I've begun a 3 month training in acupuncture at Xiamen University in
Fujian province, China. I'd like to share my initial impression
and perhaps I will post more on my experience here.
I chose this program for a few reasons, one being the cost , the other
location. Quality, well I have heard that Andrew Ellis trained here in
the past.
The cost is $1000 for 3 months, clinic 8am-12, class 2:30-5:30. I am
aware of the program in Nanjing, 3mo/3000. So, this is less expensive,
and NCCAOM says it qualifies for CEU/PDA's.They offer other short term
training in traumatology/orthopedics for one month. If all goes well
I'll do that as well.
I've lived in China 3 years in several cities and visited a few TCM
hospitals so I can say this one is nicer and cleaner than most. The
conditions can be shocking in some places.This program of short-term
training is aimed at overseas students from Hongkong ,Macao and
Taiwan, so the classroon instruction at this time is in Mandarin. Im
making mp3's and translating the classes.The are many bilingual
overseas students and a few doctors who speak English, but I have an
interpreter and its gone well so far.
In the clinics that I have seen the acupuncture dep't does not do
bian zheng/differential dx, rather directly treat the western disease.
Thats the trend, but today I was happy to see the doc sometimes doing
pulse and tongue! Of course hes also treating 10 patients at one time
and they are lined up in the hallway.
Of course all needling is freehand style,no guidetubes.I have seen
some agressive needling also; taiyang perpendicular, St12 deeply
perpendicular, deep needling on the throat area, through the cranial
foramen, casually as a matter of course.
All this for (hold on to your hats..) 3RMB which is 35 cents US
dollars!! When I mentioned that I recieved 70-100 /tx in the US I
could hear the jaws hit the floor.
The cost of living is quite low. and Xiamen is a beautiful
sub-tropical island city, the clinic overlooks the ocean and
mainland.Palm trees. Sure I'd rather be at Beijing U, but I believe
its not Where, but Who you train with thats paramount. The staff and
faculty seem very "willing to teach" and thats good enough for me at
this point.
Hopefully I'll have time to post more if anyone is interested.