Practicing traditional Chinese medicine in China will no longer be off-limits for foreigners as the country's Ministry of Public Health will permit foreigners to become licensed in the ancient medical art starting next year.

Kim Jae Yoon, a postgraduate student from the Republic of Korea (ROK), will be the first foreigner in China to start up a Chinese medicine clinic.

Coming to China at 1991, Kim has received a bachelor's degree and master's degree from Heilongjiang Traditional Chinese Medicinal University (HTCMU) in Harbin, northeast China.

He is currently working on his doctorate and preparing for the upcoming license examination for foreigners.

"With a history of thousands of years, Chinese medicine has an amazing curative effect on a variety of diseases," Kim said in fluent Chinese.

Currently, some 170 foreigners are studying traditional Chinese medicine at HTCMU, most of them from neighboring countries such as Japan, Malaysia and ROK. Only a few are from Europe and North America, said Zhang Tianfeng, deputy dean of the International Institute of the University.

According to Zhang, since 1986, over 3,000 foreign students from 18 countries and regions have graduated from the university.

The son of a famous doctor in Seoul, Kim said that his interest in traditional Chinese medicines started when he was young.

"Traditional medicine of the ROK is actually derived from that of China," he said.

Specializing in Chinese acupuncture, message and herbal medicine treatments, Kim will be practicing out of a small building on a busy street in Harbin.

( November 15, 2001)