China's well-known author Lu Xun, who gave up a career in medicine for one in literature, once wrote an essay lampooning the Chinese herbal medicine profession. A traditional doctor, claiming to be a student of a famous practitioner in Shaoxing, treated Lu's father, who was suffering from dropsy. His prescription called for “ a pair of crickets, each being the first and only mating partner of the other.” “drum skin pellets,” and the like. Lu wrote of the former： “It seems that even insects have to observe traditional marriage virtues, and if they 'remarry' they lose their qualification to be ground into medicine.” As for the drum skin, “it must be that since the taught drum skin is broken, it would be just the thing to reduce the swelling.”
History is a constant process of reassessment.
At the time of the May Fourth Movement in 1919, there were calls for “complete Westernisation”－especially adoption of Western science and democracy. A couple of idealistic students from that era met, fell in love, and married. Later, to commemorate that time, they selected a name for their daughter that alluded to the May Fourth era. Fittingly enough, this daughter became well known in the West as a doctor of obstetrics and gynaecology. Yet, she ultimately returned to study the Chinese medicine that intellectuals of her parents' generation had abandoned.
Crossing boundaries will surely be increasingly important in the next century.
Western medicine stresses the scientific method. It therefore excludes Chinese medicine, which relies on bodily forces that-in the past-could not be scientifically measured. But today, in the face of cancer, AIDS, and other diseases, the limits to Western medicine are apparent. Thus there is now a “third stream” that attempts to combine East and West, and does not eschew looking to the Chinese tradition for answers. This could well become a major trend in medicine in the next century.
There is now a dialogue between Western and Chinese medicine. And we are being challenged by history to build similar bridges across gaps in non-science fields as well.
Take Taiwanese language policy for example. After WWII, to eradicate the lingering influence of Japanese colonialism, the Nationalist government that came to Taiwan banned the speaking of Japanese. However, in an effort to make Taiwan identify with the culture of the “mother land” - China - the government also banned the use of the local Taiwanese dialect. Today, as identification with Taiwan as one's “homeland” surges, the use of dialects has come to identify groups and to symbolize identification with Taiwan（as opposed to China）。
But history teaches us that there is nothing but disaster in dividing the world into “us” and “them.”Cross-cultural interaction alone can enrich our spiritual civilization. Can Taiwan build a lively “mother tongue”environment that encourages inter-cultural stimulation？ This is an issue to test the wisdom of the current generation.
The process of crossing boundaries is just beginning.
Dialogue is both inevitable and necessary.
（From Sinorama, a monthly magazine published in Taiwan）
跨界與對話
清末民初棄醫(yī)從文的名作家魯迅,曾寫過影射當時中醫(yī)草菅人命的散文《父親的病》。那位紹興城“軒轅岐伯的嫡派門徒”,為魯迅得了水腫的父親看病,所開藥方竟是些“原配蟋蟀一對、敗鼓皮丸”
等?！八坪趵ハx也要貞節(jié),續(xù)弦再醮,連作藥的資格也喪失了?！敝劣跀」钠ね?則是因為“水腫一名鼓脹,一用打破的鼓皮自然就可以克服它。”
歷史潮流卻是反思的。
民國八年“五四運動”,一對“全面學習西方民主科學精神”的男女同學,在這個偉大的時代運動中相戀、結合。然而,他們?yōu)榧o念五四、取名為“玖”的女兒,卻在成為西方世界的婦產(chǎn)科醫(yī)生后,回頭重拾曾被中國精英完全揚棄的傳統(tǒng)醫(yī)學智慧。
跨界,隱隱然成為下一個世紀的大趨勢之一。
西醫(yī)講求科學實證,固然破除了中醫(yī)“醫(yī)者,意也”過于唯心的流弊,但是當今人類面臨癌癥、愛之病、免疫等棘手疾病,卻也發(fā)現(xiàn)西醫(yī)的局限性。于是,從照顧了中國人幾千年的中醫(yī)體系里挖寶,跨越中西醫(yī)界線的“第三醫(yī)學”,便可望成為下一世紀的醫(yī)學主流。
中西醫(yī)學開始對話,有別于自然科學的人文領域,也受到歷史反思浪潮的沖擊。
就以臺灣的語言政策來說,光復后為了根除日本殖民文化的影響,國民政府禁止人民說日語；但為了使臺灣人民認同母國文化,竟連臺語也一起禁了。這導致今日本土意識高漲之際,母語成為族群的圖騰、土地認同的象征。
歷史明示我們,“非我族類,其心必異”的思考模式,只能帶來災難,沒有福祉?？缥幕拇蠹軜?才能更豐富人類的精神文明。臺灣能否營造活潑的母語環(huán)境,使多元文化在當?shù)丶な帯R流？考驗著這一代人的智慧。
跨界,正在開始；
對話,勢在必行。
History is a constant process of reassessment.
