Now it's TCM: the theme park
* Source: Global Times
* [10:21 April 29 2010]
By Yan Shuang
While it won't be offering any roller coaster thrills, Beijing's first theme park dedicated to Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) health cultivation will open in Ditan Park on May 1, and doctors will be on hand to offer free consultation services during the ensuing three-day TCM Health Culture Festival, the second of its kind at the park. Last year's festival received 20,000 visitors on each of its two days; this year they expect 50,000 over three, according to the Beijing TCM Administration Bureau.
The TCM park was built over the course of six months on 2.5 hectares at the northeast corner of Ditan Park, according to the Dongcheng district media department. The park was designed to popularize the theories, skills and methods of TCM health cultivation, while providing citizens with access to recreational fitness equipment as well.
There are over 40 kinds of Chinese herbs and nearly 20 kinds of medical trees and shrubs grown in the park, plus all the usual park elements: (non-medical) trees, small hills, streams, pavilions and corridors. However, here each scene implies a specific element of the field of health cultivation. Streamlets and paths in the park represent the meridians of the human body, and there are five featured areas representing the five viscera: the heart, liver, spleen, lung and kidney. Each is named after an element - gold, wood, water, fire and earth - that represents one of those essential organs, and is appropriately color-coded to boot.
Besides getting free health consults from May 1 to 3, visitors can learn more about TCM culture and hear stories about famous doctors in Chinese medicine history, such as Huatuo and Li Shizhen. Huatuo was a TCM legend who lived during the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220 AD), best known as the first surgeon to extend the courtesy of anesthesia to his patients. He has been called the "doctor that worked miracles." Li Shizhen, on the other hand, was an herbal expert during the Ming Dynasty, the mastermind behind the Bencao Gangmu, or Compendium of Materia Medica.
New activities for this year's festival include a lecture on prevention and treatment for chronic diseases and a daily interaction forum, from 9:30 to 11:30 am, where experts will teach visitors how to do health exercises. There will also be volunteers from Beijing medical universities and hospitals. All speak good English and will be on hand for foreign visitors seeking TCM advice.
Active types can try out the fitness equipment or take a break to relax in the teahouse or during as-yet-undefined music and health workshops. Those in need of a dose of medicine can check out the park's pharmacy.
Dongcheng district became home to Beijing's first national TCM Reform Trial Plot on April 19, and as part of that the government has planned several other programs and activities to promote the practice, including cultivating Chinese herb gardens in primary and middle schools and establishing more school courses to teach TCM culture.
Address: Ditan Park, Andingmenwai Dajie, Dongcheng district
Festival date: May 1 to 3
Hours: 9 am to 4 pm
