le they were being cautious, they kept an eye on him as well, wary that he might try to poison Wu Lao.Wu Lao didn’t waste time with idle chatter. With a light tap of his cane on the ground, he leaped...Chapter 593: The Debate Competition (2)
Xiao Yu felt somewhat familiar with these few people, but he couldn't recall exactly where they met. Although Xiao Yu had reached a state of never forgetting what he saw, it was impossible for him to remember every single person he encountered, so he only felt slightly familiar.
However, upon hearing their introductions, Xiao Yu realized that he had met them at the exchange meeting in the capital city. He quickly bowed and greeted them: "Hello, senior brothers. I didn't recognize you earlier; please forgive me."
"Haha, no problem!" Hearing Xiao Yu's words, these people burst into laughter with a smug expression on their faces. They felt honored to know Xiao Yu and even more so because he treated them with such courtesy.
As Xiao Yu approached the judges' seats, the two judges who had met him at the exchange meeting stood up and greeted him by bowing.
In their minds, Xiao Yu's future achievements were boundless. After all, Xiao Yu was already a grandmaster at his age. If he could go through decades of training and refinement in the future, no one could predict how high he would reach.
Perhaps by then, it wouldn't be difficult for him to attain the level of Hua Tuo and Bian Que Could China see another divine doctor after centuries of accumulation
All these people privately thought about Xiao Yu as they were all very optimistic about his future. Being able to reach the grandmaster stage in his twenties, and having medical skills that surpass those of most people, it was evident how promising his future would be.
Of course, they were unaware of Xiao Yu's present achievements—had they known he had treated all these patients, they wouldn't have spoken so confidently about his future. After all, in the present day, no one could surpass Xiao Yu's medical skills, let alone predict what his future would hold.
After greeting them, Xiao Yu sat down beside Old Zhuo while Wang Bo's expression became even more dismal. He was just about to stand up and bring up Xiao Yu’s past accomplishments when he saw that the people in front of him were all standing up to greet Xiao Yu as if they knew him well, causing him to swallow his words.
Note that among those who stood up, he recognized two of them. These individuals were well-known in the medical community. With these people greeting Xiao Yu, he hesitated to say what was on his mind.
"Alright then, let's begin the debate!" Upon seeing Xiao Yu take a seat, Professor Zhu addressed the participating students on stage.
No sooner had Professor Zhu spoken than the intense debate began. Each side argued passionately for their viewpoint; however, gradually, those supporting traditional Chinese medicine fell behind, while their counterparts advocating Western medicine became increasingly aggressive.
Xiao Yu watched silently as both sides fiercely debated; this outcome was exactly what he had anticipated. After all, these students only possessed a superficial understanding of traditional Chinese medicine and had little practical experience to draw upon. Conversely, in recent years, those studying Western medicine had firmly grasped theoretical knowledge, which would enable them to become competent doctors after several more years of clinical practice.
Traditional Chinese Medicine was different; even if students graduated, it could still take over a decade before they were qualified practitioners. This disparity highlighted the fundamental reason behind traditional Chinese medicine's decline in prominence.
A few years of Western medical studies versus a decade or more for traditional Chinese medicine, and there was no guarantee that one would master the latter even after such extensive learning. As a result, fewer people opted to study traditional Chinese medicine while Western medicine continued to flourish.
Moreover, in the eyes of ordinary people, they cared little about whether treatment addressed symptoms or root causes; they only wanted quick and effective relief that didn't disrupt their daily lives. This was precisely where Western medicine excelled.
Hence, this debate's result fell within Xiao Yu’s expectations.
Seeing the outcome, many people, including Professor Zhu, helplessly shook their heads; a significant portion of these individuals were practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine, especially the older generation.
Back when the Traditional Chinese Medicine College was first established, there were only two classes for traditional Chinese medicine students without any mention of Western medical courses. That's why it originally bore the name "Traditional Chinese Medicine College."
In recent years, however, Western medicine demonstrated its vitality and potential, while the college’s development hit a bottleneck. Each year saw very few applicants to the Traditional Chinese Medicine College, forcing them to reluctantly introduce Western medical courses within their curriculum.
After Western Medicine was established here, it quickly became a key national university and soon filled up with students. As the number of Western Medicine department members grew larger, the remaining few Traditional Chinese Medicine classes were gradually merged into Sino-Western Medicine programs.