At the time of the May Fourth Movement in 1919, there were calls for “complete Westernisation”－especially adoption of Western science and democracy. A couple of idealistic students from that era met, fell in love, and married. Later, to commemorate that time, they selected a name for their daughter that alluded to the May Fourth era. Fittingly enough, this daughter became well known in the West as a doctor of obstetrics and gynaecology. Yet, she ultimately returned to study the Chinese medicine that intellectuals of her parents' generation had abandoned.
Crossing boundaries will surely be increasingly important in the next century.
Western medicine stresses the scientific method. It therefore excludes Chinese medicine, which relies on bodily forces that-in the past-could not be scientifically measured. But today, in the face of cancer, AIDS, and other diseases, the limits to Western medicine are apparent. Thus there is now a “third stream” that attempts to combine East and West, and does not eschew looking to the Chinese tradition for answers. This could well become a major trend in medicine in the next century.
There is now a dialogue between Western and Chinese medicine. And we are being challenged by history to build similar bridges across gaps in non-science fields as well.
Take Taiwanese language policy for example. After WWII, to eradicate the lingering influence of Japanese colonialism, the Nationalist government that came to Taiwan banned the speaking of Japanese. However, in an effort to make Taiwan identify with the culture of the “mother land” - China - the government also banned the use of the local Taiwanese dialect. Today, as identification with Taiwan as one's “homeland” surges, the use of dialects has come to identify groups and to symbolize identification with Taiwan（as opposed to China）。
But history teaches us that there is nothing but disaster in dividing the world into “us” and “them.”Cross-cultural interaction alone can enrich our spiritual civilization. Can Taiwan build a lively “mother tongue”environment that encourages inter-cultural stimulation？ This is an issue to test the wisdom of the current generation.
The process of crossing boundaries is just beginning.
Dialogue is both inevitable and necessary.
（From Sinorama, a monthly magazine published in Taiwan）
跨界與對話
清末民初棄醫(yī)從文的名作家魯迅,曾寫過影射當時中醫(yī)草菅人命的散文《父親的病》。那位紹興城“軒轅岐伯的嫡派門徒”,為魯迅得了水腫的父親看病,所開藥方竟是些“原配蟋蟀一對、敗鼓皮丸”
等?！八坪趵ハx也要貞節(jié),續(xù)弦再醮,連作藥的資格也喪失了?！敝劣跀」钠ね?則是因為“水腫一名鼓脹,一用打破的鼓皮自然就可以克服它。”
歷史潮流卻是反思的。
民國八年“五四運動”,一對“全面學習西方民主科學精神”的男女同學,在這個偉大的時代運動中相戀、結合。然而,他們?yōu)榧o念五四、取名為“玖”的女兒,卻在成為西方世界的婦產(chǎn)科醫(yī)生后,回頭重拾曾被中國精英完全揚棄的傳統(tǒng)醫(yī)學智慧。
跨界,隱隱然成為下一個世紀的大趨勢之一。
西醫(yī)講求科學實證,固然破除了中醫(yī)“醫(yī)者,意也”過于唯心的流弊,但是當今人類面臨癌癥、愛之病、免疫等棘手疾病,卻也發(fā)現(xiàn)西醫(yī)的局限性。于是,從照顧了中國人幾千年的中醫(yī)體系里挖寶,跨越中西醫(yī)界線的“第三醫(yī)學”,便可望成為下一世紀的醫(yī)學主流。
中西醫(yī)學開始對話,有別于自然科學的人文領域,也受到歷史反思浪潮的沖擊。
就以臺灣的語言政策來說,光復后為了根除日本殖民文化的影響,國民政府禁止人民說日語；但為了使臺灣人民認同母國文化,竟連臺語也一起禁了。這導致今日本土意識高漲之際,母語成為族群的圖騰、土地認同的象征。
歷史明示我們,“非我族類,其心必異”的思考模式,只能帶來災難,沒有福祉?？缥幕拇蠹軜?才能更豐富人類的精神文明。臺灣能否營造活潑的母語環(huán)境,使多元文化在當?shù)丶な帯R流？考驗著這一代人的智慧。
跨界,正在開始；
對話,勢在必行。