Development Of And Challenge For Traditional Chinese Medicine In Australia-With An Eye To Its Legitimation,Education And Media Reports

Traditional Chinese medicine,also known as TCM in its abbreviated form,arrived with the Chinese goldminers in Australia in the middle of the 1800 s.However,TCM did not gain a reputation in western countries,including Australia,until U.S.President Nixon's visit to China with his correspondent who suffered an acute appendicitis and was cured by acupuncture treatment in 1972.In the same year,White Australia Policy was abolished,and the revival of the Sino-Australian relation has played a prominent role in promoting the development of TCM since then.In Australia,TCM has gone through twists and turns on the path to be gradually legitimated in the states and the whole country.Victoria introduced the western world's first Chinese Medicine act in 2000,but the whole country did not implement National Registration and Accreditation Scheme until 2012.Moreover,Australia has made remarkable achievements in standardized tertiary education concerning acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine,with three comprehensive universities awarding students degrees in TCM.However,this regulated Complementary and Alternative Medicine(CAM)modality is still faced with controversial comments from Australian mainstream media,which provokes us into thinking how to appropriately share TCM stories with Australia and the whole world.This thesis will give a clear picture of TCM's development in the fields of legitimation,education and media in Australia by the means of quantitative and qualitative analysis,correct some misunderstandings on issues related to TCM held by both Chinese and Australians,and present some feasible solutions to better promote TCM culture in this leading country of the southern hemisphere.