“In contrast to previous decades, where socialized medicine attended to the masses, in the 1980’s qigong emerged in response to desires for individualized forms of healing in the face of the changing health care system. It promised release and home: elderly people could attend to their rheumatism or arthritis, long-term sufferers of neurasthenia or chronic pain could seek relief, and even parents of children with congenital disorders could seek help when no other options could be found in either traditional Chinese medicine or biomedicine.” (Pg. 62, Nancy Chen, Breathing Spaces).
Context of Excerpt
This excerpt is from Chapter Three, Riding the Tiger. The chapter discusses how qigong masters became established as medical authorities. They were said to be able to harness tremendous powers, brining longevity, prosperity and superhuman abilities (Chen 61). In a time where government funded medical care was declining due to an increasingly capitalistic government philosophy and a rapidly rising population, which also was leading to rapidly rising medical costs, qigong masters helped to provide alternative healing practices, preventative lifestyles and resurgence in traditional culture. To legitimize these practices, the state government offered qigong licenses, in addition to media exposure.
Weight Drives the Young to Adult Pills, Data Says By STEPHANIE SAUL http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/26/business/26kidmed.html
The excerpt from Nancy Chen as part of a wider implication she makes, points out that while western medicine was and is to this day widely used in China, it is not without its flaws. High cost, training and education requirements and availability were all challenges that the Chinese government was facing in providing western medicine to its vast population. In addition, western medicine by definition had little connection to the Chinese people’s own cultural heritage and practices. Qigong was an ancient practice used in China that individuals and families could practice on their own, in addition to western medicine and at a significantly lower cost to the government. Noted advantages to the qigong medical practices were its preventative application, cultural promotion and reinforcement, a lower dependence on western medicine and by consequence, a healthier population that required less medicine.
The article by Stephanie Saul, points out one of the major flaws in western medicine that even America is coming to realize. It can’t or rather shouldn’t be used to fix everything. Children as young as 8 are being found to require medication for cholesterol, blood pressure, type II diabetes, acid reflux and other problems that have historically only been health problems for adults. Saul says, “While the drugs do help treat the conditions, some doctors fear they are simply a shortcut fix for a problem better addressed by exercise and diet.” This statement is a sure sign that while western medicine “can” be effectively used to solve many medical problems, it is questionable whether or not it “should” be used so indiscriminately. The idea that we can simply swallow a pill to solve all our problems is fine, until it doesn’t work or makes problems worse.
Eating healthy and exercising have been proven to be effective preventative measures for many serious health problems. Saul says, “Some experts have expressed concern that the increases in many of these obesity-related drugs reflect a systemic failure, with doctors and parents turning to them because they find lifestyle changes too difficult to implement or enforce.” The article goes on to explain that because of this, many companies are working on creating children oriented versions of adult medications meant to treat these “lifestyle and diet” related problems. The real problem seems to be cultural. People are seeking release through television and junk-food, which is being promoted as an acceptable lifestyle in many areas (as seen in Greenville, N.C., an area where 45 percent of the children are overweight). The Chinese government, in openly promoting qigong, succeeded also at promoting a healthier lifestyle, which will likely save the Chinese government a great deal of money and the Chinese people a great deal of hardship.
Saul’s article states that “The argument may be that we know what happens in adults, so the same should happen in children. It’s been proven untrue in several cases in the history of medicine.” In other words, in giving children the same medicines that are prescribed to adults, it may or may not help, and similar to the Chinese herbal remedies, there just isn’t any research available to determine whether or not it is helpful. The Chinese seem to be one step ahead of American’s in realizing that not everything can be cured by a pill. If we continue to live the fast paced, fast food lifestyle, which plays a heavy toll on the body, mind and soul, we will become more and more dependent on medication, which may or may not be effective and due to rising costs is rapidly becoming out of reach of more and more people anyway. American doctors, like the Chinese, recognize that there is a problem with this way of life, but the American doctors are just not sure what to do.
Could a social phenomenon such as qigong take place in America? I think that as health care costs place western medicine out of reach for many average people, people will look towards any alternative to an early grave and we just may see traditional Eastern practices surge in popularity across the U.S.
(Image from http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/27/opinion/l27doctors.html)
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