Romanian universities embrace Chinese traditional medicine

It has been a busy six months for the Chinese ambassador to Romania. Among the institutions that Han Chunlin has visited during his travels around Romania, the envoy made stops at two of Romania’s top medical universities to promote one of his government’s more unassuming ways to build cultural influence abroad: traditional Chinese medicine, writes Ionut Benea for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty.

While the details of the closed-door discussions between the ambassador and representatives of these universities are not fully known, the diplomatic outreach by Han and the Chinese embassy in Bucharest is achieving results in Romania.

Both the Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy in Bucharest (UMF Bucharest) and the Grigore T Popa University of Medicine and Pharmacy In Iasi (UMF Iasi), which are home to some of Romania’s most respected medical programmes, have been organising traditional Chinese medicine events for years for staff and students, as well as paid study trips to China, and both universities offer courses on it, with UMF Iasi set to launch such classes in the fall. Other medical programmes at Romanian universities, such as Transilvania University of Brasov and Vasile Goldis Western University of Arad have also embraced traditional Chinese medicine in their curriculum, with Brasov offering a specialised masters degree and Arad operating a traditional Chinese medicine centre on campus.
Fulll report on the Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty site