Beijing, March 3 (ZXS) -- How can traditional Chinese medicine culture "take root" in Southeast Asia?

——Interview with Ning Yi, Deputy Director of the Overseas Chinese History Museum of China

Written by Menrui

Where there is seawater, there are overseas Chinese, and where there are overseas Chinese, there is traditional Chinese medicine. In Southeast Asia, which is connected to China's mountains and rivers, Chinese medicine culture has not only spread widely with people-to-people exchanges, integrated and developed a unique local traditional medicine system, but also absorbed the unique property resources of Southeast Asia, enriching the types and sources of traditional Chinese medicine.

As a treasure of the Chinese nation, based on what causes and circumstances will Chinese medicine go to Southeast Asia? And how to "take root" in Southeast Asia and integrate and develop so far? What role do overseas Chinese play in this? Ning Yi, deputy director of the Overseas Chinese History Museum of China, recently accepted an exclusive interview with the "East-West Question" of China News Agency, telling the historical traces of traditional Chinese medicine accompanying overseas Chinese in "going to Nanyang".

Video: Ning Yi: How does Chinese medicine culture "take root" in Southeast Asia? Source: China News Network

The following is a summary of the interview:

China News Agency: When and based on when and based on what opportunities did traditional Chinese medicine first enter Southeast Asia?

Ning Yi: Cultural exchanges and mutual learning between different countries and ethnic groups are the normal state of human social development. China has a long history of exchanges with Southeast Asian countries. Historically, due to war, commerce, livelihood and other reasons, some Chinese migrated to Southeast Asia and other places, which led to the spread and development of traditional Chinese medicine in the process of integrating into the local social environment.

According to Vietnamese historical records, as early as 257 BC, the Chinese doctor Cui Wei practiced healing in Vietnam, and his book "Records of the Gongyu Collection" has also been handed down to the world.

During the Qin and Han dynasties, a large number of people from the Central Plains moved south, and Chinese medicine spread south. The Qin and Han dynasties set up counties in the northern and central regions of present-day Vietnam, and TCM diagnosis and treatment techniques and TCM medical books spread south with the population, making northern and central Vietnam the earliest Southeast Asian regions affected by traditional Chinese medicine.

"Traces of Overseas Chinese - Southeast Asian Overseas Chinese and Traditional Chinese Medicine Culture Exhibition" exhibited at the China Overseas Chinese History Museum. Photo courtesy of the Overseas Chinese History Museum of China

China News Agency: How do local people view traditional Chinese medicine that comes from afar?

Ning Yi: When Chinese medicine first entered Southeast Asia, it was first recognized and accepted by local princes and nobles and other upper-class people in society. Later, as a large number of overseas Chinese migrated to Southeast Asia, Chinese medicine also went to the local ordinary society, and was welcomed by the local people while solving the medical needs of overseas Chinese.

Taking Vietnam as an example, locals call traditional Chinese medicine "northern medicine" and "northern medicine", and local medicine "southern medicine" and "southern medicine". On the basis of absorbing the essence of Chinese medicine, Vietnam has gradually formed a traditional Vietnamese medicine system based on the characteristics of local geography, society, humanities and diseases. The medical work "Xinyi Maritime Medicine Sect Heart Ling" written by the famous Vietnamese medical scientist Le Hua Zhuo in the 18th century, systematizing Chinese medical theories and treatments, integrating Vietnam's clinical practice experience, is a successful example of Southeast Asian countries accepting and developing the essence of Chinese medicine, and is of great significance in the history of cultural, diplomatic and medical exchanges between China and Vietnam.

Chinese herbal medicine exhibition in "Traces of Chinese Medicine - Southeast Asian Overseas Chinese and Chinese Medicine Culture Exhibition".

China News Agency: What are the representative historical events of the spread of traditional Chinese medicine in Southeast Asia?

Ning Yi: An important event in promoting Chinese medicine to Southeast Asia was Zheng He's trip to the West. Zheng He's fleet was equipped with medical officers and healers, who undertook the tasks of investigating, identifying, collecting and purchasing medicinal materials in the places they visited. The Chinese medicinal seeds brought with the ship were taught to the locals to cultivate those that could adapt to the planting conditions. They also treat diseases and impart medical knowledge to Southeast Asian residents, and promote the dissemination and exchange of Chinese medicine culture in the local area.

