Chinese Herbal Medicine Seminar

 

Last month I signed up for a seminar in Ateneo's Chinese Studies Program entitled, 'Understanding Chinese Herbal Medicine'. The guest speaker was a medical doctor from St. Luke's Medical Center, Dr. Francisco V. Navarro, M.D. He also studied, and trained in medical acupuncture from various schools, and universities abroad including Xiamen University Hospital in Fujian ,China. This course was a 2 part. The first course is about acupuncture. I chose the latter because I'm more interested in plants. Chinese traditional medicine is an ancient practice. I remember watching a good Chinese drama starring Cecilia Liu Shi Shi, 'The Imperial Doctress', it is based from a true historical figure Tan Yun Xian, a woman who is adept in the medical field during the Ming dynasty. If you have not seen the drama I suggest you try watching it. You will be able to understand a thing or two about Chinese traditional medicine.

   Sadly, I was unable to attend because the schedule of the seminar was in conflict with my work schedule. I asked my former classmate and college and friend to attend for me. I did not get any certificate even if I'm the one who paid and registered for the course because the participant, or the one who will attend (proxy) will be the one who will be awarded with a certificate. Anyway, I was able to get the handouts from my friend. Included in the handouts are some important notes, for example, the Principle of Chinese Herbs, the 5 flavors in Chinese, etc. In the handouts, vocabulary words connected with Chinese traditional medicine were written in Chinese characters, together with the English meaning. I have already read something about Chinese traditional medicine since I own a book about it.Thinking about this seminar, this evokes memories wayback when we went to a Chinese drugstore, wherein you can see growth balls, dried animals like seahorse, etc. I hope next year I'll be able to attend another Chinese related event, one that is not in conflict with my work schedule. I'll continue updating this blog from time to time. Thanks for visiting!

Confucius Institute at the University of the Philippines

      I received an invite last week from the Filipino-Chinese president of the Philippine-China friendship club, Mr. Austin Ong. The invitation was about the inauguration of Confucius Institute at the University of the Philippines, Diliman, Quezon City. I was a former student of Confucius Institute based in Ateneo de Manila, Katipunan, Quezon City. It was last year when I finished Basic Chinese 2. (Pls. do check out my previous post about studying Chinese at Confucius Institute in Ateneo).

      I almost failed to attend the inauguration because I need to stay at my area since my co-worker can't report to work due to an unforeseen circumstance. As they say if there's a will, there's a way so I asked someone to fill in for me for just a short time. I arrived just in time at the UP theater. I waited a bit, and I looked around. I think I don't know any of the people in the event. I'm thankful that I saw Mr. Joaquin Sy, the last time I saw him was almost 7 or 8 yrs. ago if I'm not mistaken. I greeted him and asked for a photo op with him. Then after that he told me that he'll take a photo of me together with the ambassador of China to the Philippines, His Excellency Zhao Jianhua. I didn't know what to say after the photo op but I just repeatedly said the mandarin word for thank you, 謝謝! (xie-xie). Truly this is another milestone in my life. One was when my article was feature in a Filipino-Chinese magazine, Nin Hao. I'm really thankful to Sir Joaquin.
   
      I also witnessed the opening ceremony, the dragon and the lion dance performed by the UP Wushu team. I also listened to a group of UP musician's play a very popular melody entitled, 'General's Mandate or A Man of Determination', often used in Chinese Wuxia, or kung-fu movies like my favorite Once Upon A Time in China, starring Jet Li Lian Jie. I really like this song because it is a song that speaks of being courageous, one that is never afraid in the battle that he's/she's going to face in this life, and being a hero in your own way.

      I'm looking forward to the courses that they will offer at Confucius Institute. I hope that they'll have a music class here. I want to learn how to play classical Chinese instruments. Anyway. to all who are interested in learning Mandarin you can try and enroll soon at Confucius Institute at UP Diliman. In closing, as my former mandarin teacher says, jia you! (go!go!go!)