Written by Alicia Harper

May 22, 2009 – In our morning Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) course, the class learned about acupuncture points in the lower extremity. Professor Gao Hong demonstrated acupuncture on some students and then we were given the opportunity to practice acupuncture on ourselves and our classmates. Everyone in the class experienced acupuncture whether it was done by the professor or themselves. The majority of the class was a little nervous but once you did it you learned how to prepare your body for the experience. Just about everyone did or would have liked to acupuncture more points on the body. After acupuncture Professor Gao Hong demonstrated cupping on some students. Professor Gao Hong defines cupping as “a therapy in which a jar is attached to the skin surface to cause local congestion through the removal of the air in the jar created by introducing heat”. We will learn more about cupping tomorrow.

After our morning TCM course we went to our Wushu (Tai chi) course. We got to experience an indoor practice room for martial arts because it was raining outside. Before the class started we were able to watch the end of a martial arts competition.  In class we reviewed the Kung Fu from the previous day and then Professor Yang Xiaoyuan added a few more steps to the routine. He then moved on to teaching the class about sword Kung Fu. We used two types which were called the broad sword and a longer sword. Professor Xiaoyuan ended the class with Tai chi.

After our Wushu course we went to lunch and then attended another TCM class. In this class Professor Hong taught the class about moxibustion. Professor Hong defined moxibustion as “an external method of preventing and treating disease by igniting the moxa to stimulate the acupuncture points”. Professor Hong demonstrated two types of moxibustion which were moxa cones and moxa sticks. After the demonstration the class got to practice with the moxibustion sticks on ourselves and on our classmates. The class found out real soon that the moxibustion sticks produce an odor similar to weed when they are burned for a while.

After our TCM class we went to our Wushu course. Instead of practicing Kung Fu and Tai Chi moves Professor Yang Xiaoyuan taught us the theory of Wushu. We learned and watched the many different styles. We also learned the basic concepts, functions, characteristics, and categories of Wushu.

To finish off the day, we went to the Shunxing Ancient Teahouse in the evening to drink tea and watch Face Changing (Sichuan Opera). This was an experience because we did not know what to expect. When we got there we learned some of the history through John and then watched the show. There were two smaller shows that lead up to Face Changing. The first show was about a black and white cat who was trying to catch a mouse. The second show was about a married couple and the wife was making her husband do embarrassing and difficult tricks with a flame on his head.  Both of the smaller shows were in Sichuan dialect so we couldn’t understand any of them.  Face Changing was astonishing because the masks changed so fast on the actor and actress. It left us wondering at the end, how the masks could be changed so fast and where they went.