind. Hope to see lots more research into that area.Congrats to Dr. Tu Youyou for your contribution to the world of medicine and hard work. You are inspiration for generations to come. Thank you (bow).
vesicles
Colonel
Congratulations to Dr. Tu Youyou! Well deserved and way overdue honors to Dr. Tu! She is living the dream of every scientist in the world!
About the "breath of traditional Chinese medicine", don't hold your breath... Even Dr. Tu herself doesn't call herself a Chinese medicine researcher. She calls herself a phytochemist, a chemist who studies chemical compounds extracted from plants.
What's the difference? Phytochemistry has been studied throughout the world and uses modern science and modern biology as foundation. It has absolutely nothing to do with the "theories" of traditional Chinese medicine. In fact, many govn't health/medicine agencies in the world, such as National Institute of Health in the US, have libraries of small molecules extracted from all kinds of weird plants gathered throughout the world. If you want to test certain drugs, you can simply ask these agencies and they will send you boat load of small chemicals to test. This was the exact way that Dr. Tu used to discover artemisinin, except that they didn't have any libraries and had to do the extraction themselves.
She didn't use "Yin", "Yang" or "Qi" or any of other crazy "theories" proposed in traditional Chinese medicine. In fact, what they did was almost strictly against all theories and principles of traditional Chinese medicine. traditional Chinese medicine emphasizes healing of the whole, targeting multiple routes to regain the balance within the body. This is the foundation of traditional Chinese medicine, Yin balancing with Yang and the flow of Qi. All diseases have been thought to be caused by some kind of disruption of the balance. Yet, Dr. Tu and her group, along with all other groups assigned to the project, aimed to extract a single compound that was from the very beginning designed to target a single mechanism to kill malaria parasite. This is obviously against the most fundamental principles of traditional Chinese medicine. The simple fact that they did extraction to look for a single ingredient/compound was almost sacrilege to traditional Chinese medicine.
So in a sense, Dr. Tu's success is actually a case against traditional Chinese medicine. This was even more extraordinary if you consider the fact that all the scientists who worked on the project officially belonged to the institute of traditional Chinese medicine. So even though they worked for the institute designed to study traditional Chinese medicine, they decided from the get-go to abandon traditional Chinese medicine ways and went strictly with modern biology methods.
In fact, Chinese scientists were so excited when they made the discovery of artemisinin that they decided to go through many traditional Chinese medicine literature and attempted to find other breakthrough just like artemisinin. Yet, after almost 4 decades and countless manpower and hours, nothing has been found. I have a cousin whose best friend is an associate professor at a prestigious traditional Chinese medicine institute in China. She spent a year at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Houston as a visiting scholar. So we had a chance to discuss our work. She told me that she and ALL her colleagues use modern phytochemistry and modern biology for their research. When I asked her "what about the traditional Chinese medicine? you guys still work for an institute designated to study traditional Chinese medicine?!" She simply shrugged and said "well, it's a dead end... It's been a dead end for some time now..." She went on and told me that, to this day, no new drugs in China has been discovered using strictly traditional Chinese medicine principles. It simply does not work. Serious Chinese researchers have abandoned the traditional Chinese medicine long time ago... Most still use the name "traditional Chinese medicine" in their proposal and publication to gain public support. The foundation has always been modern science/biology.
Blackstone
Brigadier
Thanks for the information, Vesicles. Using science to probe traditional medicine and cures is wise; I never bought all the yin, yang, and chi anyway.
Equation
Lieutenant General
Good God, I'm going to get into trouble at working if I don't stop gawking at that picture!
I am back from vacation.
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2015-12-14 08:54 | CRIENGLISH.com | Editor:Yao Lan
Photo taken on December 12, 2015 in Beijing shows the Guanyin statue donated by the Thai Buddha Image Admiration Association to China on behalf of the Thai authorities. The wooden statue dates back more than a thousand years to China's Tang Dynasty. The gift marks the 40th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and Thailand. (Photo/Xinhua)
Dignitaries attending the news conference held to announce the gift of the wooden Guanyin statue donated by Thailand to mark the 40th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties with China, holding calligraphy given by China in return, Beijing, December 12, 2015.(Photo/Xinhua)
Vice executive of the Thai Buddha Image Admiration Association, Pisal Tachaviphak and Buddhist abbot Shi Jueyi of the Wanghai Temple on Mount Wutai in east China's Shanxi province, greet each other in front of the Guanyin statue in Beijing, December 12, 2015. The statue was given to China to mark the 40th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and Thailand. (Photo/Xinhua)
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2015-12-14 08:54 | CRIENGLISH.com | Editor:Yao Lan
Photo taken on December 12, 2015 in Beijing shows the Guanyin statue donated by the Thai Buddha Image Admiration Association to China on behalf of the Thai authorities. The wooden statue dates back more than a thousand years to China's Tang Dynasty. The gift marks the 40th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and Thailand. (Photo/Xinhua)
Dignitaries attending the news conference held to announce the gift of the wooden Guanyin statue donated by Thailand to mark the 40th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties with China, holding calligraphy given by China in return, Beijing, December 12, 2015.(Photo/Xinhua)
Vice executive of the Thai Buddha Image Admiration Association, Pisal Tachaviphak and Buddhist abbot Shi Jueyi of the Wanghai Temple on Mount Wutai in east China's Shanxi province, greet each other in front of the Guanyin statue in Beijing, December 12, 2015. The statue was given to China to mark the 40th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between China and Thailand. (Photo/Xinhua)
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