Catching up

I've been having some difficulty in uploading photos - our internet access is good when we can get a connection, but not consistent. For now I'll have to skip the photos (I'll add some where possible, otherwise I'll update the photos when we return to the states and will gladly share them when I see everyone in person)

It's been a busy couple of weeks - we finished our first 2-week rotation at Zhongda Hospital with Dr. Dong, and then had a week's vacation during the week of China's national holiday (October 1st). Our group travelled to Anhui Province, just to the south of the province of Nanjing (Jiangsu province), where we had a grueling, exhillarating, and gorgeous 3 days of climbing on Huang Shan (Yellow Mountain), and then spent a few days seeing more of the Nanjing area. We also visited Suzhou, Portland's sister city which is known for its gardens & where the inspiration for the Classical Chinese Garden in Portland came from.

One place a few of us visited is Qi Xia, a Buddhist temple about 20 miles outside of Nanjing. It's an amazing still-operating Buddhist temple and monastery built around and into a small hillside, that was established during the Southern Qi Dynasty (479-502 CE). The Lonley Planet guide to China identifies it as one of the largest Buddhist seminaries in the world. In front of the main buildings, there are 2 huge vessels where people make an offering with sticks of incense that range from 1.5 to 3 feet long. Next, there are 2 main temple halls filled with massive statues of the Buddha in various manifestations. Many people come here on pilgrimage, and stop in front of specific statues to make offerings. Behind the buildings, there's a forest and the hillside (known as Thousand Buddha Cliff), where there are many small and large caves with statues of Buddhas carved into them - some from the original era, and then others that were carved over the years, up through the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 CE).

We're now into our second clinical rotation. I'm at Qin Huai Hospital - a small hospital serving the Qin Huai area of Nanjing that combines both Chinese and Western medicine - with Dr. Tao (head of the acupuncture department) and the same translator I had last time, Dr. "George" Gu. I'm in a department that provides acupuncture and tuina (traditional chinese therapeutic massage). The specialty of our doctor (and the thing that the department is famous for) is moxibustion (also called moxa) - which was the reason we requested to study with Dr. Tao. Moxa is the burning of the herb Mugwort (Artemisia) over areas of the body, or on specific acupuncture points. Most often in the US it's used already rolled into poles, like fat incense sticks. Common ways that moxa is used here is to put 1" long slices of the moxa pole (it's packed pretty tightly so the slices don't fall apart) at the handle end of the acupuncture needle (called "warming needle"), they also burn large quantities of the loose herb in open wooden boxes with mesh bottoms that are suspended about 6-10" over the patient's body, or the herb is shaped into cones that are placed on thin slices of fresh ginger which are then placed on specific acupuncture points.

2 amazing techniques we've seen are Turtle Moxa and Moving Moxa. Turtle Moxa is done by creating a tower of a few layers - the bottom layer (that rests on the skin) is a thick paper towel, folded a few times; next is a layer of coarse salt; then a turtle shell ("Bie Jia," for those of you with knowledge of chinese herbs), and then a mound of loose moxa on top. The moxa is lit, and then the tower is placed on the patient's belly or back. Moving Moxa is a technique developed by our doctor, which is comprised again of layers. The outside layer is a red cotton cloth that's been soaked in an herbal decoction. The next layer is the thick paper towel, folded 4 times, then a burning moxa pole is placed on the paper towel, and the towel and cloth are wrapped around the pole. This is then used to massage the patient for 15 to 20 minutes, stopping every 3 or so minutes to exchange the extinguished pole with a newly lit one. Dr. Tao had us each experience receiving a treatment with Moving Moxa (Divine!) , and then has had us each giving treatments to patients with it. It's an amazing treatment, but definitely requires well-developed arm muscles. (I'm working on it!)

This week I also got to explore the Confucian Temple (Fu Zi Miao) here in town - a place that was the center of Confucian study for over 15oo years. Around the temple is a market area - an area of narrow, maze-like alleys filled with vendors selling silk, jade, carvings, and various souvenier type things.

One of my main pursuits over the past 10 days, however, has been to visit and help at a small animal shelter. I was pleasantly surprised to learn that it's owned and run by local folks, as I was expecting to find a similar situation as in Cyprus where animal rescue organizations are mainly run by foreigners. It's been my refuge to spend a few hours every couple of days just hanging out with a mob of dogs and a few cats. (yes, I promise not to bring any home!)

Well, that's about it for now. I'll post some more about things we've done and seen, and hopefully get to add some photos!