My involvement with the “Diagnostics in Chinese Medicine” as Associate Chief Editor

The Educational Instruction Committee of the World Federation of Chinese Medicine Societies has recently produced a series of textbooks entitled the “World Textbook Series for Chinese Medicine Core Curriculum”.

The Chief Editor for that series was Zhang Bo-li, which you perhaps may remember for being the person in charge of controlling the original Covid-19 outbreak at the epicenter in Wuhan in early 2020.

Well, in 2014, Prof. Zhang approached the most famous proponents of each Chinese medicine specialty from all over the world, to compile the textbooks in the series.

At that time, my first book, the “Gold Mirrors and Tongue Reflections” was making big waves in the TCM Diagnosis circles in China. And although I had not yet completed my PhD, I was invited to co-author the Diagnostics volume, as Associate Chief Editor, being the youngest scholar of the entire project.

The position of Chief Editor was offered to a very good friend and colleague, Prof. Li Can-dong, the President of the Fujian University of Chinese Medicine.

The Associate Chief Editor team included big names such as He Jian-cheng from the Shanghai TCM University, Wang Xue-ling from the Tianjin TCM University, Chen Jia-xu, my former Medical Master’s degree supervisor at the Beijing TCM University, and Chen Ye-meng from the New York College of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

However, because it was perhaps inappropriate for a former teacher to have the same status as his student, Chen Jia-xu demanded to be appointed as the second Chief Editor, together with Li Can-dong, to maintain his academic hierarchy. I respect that.

These books are fast becoming the standard textbooks for TCM Medical students in China. It is believed that when the English translation becomes available, they will help standardize TCM education globally, offering a solid curriculum written by the best clinicians and scholars of our generation.

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