Doctor Ajandok Eory once again has organized Hungarian medical
practitioners to come to Beijing to learn the 312 exercise, a
meridian-based fitness program.
It was the seventh visit of his fellow countrymen during the
past decade. The Hungarian, now serving as the president of
Hungarian Society of Acupuncture and Moxibustion, has a strong
faith in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and especially its core
concept of meridian theory.
He was the organizer of the first International Meridian
Conference in 1985 and also the first discoverer of plant meridian
through applying thermograph.
He has known Dr Zhu Zongxiang, the inventor of the exercise, for
more than two decades, and believes the simple exercise
incorporates the essence of TCM and greatly benefit his people.
However, he admitted that in Western countries, it was more
difficult for people to accept such a foreign idea.
He especially targeted poor people, who would benefit most from
the exercise. "Western medicine is growing to be more and more
expensive. As medical practitioners, we have to give something to
poor people to enhance their health level. It should be cheap with
no side effects," he said.
In Hungary, he organizes medical volunteers to go onto the
streets to provide free blood-pressure measurement services for
passers-by. If a person's blood pressure is high, the volunteers
suggest the 312 exercise. Hundreds of new patients are joining the
exercise group.
A woman exercises in the
park surrounding the Temple of Heaven in Beijing. Daily exercises
for 25 minutes will keep people healthy and vigorous, according to
doctor Zhu Zongxiang.
Comparatively, in Southeast Asian countries, such as Malaysia
and Singapore, the scope of 312 exercises is much more extensive.
In Singapore there are 80,000 registered practitioners and in
Malaysia there are 160,000.
Zhu credited Huang Yucheng, a Chinese Malaysian businessman, for
its rapid expansion.
Huang owned an electronics company and as his business was
flourishing in 1989, he suddenly felt stomach pains. He was later
diagnosed with urinary calculus and gouty arthritis. At first he
relied on drugs to relieve the pain, but years later, he gradually
developed resistance to the drugs and his physical condition
worsened everyday.
Huang decided to blaze another trail to regain health. He
practiced Tai Chi and tried all kinds of TCM. Later, and by
accident, he received a disk of 312 meridian exercises from a
friend and followed the instructions by the teacher in the
video.
One year later his pain went away and he gradually regained his
strength and vigor.
In the 1990s, according to Huang, there were hundreds of
thousands of disks of 312 meridian exercises spreading in Southeast
Asia. However, few people really recognized its health care
value.
In 2004, with gratitude and a little curiosity, he came to
Beijing and met with the exercise's inventor, Zhu, who encouraged
him to popularize the exercise to more Singaporeans.
Later, Huang quit his own company business and devoted himself
to building a network of meridian exercise centers, including
fitness centers and hospitals.
In his eyes, 312 exercises is not an exercise only for old
people and he has already introduced it into primary schools.
(China Daily May 16, 2007)
