This article is dedicated to the fading and already faded wandering folk practitioners of Traditional Chinese Medicine!
My uncle was a folk TCM practitioner. He had studied in a private school for a few years. In that old era when illiteracy was widespread in rural areas, he was considered an educated man. When I was young, I personally heard him, on rare occasions when he was happy, recite classics with rhythmic intonation. However, such scenes usually had to be kept away from outsiders, even family members, because it was easy to invite ridicule. In his youth, he had formally apprenticed under an old TCM doctor, inheriting several secret family recipes that were particularly effective for various liver and stomach diseases. During the People's Commune period, such a low-level intellectual with the suspicion of being a "stinking ninth category" naturally didn't fare well. Coupled with his frail physique and scholarly way of speaking, he often lagged behind when doing farm work to earn work points in the production team. People around him gave him the nickname "Xiansheng" (先生). The meaning of that "Xiansheng" was completely different from the meaning of "Xiansheng" today; at that time, it was actually a harmless joke among the villagers. Fortunately, my uncle was kind and never argued with others. Sometimes he even treated villagers for free, so he didn't suffer much during the various political movements.
When the reform and opening-up period arrived, my uncle finally freed himself from the bondage of the land. He began carrying white bags of Chinese medicine, traveling from village to village, wandering among the people, specializing in treating liver and stomach diseases. He would usually stay at a patient's home in a village for about ten days. Patients with liver and stomach diseases from surrounding villages would hear about him and come for pulse diagnosis and prescriptions. He would return for a follow-up consultation six months later. The medicine would cure the disease, and he was honest with everyone, young and old. In the dim medicine room at my uncle's house, I once found piles of silk banners and thank-you letters, all sent voluntarily by cured patients. I also once saw a stack of silver dollars in a box. In the still impoverished rural areas during the early days of reform and opening-up, I think these must have been the villagers' privately hidden family heirlooms. After their long-troubling diseases were cured, they willingly brought out the most precious treasures from their homes to express their gratitude.
In today's world of advanced medicine, some common stomach and liver diseases have instead become incurable, requiring lifelong medication. My younger brother once drank so much that he had a stomach hemorrhage and was sent to the hospital for emergency treatment. After being discharged, his stomach problems kept recurring, and he was constantly taking medicine. After my uncle prescribed three doses of medicine, my brother's stomach disease was completely cured, and now he can drink even more than before. Relying on his two unique specialties in stomach and liver diseases, my uncle wandered among the people for over a decade, curing countless patients with liver and stomach diseases. He became famous in several surrounding counties and cities. The way people addressed him had voluntarily changed from "Xiansheng" to "Doctor Wang."
At that time, my uncle also regularly went to the mountains and fields to gather herbs. When I was young, I once witnessed him preparing a particular medicine, and it left a deep impression on me. It involved burning an egg in a cup of liquor. After the liquor burned off, the crushed eggshell became a medicine used to treat stomach diseases.
Later, as my uncle grew older, he could no longer carry the medicine bags or walk long distances. So, he used his savings over the years to build a house in the city. He hung a simple handwritten sign saying "Wang's Clinic" in front of the door and sat at home seeing patients. Due to his good reputation and effective treatments, patients gathered daily in an endless stream.
Wang's Clinic did not have a business license, and my uncle did not have a medical practice qualification. The local medical administration department turned a blind eye with open-mindedness. Many local officials, big and small, had been patients he cured, and they spread the word within their circles. During Spring Festival visits back home, my uncle often proudly told me which mayor, which county magistrate, or which bureau chief he had cured. Sometimes he also complained helplessly to me that no matter whose family in the local health bureau had an event, he had to send gifts; no matter how high the stakes, he had to play along.
In 2010, my elderly uncle passed away, completing his life as a folk TCM practitioner wandering in the gray areas. My cousin inherited his legacy. Actually, my cousin had never wanted to follow my uncle in learning medicine. It was only when my uncle became old and sickly that he reluctantly stepped in as a helper out of necessity. His dream during school was to get into a medical college and become a genuine, legitimate doctor. Later, he failed the college entrance exam and gave up the idea of practicing medicine.
My cousin's career as a folk TCM practitioner did not last long. Without medical qualifications and practice licenses, he was very passive when medical disputes arose. Additionally, his personality didn't like compromising and maintaining relationships with medical administration the way my uncle did. After running the clinic for two years, on an uneventful evening, my cousin quietly took down the sign of Wang's Clinic.
That Doctor Wang who was skilled at treating liver and stomach diseases finally became a legend of the past in the mouths of local patients, old and new!
In the summer of 2015, my cousin excitedly called me to tell me that his daughter had been admitted to university. I asked which school, and he said it was a medical school!
During that phone call, my eyes welled up with tears! Some Chinese traditions inadvertently integrate into the bloodline, are engraved in the bones, connected by flesh and blood, and continue endlessly. Under this vast sky above their heads, connected to this thick earth beneath their feet, they endure hardships with conscious forbearance and strength, passing down through generations, unceasingly. My uncle, throughout his life, did not have a doctor's qualification, but patients bestowed upon him the title of doctor. My cousin dreamed of becoming a qualified doctor, but fate was not on his side. At a time when doctors bear the brunt of a failing medical system and doctor-patient relationships are tense, with many college entrance exam candidates unwilling to apply to medical schools, the third generation of the Wang medical family resolutely chose to continue practicing medicine!
One wandering folk Doctor Wang has faded away. There are still a few remaining Doctors Zhang and Li who continue to wander among the people, gradually fading, becoming the swan song of Traditional Chinese Medicine...