CHINA
CHINA DAILY Thursday, August 22, 2019 | 5Nanning hospital helps Zhuang traditional medicine flourish
By AYBEK ASKHAR
[email protected]
Pharmacist Pham Thi Thai Hoa
carefully checks the prescription
and, in fluent Chinese, tells the
patient how to take the medicine.
They always take it for granted
that she is Chinese, but the 32-year-
old is from Vietnam.
“I have been in China for almost
14 years, and I have been working in
this hospital for nearly a year,” Hoa
said. “The patients are surprised to
learn that I am a Vietnamese, but I
understand, because foreign doc-
tors rarely worked in China before.”
Hoa works at the Guangxi Interna-
tional Zhuang Medicine Hospital in
Nanning, capital of Guangxi Zhuang
autonomous region. She was recruit-
ed shortly after gaining her doctoral
degree at Guangxi Medical Universi-
ty last year.
The Zhuang, the second-most
populous ethnic group in China,
mostly live in Guangxi, the only
autonomous region in South China.
A year after the founding of the hos-
pital, their traditional medicine,
developed over a thousand years, is
now spreading and flourishing.
Construction of the hospital, a
major livelihood project in Guangxi,
began in 2015. Its opening three
years later coincided with the 60th
anniversary of the establishment of
the autonomous region.
“The regional government has
always treasured Zhuang medicine,”
said Tan Yuwang, the director of the
hospital. “In 1985, an institute spe-
cializing in ethnic medicine was
established in Guangxi. Twenty yearslater, based on the experience and
knowledge gained from the institute,
Guangxi Medical University decided
to set up this hospital, and with gov-
ernment support it took only three
years to complete the project.”
Positioned as an all-around and
modern international ethnic hospi-
tal, it integrates multiple functions,
including medical treatment, teach-ing, scientific research, rehabilita-
tion, healthcare and adult education.
It is devoted to providing training in
Zhuang and Yao medicine, the cul-
tural inheritance of ethnic medicine
and international exchanges.
The hospital employs 50 renowned
traditional Chinese medicine experts,
and it has 46 clinical and medical
departments and two national key
specialties recognized by the State
Administration of TCM: rheumatolo-
gy and Zhuang medicinal massage.
“Our hospital covers a total area of
20 hectares and has 1,000 inpatient
beds,” Tan said. “Based on tradition-
al Chinese medicines, we focus on
spreading the medical traditions of
the Zhuang and Yao ethnic groups.”
Zhuang medicinal resources such
as cinnamon, aniseed and honey-
suckle have good prospects for devel-
opment, and specialists have also
paid great attention to the develop-
ment and comprehensive use of
pseudo-ginseng, a ginger-like herb
that can promote blood circulation.
The region is home to more than
4,000 traditional medicines, mostly
herbs but also products derived
from animals and minerals. Zhuang
doctors commonly use as many as
700 traditional medicines.
“Now, in our hospital, modernexperimental methods and technol-
ogies for disease diagnoses have
accelerated the modernization of
Zhuang medicine,” Tan said.
Guangxi plays an important role
in the Belt and Road Initiative, and
the hospital is focusing on coopera-
tion and exchanges with members of
the Association of Southeast Asian
Nations. It has signed cooperation
agreements with hospitals in Viet-
nam, Thailand, Laos and Singapore.
It also organizes annual training
courses. The first one, held last year,
invited 27 doctors from five countries
to Nanning for medical exchanges
and to learn Zhuang medicine.
“We have had 260 foreign
patients come to our hospital, and
the number is increasing,” Tan said.
“We provide our best medical servi-
ces to all patients, no matter where
they are from.
“As we know there are many Mus-
lims in ASEAN countries, the hospi-
tal provides a prayer room for them.
We respect different cultures.”
Hoa said she was one of two for-
eign doctors working at the hospital.
“We are very happy and grateful
that we have the opportunity to work
here,” she said. “Work with my Chi-
nese colleagues is really enjoyable, so
I want to stay here as long as I can.”By WANG RU
[email protected]
Celebrated Tibetan author A Lai
participated in a special interview
on Wednesday, the opening day of
the 26th Beijing International Book
Fair. More precisely, it seemed not to
have been A Lai who was doing the
interview, but a holographic projec-
ted image of him.
With the support of 5G and holo-
graphic projection, people saw A
Lai’s image in a special zone for
“5G+reading” at the book fair being
interviewed by a reporter, but he
was actually miles away in another
room. The internet speed ensured
that the conversation went smooth-
ly without any delay.
5G technology is a highlight of
this year’s BIBF, the world’s second-
largest international book fair
which runs through Sunday. People
want to explore how this new tech-
nology will play a role in reading,
writing and publishing.