According to the historical document "History of Kaiba Chronicles" of overseas Chinese in Batavia (now Jakarta), in 1681, the Dutch governor Rijecrov van Gones retired due to illness and returned to China, escorted by Chinese medicine doctor Zhou Meiye (also translated as "Zhou Meidad") all the way and returned to Indonesia the following year. Since then, all local high-ranking officials who fell ill were treated by Zhou Meiye, and he won the reputation of "the first divine doctor in the bar".

The spread of Chinese medicine in Southeast Asia is also reflected in Ming and Qing dynasty novels. In the novel "Mirror Flower Edge" written by Li Ruzhen in the Qing Dynasty, the sea ship Gong Duo Jiugong, who traveled on the Maritime Silk Road, gave a variety of cures and prescriptions along the way, as the way to help the world, and was determined to publish the secret recipe for the inspection recipe and circulate it. This reflects the widespread spread of traditional Chinese medicine in Southeast Asia with the development of maritime trade.

As the Maritime Silk Road has become the main channel for Sino-foreign trade exchanges, there are frequent commercial exchanges between China and Southeast Asia, and many Chinese medicinal materials originating in Southeast Asia are loaded into China in containers on sea ships. Photo courtesy of the Overseas Chinese History Museum of China

China News Agency: How do products originating in Southeast Asia gradually enter the traditional Chinese medicine system?

Ning Yi: Southeast Asia is rich in animal and plant resources, and the distribution of mineral resources is also different from China. Many animal and plant medicines, mineral medicines and spices from Southeast Asia have long become unique Chinese medicine resources, and their ways of entering the Chinese medicine system are very different.

The idiom "barley pearl" refers to the fact that barley is said to be a pearl, which is a metaphor for being slandered and wronged. Behind this allusion is the phenomenon of Southeast Asian products entering the Central Plains. During the Eastern Han Dynasty, the general Ma Yuan marched south to Jiaotoe (present-day northern Vietnam), and in order to cope with the humid climate and resist the miasma, he had the army serve coix seeds. The coix fruit of the cross-toed coix is large, and when Ma Yuan returned to the army, he carried a cart and wanted to introduce it as a seed. After Ma Yuan's death, someone wrote to falsely accuse him of bringing back a cart of pearls from the south. His wife wrote six times before the grievance was resolved.

During the Han and Tang dynasties, Taoism and Buddhism emerged in China, and some Taoist priests and monks traveled between China and Southeast Asia, which promoted people's understanding and exchange of medicinal resources in Southeast Asia.

After the middle of the Tang Dynasty, the Maritime Silk Road replaced the land route as the main trade exchange channel between China and foreign countries, which greatly promoted the exchanges between China and Southeast Asia, in which spices used as medicinal materials were the main goods imported by China from Southeast Asia. Among the cultural relics unearthed by ships in the Song Dynasty in Quanzhou Bay, the largest number of spices and medicinal herbs, including pepper, betel nut, frankincense, ambergris, cinnabar, mercury, tortoiseshell, etc., are all bulk goods imported by China from Southeast Asia.

Native to Southeast Asia, frankincense, myrrh, betel nut, cloves, cardamom and other Chinese medicinal herbs. Photo courtesy of the Overseas Chinese History Museum of China

China News Agency: What role do overseas Chinese play in the spread and development of traditional Chinese medicine in Southeast Asia?

Ning Yi: At the end of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, a large-scale overseas Chinese society was formed in Southeast Asia, who maintained Chinese cultural traditions and living customs while crossing the country and making a living in foreign lands, further spreading Chinese medicine to all parts of Southeast Asia, and promoting the integration and symbiosis of Chinese medicine and local culture.

After the middle of the 19th century, the people in the southeast coastal areas of China went abroad to make a living in the form of "indentured Chinese workers", and overseas Chinese further gathered in Southeast Asia. Due to heavy physical labor, coupled with the humid and hot local climate, water and soil unsatisfactory, etc., the demand for medical treatment by overseas Chinese has surged, and many TCM practitioners have gone to Southeast Asia to practice medicine.

Overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia have worked together to help each other, and have established many Chinese medicine hospitals and charities, as well as Chinese medicine shops and factories, and Chinese medicine associations have also been established. These Chinese medicine hospitals, Chinese medicine enterprises and Chinese medicine associations uphold charity and promote the purpose of Chinese medicine, take care of the elderly and poor overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia, and at the same time benefit other local ethnic groups with medical care.

The restoration scene of the Chinese medicine shop in the "Traces of Chinese Medicine - Southeast Asian Overseas Chinese and Chinese Medicine Culture Exhibition". Photo courtesy of the Overseas Chinese History Museum of China

China News Agency: What impact has traditional Chinese medicine had on Southeast Asian society and culture?

