Education and Practice of Chinese Medicine in Taiwan

Chinese medicine, it nevertheless allowed it coexist with Western medicine after its withdrawal to Taiwan.ï¿ The number of physicians practicing Chinese mddicine is only one tent ` of the number practicing Western medicine. In today's practice, acupuncture plays a much smaller role than medicinal therapy.ï¿ The widespread use of Chinese medicine and not least the interest of Western industrial countries has contributed to the incorporation of Chinese medicine into the health service that three years ago was extended to the whole population.ï¿ Chinese medical education in Taiwan is being gradually absorbed into the university education system. Nevertheless, attempts to integrate the practice of Chinese medicine with that of Western medicine have so achieved little success. ï¿ Western interest in Chinese medicine has undergone a huge growth in popularity since the early 1970s after reports of Nixon's historical visit to the PRC brought news that the Chinese were experimenting in the use of its ancient needle therapy to provide analgesia to permit the performance of surgical operations. Mao Ze-Dong's government had been promoting the use of Chinese medicine and acupuncture as part of national health care.ï¿ Government support for Chinese medicine in the mainland has encouraged Westerners to associate Chinese medicine with the mainland rather than with any other part of the Chinese-speaking world