This way, this Traditional Chinese Medicine College has essentially transformed into a Western Medicine college. The students in these TCM classes mainly focus on learning Western Medicine knowledge; otherwise, no one would choose to study it. This惡性循環導致了中醫的衰落。
Even the debaters here are from Sino-Western Medicine classes, where their main focus is still Western Medicine. They only memorize traditional Chinese medicine information from textbooks by rote learning. It would be strange if they could actually debate against Western Medicine students.
In reality, these students' knowledge of traditional Chinese medicine isn't as extensive as Second Happiness's in his shop. They might not even remember the properties and mechanisms of medicinal herbs now! Hence, it is truly a tragedy for TCM.
One must know that this is one of the key national Traditional Chinese Medicine universities, and even with Grandmaster Zhuo backing him up, he still developed into what it’s like today. One can only imagine how dire the situation would be at other lesser-known Traditional Chinese Medicine schools.
This phenomenon is normal, as authentic traditional Chinese medicine secrets are all kept by TCM families who wouldn’t share them with others. Therefore, even if these students learn TCM, they usually just scratch the surface. To truly master it, one must apprentice under a TCM family.
And to learn from such families, no one would teach outsiders without years of observation and trust. Even after gaining permission to be taught, learning it thoroughly still takes more than ten years. By that time, those learners might already be in their forties, wasting the best decades of their lives on studying TCM yet not necessarily mastering it. Thus, traditional Chinese medicine has fallen into decline.
Currently, domestic traditional Chinese medicine is controlled by a few TCM families. If these families fall from grace, the foundation of China's Traditional Chinese Medicine field will be lost.
In contrast, Japan and South Korea have no such issue as their traditional Chinese medicine was plagiarized from China long ago without any family control. Since it’s all stolen stuff anyway, anyone can learn if they want to. Therefore, in recent years, the development of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Japan and South Korea has even shown signs of surpassing that of China.
However, everyone understands these facts but cannot change them, as no family would easily give away their secret formulas. Those formulas were researched and compiled over hundreds of years by the ancestors of each TCM family and are the foundation of their existence.
If a TCM family gave away its secrets and someone else mastered them, that could lead to the decline of the original family if they produced another genius. Therefore, no one would risk losing their legacy for such a gamble.
Taking Xiao Yu as an example, if he were to let everyone share in the benefits of the Life-Sustaining Five Elements Needle and Hua Tuo's Nine Needles unless he leaves behind his core contributions, who would even know about the Xiao family if there emerges a genius It’s likely that the entire Xiao family might fade from people's memory over time, eventually disappearing into the annals of history.
The debate was gradually coming to an end, with Western medicine clearly having the upper hand. The few students on the side of Traditional Chinese Medicine were so anxious that sweat started dripping down their foreheads as they hurriedly flipped through some materials, but none of these efforts could turn the tide and bring back their disadvantaged position.
When the TCM team was left speechless at last, the debate concluded with a decisive victory for the Western medicine side.
Although Xiao Yu and Old Zhuo’s expressions were quite serious, they still applauded for the winners. They knew that these students had performed perfectly, and it wouldn’t be fair to blame them.
In the past, Xiao Yu was also helpless; he didn't like studying Western medicine, which led to his poor grades in all subjects. Moreover, he attended a TCM class. If the exam questions back then hadn't been eighty percent about Western medicine, Xiao Yu wouldn’t have failed so many courses.
The morning passed quickly, and the afternoon debates were largely similar. That day, Old Zhuo wasn't paying attention to the debate, but was sitting there lost in thought from time to time.
After the debate ended and most of the people had left the auditorium, today basically marked the end of the anniversary celebration. Although this year's anniversary arrangement was very simple, it was exactly what these alumni hoped for.
After all, these alumni have their own affairs to attend to; they couldn't possibly host a week-long anniversary celebration. To put it bluntly, such an event is meant to build connections and establish networks. Otherwise, people like Xiao Yu's classmate Wang Bo wouldn’t have come. They just entered the medical field and are currently at the right time for networking.
Haven't you seen how Wang Bo kept handing out business cards and chatting with others In essence, almost everyone who came here had this kind of mindset; only a few were there to reminisce about their college days.
After all the alumni sitting in the audience left one by one, Old Zhuo still sat on his chair motionless, deep in thought. Seeing Old Zhuo's state, none of the other judges or President Qian and the school leaders dared to leave and disturb him; they could only stand by quietly waiting...)all, the way he looked made it seem like he could be blown away by a strong wind.Therefore, upon hearing Xiao Yu's words now, he immediately thanked Xiao Yu."Mm." Upon hearing this student’s gratitude...