Ning Yi: Chinese emphasizes the homogeneity of medicine and food, and overseas Chinese bring this concept and eating habits to Southeast Asia, and derive a characteristic food culture based on local customs and customs. Representative bak kut tea, nyonya vegetables, lotus tea, etc., are all consistent with the concept of "harmony and harmony" in Chinese medicine.

Ancient Chinese physicians often used guidance to exercise self-cultivation, prevent and treat diseases, and derived health preservation exercises such as Five Bird Play, Eight Duan Jin, and Tai Chi. At the end of the Ming Dynasty and the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, overseas Chinese spread Chinese martial arts to Southeast Asia, influencing many local Chinese martial arts enthusiasts.

There are many religious and charitable sites in Southeast Asia that come from China, many of which have Chinese medicine pharmacies and regular voluntary visits by Chinese medicine doctors. In the local area, religious and folk belief sites are not only people's spiritual sustenance, but also places to seek medical treatment.

Due to the development of maritime trade, a large number of foreign language loanwords appear in the Malay language spoken in the area around the Strait of Malacca. Some of these Chinese loanwords about Chinese medicine are almost identical to Hokkien pronunciation, such as ginséng (ginséng), jintan (rendan), koyok (plaster), bongmeh (touch pulse), etc.

Zhu Yu of the Northern Song Dynasty's "Pingzhou Can Talk" recorded, "Three Buddha Qi to China with frankincense, the city where the company is located uses incense to make goods, and in addition to the points, the official city is exhausted." Srivijaya was a maritime power in Southeast Asia at the time, with territory in present-day Indonesia and the Malay Peninsula. Merchant ships brought frankincense and other incense medicines to China, and after being pumped by the city boss to buy them, they were sold by the government, which showed the preciousness of incense medicines imported from Southeast Asia. Photo courtesy of the Overseas Chinese History Museum of China

China News Agency: What is the current development of traditional Chinese medicine in Southeast Asia? What issues need to be paid attention to or directions worth exploring in the process of promoting and disseminating Chinese medicine culture?

Ning Yi: At present, the development of traditional Chinese medicine in Southeast Asia has become distinctive, the medical level has been continuously improved, the development of community has become stable, the college of traditional Chinese medicine has been gradually established, academic exchange activities at home and abroad have been increasing, and the social influence has been extensive. Chinese medicine has been registered in the form of drugs in Vietnam, Singapore, the Philippines and other countries; Vietnam, the Philippines, Thailand and other countries have also announced the recognition of the legal status of traditional Chinese medicine, and traditional Chinese medicine has been recognized at the legal level.

Since the middle of the 20th century, the process of Chinese medicine education in Southeast Asia has gradually deepened, and the scale of higher education in Chinese medicine has gradually expanded and the system has gradually been completed. Chinese TCM medical institutions, scientific research institutes, universities and enterprises have increasingly deepened cooperation and exchanges with Southeast Asian countries, which has reserved a large number of talents for the overseas development of TCM.

With the gradual accumulation of overseas Chinese in Southeast Asia, many Chinese medicine hospitals and charities, as well as Chinese medicine shops, Chinese medicine factories, and related Chinese medicine associations, have also been established. The picture shows an open-air healing photo on Chinatown Street, Singapore. Photo by Ran Wenjuan

It can be said that a history of overseas Chinese migration is also a history of overseas Chinese medicine. At present, traditional Chinese medicine is an important part of people-to-people exchanges between China and other countries in the world and promoting mutual learning between Eastern and Western civilizations. Close application and presentation can make people living in the country increasingly recognize and accept Chinese medicine, so that they can obtain a broader space for development. Modern theories can also be used to explain and explain the cultural concepts of Chinese medicine, and explain the traditional Chinese philosophical ideas and values behind Chinese medicine to foreign people, so that more overseas people can understand and accept Chinese medicine.

Respondent Profile:

Ning Yi is the deputy director of the Overseas Chinese History Museum of China, a director of the Overseas Chinese History Society of China, and a member of the Youth Federation of the Central Committee and State Organs. Engaged in overseas Chinese affairs for many years, he has presided over overseas Chinese overseas Chinese projects, co-authored "Research on Overseas Chinese Associations in Five Relationships", and led the planning of "50 Years on Paper - "American Overseas Chinese Daily" Special Exhibition", "Overseas Chinese and Winter Olympics Theme Exhibition", "Xinqiao Innovation Decade Achievement Exhibition", "Huaji Medical Traces - Southeast Asian Overseas Chinese and Chinese Medicine Culture Exhibition".