This Day, That Year

ItemfromNov3,1995,in ChinaDaily:ThefirstTibetanmedicineclinicin Jiaxing,Zhejiangprovince, treatspatientsonopening dayWednesday.

Tibetanmedicine,witha historyofmorethan2,000 years,isknownforitsspecialtreatmentofcertain paralysesandgastritis.

After decades of promotion and investment, the growing awareness of Tibetan medicine has led to a growing number of non-Tibetans turning to it for a cure.

Tibetan medicine was listed as a national intangible cultural heritage in 2006.

In 2014, the Ministry of Culture filed Tibetan medicine for inclusion in UNESCO’s list of intangible heritage.

And in 2015, the Tibetan Medical College of Qinghai University in Qinghai province announced plans to offer international students master’s degrees in traditional Tibetan medicine.

Tibetan medicine, or Sowa Rigpa in Tibetan, has absorbed influences from traditional Chinese, Indian and Arabic medicines.

Similar to traditional Chinese medicine and in sharp contrast to biomedicine, Tibetan medicine, which is mainly practiced in the Tibet autonomous region and the Himalayan region, uses herbs, minerals and sometimes insects and animals to treat afflictions.

In the past, Tibetan medicine was mainly used in Buddhist temples, and most of the doctors were monks.

With billions of yuan investment from the central and local governments in the past decades, more than 50 Tibetan medicine hospitals have been built nationwide.