Shandong University of Traditional Chinese Medicine promotes the overseas expansion of traditional Chinese medicine: three-tier layout of diagnosis and treatment in Hungary, education in Thailand, and scientific research in Kenya

China News Service, Jinan, September 16 (Reporter Zhao Xiao) Pulse diagnosis and syndrome differentiation, acupoint application, traditional Chinese medicine conditioning, acupuncture and massage... At the Medalpin Diagnostic and Treatment Center in Hungary, which is far away across the ocean, doctors Wang Yan and Cai Chengsen from the Second Affiliated Hospital of Shandong University of Traditional Chinese Medicine are using the "eighteen kinds" skills of traditional Chinese medicine to cure diseases and relieve pain for the local people.

On September 1 this year, two medical experts were appointed by Shandong University of Traditional Chinese Medicine and set off from Jinan, Shandong Province, to the above-mentioned center to provide traditional Chinese medicine diagnosis and treatment services for a period of three months. The center is also one of the three overseas cooperation centers of Shandong University of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

‘The patients who come for treatment are both overseas Chinese and many local Hungarians. ’ Cai Chengsen told reporters via WeChat that local patients mostly suffer from neck, shoulder, waist and leg pain, insomnia, anxiety, and various chronic sub-health problems, and make a special trip to the center to receive traditional Chinese medicine treatment. He was most impressed by a local patient with chronic insomnia whose sleep improved significantly after acupuncture and traditional Chinese medicine. During the follow-up visit, he even brought his family with him for treatment.

Cai Chengsen took the pulse of local people at the Medalpin Clinic in Hungary. Photo provided by interviewee

Hungary is the first country in Europe to legislate traditional Chinese medicine, and traditional Chinese medicine has a solid local popular foundation. Doctor Wang Yan was deeply touched by this: ‘The hospital-made preparations we brought to the hospital were highly accepted by the local people. They are willing to use traditional Chinese medicine to regulate the functions of the internal organs, and at the same time they highly recognize the quick-effective traditional Chinese medicine therapies such as acupuncture and massage. ’

Not only Hungary, in the past two years, Shandong University of Traditional Chinese Medicine has taken advantage of the "Belt and Road" construction to establish a traditional medicine cooperation center in Kenya and unveiled a Chinese medicine overseas education center in Thailand, spreading the "fire" of traditional Chinese medicine to more countries and regions.

According to Liu Junhua, director of the International Cooperation and Exchange Office of the school, the Chinese Medicine Overseas Education Center jointly established by the school and Kelak University in Thailand focuses on non-academic training in Chinese medicine, offers special courses such as rehabilitation care, traditional health exercises, and life-oriented Chinese medicine, builds an overseas teaching practice platform, and regularly selects key teachers to visit Thailand for study and exchange.

In December last year, the school selected five teachers from nursing, rehabilitation, traditional Chinese medicine, physical education and other majors to conduct a 90-day study tour in Thai universities. In August this year, the school sent a second batch of teachers to Thailand for exchanges.

Su Yanqing, an associate professor at the School of Health, Shandong University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, who was one of the first to visit Thailand, said in an interview that she and her team members went deep into local campuses, communities, Thai Tai Chi Association and other places to popularize TCM rehabilitation and nursing knowledge, and promote traditional exercises such as Baduanjin. ‘When I was teaching health-preserving exercises, I could clearly feel the Thai people’s strong interest in Baduanjin. They taught it almost everywhere I went. ’

Zhang Wenyu, director of the Teacher Development Center of Shandong University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, said that inspired by the results of the first batch of visiting exchanges, the assistant director of the Institute of Traditional Medicine of Thailand, Ministry of Public Health of Thailand, came to the school for one year of further study to systematically learn Chinese and traditional Chinese health-preserving exercises. ‘In the future, we will build a long-term and stable cooperation platform with Thai universities in the fields of nursing education, rehabilitation technology, traditional medicine, and community services. ’

In June this year, Shandong University of Traditional Chinese Medicine signed a memorandum of understanding on cooperation with Thailand's Kalak University and unveiled the Medical Health Center (Jinan). Photo provided by the school

In addition to traditional Chinese medicine diagnosis and treatment, education and training, Shandong University of Traditional Chinese Medicine also extends the reach of international cooperation to scientific research. In 2024, the school will cooperate with Kenyatta University in Kenya to establish the ‘Shandong-Kenya Traditional Medicine Cooperation Center’ to build a high-level cooperation base for China-Africa traditional medicine around the standardization research of African specialty medicinal materials, transformation of technological achievements, scientific research cooperation and talent training.

In recent years, Kenyatta University teachers and students have gone to Shandong University of Traditional Chinese Medicine in batches for further training, and the cooperation between the two parties has yielded numerous results. In 2025, the "Research and International Application of Key Technologies for Immune Regulation of Traditional Chinese Medicine" project jointly implemented by the two universities was approved as a 2025 Shandong Provincial Key Research and Development Plan (Science and Technology Cooperation) project; in August this year, the "China-Kenya Traditional Medicine Immune Regulation Science and Education Collaborative Demonstration Project" jointly applied by the two universities became one of the 15 high-quality projects in the 2026 "China-Africa Hundreds of Universities Cooperation Plan".

Wang Lin, vice president of Shandong University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, who has taken the lead in promoting international education cooperation many times, said that traditional Chinese medicine is an important part of the international traditional medicine system. In recent years, the school has actively responded to the work arrangements of governments at all levels to promote the overseas development of traditional Chinese medicine, aiming to jointly build the "Belt and Road" countries and regions, and building a traditional Chinese medicine overseas system covering education, diagnosis and treatment, scientific research and other fields, using traditional Chinese medicine as a link to convey the charm of traditional Chinese culture to overseas people.

The practice of Shandong University of Traditional Chinese Medicine is a vivid footnote of the overseas expansion of traditional Chinese medicine. Data from the State Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine shows that with its unique theoretical system and precise clinical efficacy, traditional Chinese medicine has spread to nearly 200 countries and regions. China has in-depth promoted cooperation in the field of traditional Chinese medicine with more than 40 countries, regions and international organizations, and has established a number of high-quality overseas centers for traditional Chinese medicine. (over)