electra-supply.com**Title: Chinese Medicine Practitioner Brings Traditional Healing to Overseas Communities**
In a recent interview, Chen Zhen, a Chinese medicine practitioner who has been working in Hungary for 36 years, shared his preparations for the upcoming annual free clinic event. Since 2004, he has dedicated more than 20 years to providing medical services to people with disabilities and the elderly in the local community.
“Some seniors can only attend the free clinic once a year, and when they grab my hand to share how their lives have changed over the year, it fills me with a warmth and happiness that money can’t buy,” Chen reflected on his commitment to these events during a recent conversation.
To prepare for this year’s free clinic, Chen has turned down numerous work opportunities to focus on treating patients from Hungary and neighboring countries. “Our patients now come not only from Hungary but from many Eastern European countries as well,” he explained. He also noted that Hungary was the first European country to legislate traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), with its parliament officially recognizing its legality in 2013. This development has led to an increased acceptance of TCM among the local population and has attracted patients from surrounding countries seeking treatment.
Chen’s journey in Hungary began in 1988 when he participated in a TCM research project in Budapest. He has been nurturing the practice in the country for nearly four decades. In his view, the trust that overseas communities place in TCM is due to resource support, market demand, and the relentless efforts of practitioners.
He has conducted research with Hungarian scholars on 155 types of medicinal herbs and discovered that Hungary possesses nearly a hundred species that are botanically similar to known Chinese herbs. “This indicates that Hungary’s natural resources can support the TCM industry here,” Chen pointed out. When TCM first arrived in Hungary, the local healthcare system was relatively limited, which created a significant demand for alternative medical resources.
“However, the primary method of medical treatment here has always been Western medicine, so we’ve had to work hard to help the community truly understand and trust TCM,” he stated. Beyond providing ongoing clinical services, Chen has also published books and magazines in Hungarian, collaborated with local medical institutions to train professionals in TCM, advocated for the establishment of TCM colleges, and facilitated cross-border exchanges within the field to enhance public awareness and confidence in TCM.
Today, Chen reported that there are about 5,000 to 6,000 local practitioners of “foreign TCM,” while only around 50 practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine remain from China. Like their Western counterparts, these local practitioners provide basic healthcare and address common ailments using approaches that are familiar to the community, all while explaining the principles behind TCM. “Both Western and Eastern medicine have their strengths, and mutual exchange between the two is a way for cultures to learn from one another. Our ongoing goal is to find ways to enhance treatment outcomes and efficiency,” Chen said.
In Chen’s eyes, TCM is not just a method of healing but a key to unlocking the treasures of Chinese civilization and a bridge for fostering mutual understanding between cultures. “Building a connection among people can help us overcome cultural barriers and take our cooperation further and make it more robust,” he concluded.