A Lai says he expects to see the
application of such technology in
this business. The interview he par-
ticipated in shows how future read-
ers worldwide could possibly take
part in book launches by watching
projected images of authors.
Fairgoers can also experience the
combination of 5G and augmented
reality, mixed reality and virtual
reality applied in reading in the spe-
cial “5G+reading” zone. On Satur-
day there will be a seminar featuring
Chinese writer Liu Zhenyun and
playwrights Mou Sen and Shi Hang,
during which Liu’s image will be
projected with the help of 5G.
“5G+reading will promote digital
reading, and it will create many pos-
sibilities in the future,” said Zhang
Yong, director of China Unicom’s
institute of network technology.
This year’s fair is said to be the
largest in its history. The overall
exhibition area covers 106,
square meters, attracting over 2,
exhibitors from 95 countries and
regions. More than 300,000 of the
latest domestic and international
books can be viewed, and more than
1,000 cultural activities will be held.
The activities include exhibitions,
lectures, seminars, salons, book
launches and many others.
One day before the opening of
BIBF, the 13th Special Book Award
of China was held in Beijing to hon-
or 15 foreign writers, translators andpublishers who have helped spread
Chinese culture.
Romanian translator Ioan Budu-
ra was one of the award winners. He
said he felt encouraged by the honor
and wanted to “continue supporting
the communication between China
and Romania” in the future. Roma-
nia is also featured as the guest of
honor of the fair this year.
A Beijing International Publish-
ing Forum was also held on Aug 20
to discuss how to improve the quali-
ty of publishing content and promo-
tion.
A Hong Kong pavilion has also
been opened at the book fair despitethe special administrative region’s
recent troubles.
“It is Hong Kong’s ninth visit to
BIBF, and we want to exchange Hong
Kong’s creations with people in the
publishing business and with read-
ers through this opportunity,” said
Lee Ka Kui, chairman of Hong Kong
Publishing Federation Limited.
Lee admits the recent chaos in
Hong Kong has negatively affected
publishing there since many retail
bookstores have closed and much
fewer people attended the Hong
Kong Book Fair that was held on July
17-23. He hopes violence will cease
and communication will continue.This time, 66 Hong Kong compa-
nies brought over 2,000 books and
other works. One feature of their
pavilion is a creation corner show-
casing many STEM books — about
science, technology, engineering
and mathematics.
“It seems STEM books are quite
popular in the world now, and we
want to follow that trend,” Lee said.
The pavilion also contains an
artistic and cultural zone exhibiting
some Cantonese books.
“I hope we will bring more Chi-
nese mainland writers and books to
Hong Kong, and vice versa,” Lee
said.A woman browses through books at the Beijing International Book Fair on Wednesday. More than 2,600 exhibitors from 95 countries and
regions are participating in the five-day event, which opened on Wednesday.ZHANG WEI / CHINA DAILYNew trade corridor gives boost to coastal industries in Guangxi
NANNING — Southern China’s
Guangxi Zhuang autonomous
region has seen its coastal industries
enter the fast lane of development
thanks to a new trade corridor con-
necting western China and other
countries and regions with land-sea
intermodal transport.
The cities on the shoreline of
Guangxi’s Beibu Gulf, including
Fangchenggang, Qinzhou and Bei-
hai, have become hot spots for
investment as the cities’ ports now
serve as an important transit in the
rail-sea freight routes under the New
International Land-Sea Trade Corri-
dor, a trade and logistics passage
jointly launched by western Chinese
provincial regions and Singapore.
In the port area of Fangcheng-
gang, construction is underway on a
1,267-hectare iron and steel produc-
tion base with a designed annual
production capacity of 9.2 million
metric tons.
The base, owned by Guangxi Liu-
zhou Iron and Steel Group, is sched-
uled to begin operating by the end of
this year.
Its products, including high-
strength seismic-resistant steel and
hot-rolled steel plates, will be mainly
sold across southern and southwest
China and exported to Southeast
Asia, said Li Meiliang, who is in
charge of the construction project.
So far, the company has built an
iron ore wharf with a handling capac-
ity of 200,000 tons and a railway line
to transport imported iron ores
directly from the wharf to the base.
“The imported materials can betransported by sea to arrive at our
factories, which will greatly reduce
our shipping costs,” Li said, adding
that his company has benefited
from the new corridor.
Launched in 2017, the corridor
has been gaining steam as its rail-
sea routes offer a faster and cheaper
freight transport option between
western China and other countries
and regions.
The ports in Beibu Gulf now operate
shipping routes for 250 ports in over
100 countries and regions, and low
logistics costs have become the gulf
coastal industries’ greatest strength.
