In the beginning of chapter 3, Zhan reveals her experiences with medical miracles in Chinese medicine. In cases where traditional Chinese medicine practitioners have claimed to defy “death-sentences” that biomedicine could not fix, skeptics claim it to be “absurd” and “too anecdotal”. At home, I often hear stories of Chinese medicine curing something that biomedicine […]

Today was the first time that I tried acupuncture without using a plastic tube to guide the needle in. It was definitely scary at first, because I wasn’t used to aiming the needle by myself. However, with the help of a pen to mark the spot and encouragement from my mom. I distinctly remember that […]

Chinese medicine believes that the tongue is something that reflects one’s overall health. My mom told me to send her pictures over the course of 10 days to measure my illness recovery process. Here’s a handful of them.  

I was especially interested by Zhan’s recount of her friend, Barbara Bernie, who was also the founding president of the American College of Traditional Chinese Medicine. According to Zhan, Barbara had “[come] down with a mysterious illness.” (Zhan 10) Immediately, I was reminded of a story that my mother had told me countless times throughout […]

It was definitely difficult to hear that my COVID test result had come back positive, but something that brought me a little bit of comfort was having Chinese medicine. My mother guided me through certain Chinese medicines that were supposedly useful in preventing serious symptoms from COVID. Back in August, she had given me several […]

Today was my first time trying acupuncture on my own since coming back to campus, so I was very nervous. My hands were not very stable and I felt a bit tense. I found success at first when needling the Sanyinjiao on my left leg, located right above the ankle, but was not very successful […]

Something became immediately apparent in both my readings of Other-Worldly, by Mei Zhan and hearing my mother’s commentary about the world of Chinese medicine. The terminology and bookkeeping practices of Chinese medicine in China differed from its usage elsewhere. For example, the Sanyinjiao pressure point (三阴交) in “Chinese” Chinese medicine is referred to as SP-6. […]