The Learning Problems Of International Traditional Chinese Medicine Students

With the development of Traditional Chinese Medicine(hereafter TCM)in the world,the education of foreign students majoring in TCM has gradually become an important part to realize the internationalization of TCM discipline.Since 1950s,TCM universities in China have begun to enroll foreign students,contributing to an increasing scale of foreign students,great diversification of source countries and gradual improvement of academic levels.However,this also causes the increasingly serious problems in education and study of such students.The research objects are the foreign TCM students from H university.By using the method of interviewing and classroom observation with 16 foreign students and three teachers,this research is intended to know foreign students' learning problems and their factors from the perspective of cultural adaptation,so as to provide reference and enlightenment for improving the educational quality of foreign students in TCM.The main research findings are as follows:First,owing to the profound traditional culture in TCM,its foreign students,study adaptation is worse than those whose majors have the strong similarities.The foreign TCM students' learning problems can be divided into 3 parts:language,professional knowledge and skills of TCM.In the TCM language,there are two kinds of situation.In Chinese class,the foreign students,especially European and American students,feel confused about the ancient Chinese language.While the students in English class are not accustomed to the expression when translating the Chinese language into English.The complex knowledge,abstract concepts and flexible theories of TCM discipline may bring foreign students a lot of difficulties.As for the TCM skills,the differences between Chinese and foreign thinking patterns mislead the foreign students in understanding the TCM thinking pattern,which finally influences their command of those skills.Second,the foreign students' study problems can be attributed to the individual reasons,discipline features,and university cultivation.The distance between foreign students' culture and Chinese culture,the language expression and the interpersonal communication make some effects on their study.Based on the Chinese philosophy,TCM forms a typical medical model that is centered on 'zheng'.This feature exerts the fundamental impact on foreign students' study.The university cultivation and management,such as students' admission,teachers,courses,teaching materials,can make foreign students cross the cultural barriers,improve their study interests,strengthen their engagement,and enforce the study effects.Third,TCM is infiltrated with the rich connotation of Chinese traditional culture.By developing the foreign education of TCM,we can spread the essence of TCM culture to the world,promote the internationalization of national characteristic discipline,increase the Chinese soft power and make great contributions to the world culture diversity.