Zhang Yong, assistant to the gen-
eral manager of the Fangcheng-
gang-based Guangxi Jinchuan
Nonferrous Metals Co, said logistics
costs used to be the bottleneck fortheir parent company based in Gan-
su, an inland province in western
China, but the costs have been
slashed since the Fangchenggang
subsidiary was set up.
It now costs less and takes less time
to import raw materials from Africa
and South America and to export the
company’s products such as cathode
copper and sulfuric acid to countries
including India and Vietnam.
In Qinzhou, another port city in
the Beibu Gulf, Guangxi Huayi
Energy Chemical Co has invested
about 70 billion yuan ($10.2 billion)
to build a large petrochemical pro-
duction base.
Tang Weichun, the project’s dep-
uty director, said his company
located its base in Qinzhou due to
its convenient logistics and well-developed petrochemical industry.
“The chemical products produced
in Qinzhou can be easily shipped to
our major markets in southern Chi-
na and Southeast Asia,” Tang said.
Wei Ran, deputy director of the
office for the planning and construc-
tion of Beibu Gulf economic zone,
said the new corridor has become a
new engine for the opening-up
efforts of the cities in the gulf.
“The Beibu Gulf economic zone
will take advantage of the trade cor-
ridor to upgrade port infrastructure
and further streamline customs
clearance,” Wei said. “We are work-
ing to improve infrastructure con-
nectivity and deepen economic
cooperation with ASEAN countries.”XINHUATech plays prominent role in book fair
5G technology is
featured at 26th
annual event in
Beijing this week
A patient receives treatment at the Guangxi International Zhuang
Medicine Hospital in Nanning, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous
region.LU BOAN / XINHUATianjin
doctors
to offer aid
in Africa
By YANG CHENG in Tianjin
[email protected]Fifty-nine doctors left Tianjin
for Africa where they will pro-
vide medical services in four
major cities in the Republic of
Congo and Gabon.
After arriving on Thursday,
they will assist in 16 depart-
ments including internal medi-
cal, surgery, gynecology,
pediatrics and ophthalmology.
“The city’s team has the long-
est history among the Chinese
medical teams being sent to the
continent,” said Xia Yingyi, dep-
uty director of the Cooperation
and Exchange Division, Tianjin
Municipal Health Commission.
The doctors will provide aid to
the two countries based on local
circumstances and place empha-
sis on curing diseases, she noted.
Tianjin’s medical aid programs
in Africa date to 1963, when two
doctors were sent to Algeria.
Zhu Limin, head of a former
team sent to Gabon, said they tack-
led many unexpected challenges
doing eye surgery in the country.
“One senior citizen was suffer-
ing from amaurosis, the most
severe condition of cataracts, a
condition that affects the trans-
parency of the lenses,” he said. “It
is rarely seen in China.”The team found support from
top experts at Tianjin Medical
Hospital.
“Via online video tutoring, my
teacher took us through the opera-
tion step by step and finally helped
the patient regain sight,” he said.
Du Jian, another doctor with
the team, said they found an
operating room in complete
shambles during his visit in 2016.
“It was our team members
who helped ‘revitalize’ the oper-
ating room,” Du said.
Shi Xuemin, 81, an academi-
cian of the Chinese Academy of
Engineering and the first doctor
from Tianjin who provided med-
ical treatment such as acupunc-
ture and moxibustion in Algeria,
recalled that in 1963 Algerian
people lined up for the Chinese
traditional therapy.
“Some government officials,
including the president, recov-
ered, hitting the headlines in the
local newspaper,” he said.
He expects traditional Chi-
nese medicine and therapy to
help address grassroots needs in
Africa.
To date, Tianjin has sent 1,
doctors in 46 teams to Gabon
and the Republic of Congo. A
total of 8 million patients have
been treated by Tianjin doctors.
Up to 60,000 people have
received operations, 13,000 have
received emergency rescue servi-
ces, and about 557,000 inpatients
have been treated by Tianjin doc-
tors, according to the commission.
Tianjin has also set up four
hospitals in Gabon and the
Republic of Congo.
Jacqueline Lydia Mikolo,
health minister of the Republic of
Congo, said Tianjin doctors and
experts have greatly contributed
to the training of local medical
workers, and the China-Congo
Friendship Hospital has the best
medical facilities in the region.
“We expect the hospital will be
bigger and stronger,” she said.
Denise Mekam’Ne Edzidzie
Taty, former health minister of
Gabon, appreciated the team’s
contributions and “in particular,
its decision to provide assistance
in the construction of its third
hospital in Gabon in the near
future”.Via online video
tutoring, my teacher
took us through the
operation step by
step and finally
helped the patient
regain sight.”
Zhu Limin, Tianjin doctor
who once headed a medical
assistance team to Gabon