Research On The Localization Process Of Chinese Medicine Culture In Malaysia

Significance of the studyThere are significant meanings in studying the localization process of TCM in Malaysia.In addition to filling information gaps of TCM in the areas of material,institution and spiritual culture,the revelation of the basic law of TCM localization process in a foreign country help to spread TCM outside the door step of China.In particular,it helps TCM to deepen its root in Malaysia.This essay emphasizes the importance of empathy with regards to the role and position of TCM in conducting the study.A role swapping is proposed that requires investigator to see from an opposite perspective.This implies that the investigator should explore and position TCM from the destination country point of view.This study advocates exploring TCM from the context of Malaysia's national conditions,focusing on how TCM "entered "Malaysia,gain acceptance and finally become a component of the local culture.Through the revealed regular patterns of localization in Malaysia,the strategic differences between spreading TCM outside the door step of China versus TCM entering the door step of Malaysia can be analysed and compared reciprocally.These analysis and comparison clarify the differences of context between China and Malaysia and thus avoiding communication barriers.It also helps to identify the common interests that create a win-win situation between China and Malaysia.Through this way,TCM can connect with the destination country in a seamless manner that enhance the spread of TCM and promote a mutually beneficial community of common destiny.MethodologyThis essay explored the localization process of TCM in Malaysia by using the existing public documents.It attempted to reveal TCM's evolution context of migration to Malaysia during the earlier period.It explored the pathway and the major political,economic,social cultural factors as well the major international events that affect its subsequent development.The collected data were compiled,classified and used in the analysis of the localization process in Malaysia.The sources of information in this study derived from the existing document of Malaysia and China.It included documents from the public and private institutions in Malaysia,individual as well as World Health Organization.There was first-hand information collected from the interviews conducted at different sites in Malaysia.The search strategy relied on desk top search of the public document available on the internet.The author of this essay was fortunate to be able to participate in the development of the "National T&CM Blueprint of Malaysia" in which the author had chaired many dialogue with major industrial stakeholder,discussion with small group and individual.As a result,it accumulated a lot of first-hand information regarding T&CM industrial in Malaysia.This information was compiled,classified and crystalized.It was then widely used in the analysis of existing condition of TCM in Malaysia and development of industrial strategy that was reflected in the Blueprint.ResultThe results of this study included introducing the Theoretical Framework of TCM Localization Process;exploring the evolution context of TCM localization process in Malaysia as well as its regular pattern.Theoretical Framework of TCM Localization ProcessMa Bo Ying et al had conducted research on the history of intercultural medicine communication between China and foreign country using Larry A.Samovar's "Cross Cultural Communication Model".By making reference to the historical events of TCM in Malaysia and the research outcome of Ma Bo Ying,the author observed that the localization process in Malaysia involve three major stages.The three stages involve in the localization process include" migration","acceptance" and "growth".A theoretical framework utilizing communication model was proposed to describe and explains with success the migrating and accepting process.The communication model consists of the basic components including sender,receiver,message and communication channel.The framework incorporated the Xiang Shu Model to fill up a gap in the Cross Cultural Communication Model.This was because the Cross Cultural Communication Model only able to explain satisfactory the migration and acceptance stage of the localization process.Furthermore,the information search revealed no credible theory that describes the growing stage.Hence,the author of this essay proposed to use Xiang Shu Model to simulate the growth process of TCM in Malaysia.Definition of TCM localization in MalaysiaBy incorporating various studies,the author of this essay observed that the word "local”contained the meaning of "original place of growth" or "specific location or space".Under the domain of traditional Chinese culture,the word "local" also incorporates time perspective with the concept of taking root and rising up.The author of this essay holds that the specific space can be defined as the sovereign territory of Malaysia that was formed in 1963."Localization" can be defined as the process in which TCM migrated into Malaysia,being accepted by the local community and subsequently grow into an important component of Malaysian healthcare system.Acceptance of TCM culture in Malaysia involved multi-level and continuous conflicts,adaptation and finally fusion with the local culture.Exploring the evolutionary context of TCM localization in Malaysia Migration of TCM into MalaysiaThe author of this essay observed that the migration of TCM into Malaysia started from the Han Dynasty,became more appreciable during Ming Dynasty and reached its peak during the final years of Qing Dynasty and the period of Republic of China.Before 15th century,the interaction existed mainly in form of trading.During this period,TCM information stated to"migrate" into the soil of Malaysia.After the 15th century,Admiral Cheng Ho of the Ming Dynasty led several maritime expeditions that sailed through the straits of Malacca.There were more complete and traceable historical evidence regarding the inheritance of TCM in Malaysia during this period.During the colonial period of 18th-20th century,the migration of TCM into Malaysia reached the peak level.Fusion and growth of TCM in MalaysiaThe fusion and growth of TCM in Malaysia predominantly happened during 19th-20th century in which the non-governmental organizations became the major driver.The non-governmental organizations established TCM clinical institution,practitioner bodies,medicinal outlet,TCM drug manufacturer as well as TCM education institution.The non-governmental organizations were benefited from the rapid economic growth in Malaysia especially the tin mining and rubber production sector.Adaptation of TCM in MalaysiaThe period after 1950 marked the arrival of Self-Reliance Era.The Cold War disrupted the normal connection between China and Malaysia.TCM in Malaysia lost touch with it mother culture.TCM in Malaysia started the adaptation process as a response to the changes.The adaptation process reached its peak during the Statutory Regulation Era in first decade of 21st century.The adaption mainly occurred in the clinical and education sector.Conflict of TCM in MalaysiaThere was no major conflict among various