At the Jingeng Hospital clinic, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) practitioner Song Zhaopu is examining a patient under the attentive scrutiny of an audience of foreigners.

With the help of an interpreter, Song, who is head of the hospital, explains to the 10 Europeans the essentials of how to make a diagnosis by reading the pulse.

The study group arrived in Ruzhou, a city in central China's Henan Province, last Friday on a month-long TCM immersion training trip, according to Dong Baode, a Chinese expatriate based in Switzerland and leader of the study group.

Before coming to China, the study group members -- from Switzerland, Germany and Austria -- have all been learning TCM theory for at least two years, says Dong.

"TCM is amazing," says Andrea Kohler, aged 25. "One month is just too short!"

Franziska, a pharmaceutical marketing manager who works at a hospital in Zurich, Switzerland, even has a chance to perform acupuncture therapy - with the help of Mr. Song - on a patient suffering from cervical spondylosis.

"I memorized my acupuncture points when I was studying my TCM theory, but I have never had the chance to perform acupuncture therapy, today's experience is a first for me," she says, adding that the therapy is subtle and that she needs to practice more with it.

Andrea Weber, a German woman, says she loves both TCM and Chinese philosophical thinking such as Daoism.

"TCM advocates a natural balance of the body. Ailments are often caused by imbalances. TCM is becoming more and more popular in Europe," says Andrea, "more and more patients are turning to TCM because of its comparatively milder side effects."

Some European countries have legalized TCM clinics. In Switzerland, for instance, Chinese TCM practitioners' lectures are well attended and TCM has become a speciality chosen by many college students.

Andrea reveals that she has been working hard to finish her 600-hour clinical practice requirement, in the hope of gaining a TCM practitioner's license and starting a down-to-earth TCM clinic in her home country.

(Xinhua News Agency July 28, 2006)