Adding new sections to the Chinese culture category

[rezaf]

I think quite a few of us come to China or start studying Chinese to learn traditional Chinese medicine, Chinese martial arts and Chinese philosophy but yet there isn't any specific section in the Chinese culture category for these fields. Roddy suggested that I start a topic to see if there is any interest in adding new sections for them(or maybe one section that contains all the three). Anyway please vote if you are interested.

[blackmeow]

i voted for the philosophy.

but i support the idea to put all three in one section, we can later on separate them when more people show their interests. basicly the medicine and martial arts are sons of philosophy. :rolleyes:

[rezaf]

I am almost sure that it won't be a section full of new topics everyday because only a minority of the members have enough knowledge to talk about them but I guess it will have a fixed group of people who will write in there from time to time and gradually it might get the attention of other members to at least read and learn more about these topics.

[Kenny同志]

Thank you for making this poll Rezaf.

I know that many people come to China to learn traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) which is an important part of Chinese culture. Unfortunately, TCM is in decline in China due to certain reasons (which I will elaborate on when I am free). The good thing is that it is getting more and more attention from foreigners - those who have doubts about it, and those who have gained health benefits from it as well as those who simply want to know more about it.

Personally I was lucky enough to get to know TCM and during my course of treatment it contributed a great part to my recovery for which I am filled with gratitude every time I think of this. So surely I would love to see a TCM section opened up on our forums so that it can help more people live a healthier life.

PS: I did self-study of TCM for over two years and I plan to further advance myself in this art in my spare time.

[Meng Lelan]

Martial arts is my vote, especially contemporary wushu.

[rezaf]

You're wlecome Kenny. I hope that you can elaborate on when we have the section!

[Eranee]

Having a TCM section is a fantastic idea. Even if there are only a few of us, this could be a great place to discuss general TCM stuff and maybe more importantly, the 'language of TCM'. The whole debate on standardized terminology in TCM is a hot topic, and having a forum to discuss some term choices and TCM vocab could be quite handy.

Good job Reza, I'm all for it!!

Eran

[hbuchtel]

I've enjoyed the recent topics related to Chinese medicine here, as they were about studying TCM in China as opposed to in the US, Europe or Australia.

However, there are already several very busy forums devoted to TCM and Chinese martial arts, and I don't really see the need for another general category devoted to those topics. Also, for TCM, an open forum like this is not a very appropriate place to discuss case histories etc (the yahoo groups are limited to practitioners and students).

Perhaps if the new category was dedicated to Chinese language or translation issues in TCM/CMA/Philosophy, or just about studying those subjects in China?

Regards, Henry

[rezaf]

The reason that I think we should have these sections is because of the audience of this website. I believe lots of people who come to this website are people who are interested in Chinese culture and want to study in China or at least learn more about it. These people can't really go to very specialized forums and get the information that they need and most of them don't really know where to start their search. So for many people, this website acts as a very good place to start.The second reason is that I think topics related to these fields shouldn't be discussed in other parts of this forum as after a few posts they easily turn into unproductive discussions about for example TCM vs. western medicine or western science. Regarding on which subjects should be discussed in TCM, I think it will be mostly introductory topics for people who are interested and information about studying TCM, more specialized topics can also be discussed but I don't think that there will be many of them because there aren't many TCM doctors here and as you said there are better places to discuss them.