ethno-medicines in Malaysia.As a matter of fact,various ethno-medicines in Malaysia co-exist harmoniously.The conflict occurred mainly between TCM and Western Medicine in Malaysia.It was observed that the conflict happened when Malaysia started to regulate TCM medicinal material and implement integration of T&CM service with Western Medicine in the public sector.Revealing the regular pattern of TCM localization Unique features of migration stage of TCM in MalaysiaThere are two unique features of migration stage of TCM in Malaysia.Firstly,human migration formed the main axis of migration stage.The human migration refers to the phenomenon that the Chinese personnel especially the working class that migrated into Malaysian soil to look for a better life at different period in the history.They left China mainly due to socio-economic hardships and a small number of them left because of political reason.Secondly,it was observed that upon arriving at Malaysian soil TCM was protected by the folk custom of Chinese Community for its continuous existence.The folk custom of Chinese Community refers to the cultural activities that Chinese Community practice in their daily life including festive celebrations,religious activities and TCM being the healthcare component.Viewing from the angle of cross cultural communication model,the cross cultural communication brought by the human migration involved transplanting a tangible culture across the cultures from China to Malaysia.The "sender" fused with the receiver through migration and transformed into a member of the "receiver".At the same time the accompanied culture of the "sender" fused with the local culture and become its important component.TCM was transplanted from China into Malaysia's Chinese Community almost in perfect intact.It showed obvious feature of self-reliance,self-sufficient and isolation from the rest of the Malaysian ethnic community.On the other hand,folk custom had strong influence on the culture of Malaysian Chinese Community.TCM in Malaysia was preserved and inherited as part of folk custom.Majority of TCM institutions operated as non-profit organization.It relied heavily on donations and volunteers of Chinese community for its continuous existence.There was no recognized status given to TCM practitioner.The governing authority allowed the practice to proceed within the Chinese Community because TCM was considered part of Chinese folk custom.The profound reasons causing conflict during integrationLooking back at Malaysia's experience in integrating TCM with Western Medicine,it was observed that there were two profound reasons triggering the conflicts.The first reason was asymmetry of knowledge structure of TCM practitioner as well as Western Medicine practitioner.Most Western Medicine practitioner in Malaysia did not have adequate and accurate information with regards to TCM practice.On the other hand,most TCM practitioner in Malaysia did not have thorough understanding of Western Medicine practice.The second reason was the inappropriate use of scientific evidence by the Western Medicine community as a yardstick to judge TCM practice that based on a different system of philosophy.These two profound reasons created barriers in communication as well as forging mutual trust between TCM and Western Medicine community.These conditions develop into a serious challenge to integration.The author of this essay proposed three steps to overcome the challenge:Firstly,to return to the respective cultural origin and to clarify the relationship between TCM and Western Medicine.The author holds that TCM and Western Medicine should collaborate as an equal partnership.Only then the respective positioning in the healthcare system can be determined.Secondly,the author of this essay proposed a macroscopic framework demonstrating the four major principles that governed integration.It included macroscopic view about the concepts,stages,pathways and levels of integration.Thirdly,a model of integration suitable for use under Malaysia healthcare context was proposed to solve the conflict during integration.The use of the proposed integration model is to be guided by the macroscopic framework mentioned above.It included the concept of co-location of practice premise,co-existence of health service and separate governance of practitioner.The root cause of the academic contestation between TCM and Western MedicineThe contestation of Malaysian western medicine community toward TCM basic theory was mainly caused by various misunderstandings.The author of this essay observed that the contestation originated from two root causes:firstly,the Malaysian Western Medical community generally lack of thorough and systematic understanding of TCM theory.Almost all Western Medicine Community involved in the debate had not undergone a formal and systematic education in TCM.The accuracy and adequacy of their knowledge about TCM is questionable.Secondly,the English speaking Malaysian Western Medicine Community was seriously hampered by cross cultural barrier as well as cross profession barrier.The basic theory of TCM derived from the philosophy of Yin-Yang and five elements that deeply embedded in the Traditional Chinese Culture.In comparison,the Western Medicine used physic,chemistry,biology as their basic subjects that deeply embedded in natural science.The differences between these two practices were too significant that it created cross profession barrier in understanding each other.Furthermore,the access of Western Medicine Community to TCM literature was hindered by the fact that most TCM literature especially the classic literature was written in Chinese language.The English literature on TCM was limited.Considering the debate that occurred in Malaysia and China,asymmetry of knowledge structure is an undeniable cause of the contestation.The author of this essay further observed that the reason causing the controversy involved more profound differences at the level of cross cultural identity and cultural orientation.In other words,it involved differences in methodology at the philosophical level.The author of this essay agrees with the view of the philosopher Chang-Ling,Liu that"While Traditional Chinese Culture observes the world from the perspective of time;the Western Culture sees the world from the perspective of space.The difference in the angle of observation is actually the difference between time and space".The author of this essay holds that the disagreement in the academic debate can be attributed to the fact that Western Medicine Community interprets TCM using the perspective of space,and compares against Western Medicine.The inappropriate use of space perspective inevitably triggers contradictions and conflicts.It was also observed that in addition to laying foundation to create a more conducive condition for mutual understanding,the academic contestation also stimulated TCM Community to review seriously the nature of TCM.The author of this essay holds that the basic thinking of Xiang Shu model that derived from the Yi-Jing(Literature of Change)can be the platform that unifies the time and space perspective.It is important to explore more profoundly and comprehensively the origin of TCM which is embedded in Yi-Jing for future development of TCM.