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How TCM could help fight dementia. With cases set to triple, a Hong Kong expert explains

How celebrities are driving TCM’s boom in the West and the treatments people seek

Snake wine’s origins, reputed health benefits, use in TCM and how it can bite back

The rise of traditional Chinese medicine

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM)

Lifestyle

Why traditional Chinese medicine is so special, and how it’s getting a push in Hong Kong

Chinese herbal medicine is dispensed at a pharmacy in Sham Shui Po, Hong Kong. Photo: Yik Yeung-man

Chinese herbal medicine is dispensed at a pharmacy in Sham Shui Po, Hong Kong, where traditional Chinese medicine is being promoted. Photo: Yik Yeung-man

Hong Kong’s acting secretary for health Dr Libby Lee (centre), Chinese Medicine Development commissioner Dr Vincent Chung (right), and Chinese Medicine Practice Subcommittee chairman Chan Wing-kwong at the Hong Kong Chinese Medicine Culture Festival. Photo: www.info.gov.hk

An artist’s impression of the finished Hong Kong Chinese Medicine Hospital, which is set to open in stages from 2025. It will provide predominantly TCM services, with Western medicine doctors playing a supporting role. Photo: HKBU

Traditional Chinese medicine is based on the belief that qi, the body’s vital energy, flows along meridians, or channels, in the body and keeps a person’s spiritual, emotional, mental, and physical health in balance. Photo: Shutterstock

Dr Mok Tik-lun, a lecturer at the School of Chinese Medicine at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. Photo: CUHK

Acupuncture is one of the “four pillars” of traditional Chinese medicine, along with herbal medicine and dietary therapy, tui na massage, and exercise and movement therapy.

Cupping, in which heated glass jars create suction to promote circulation and the flow of qi. Photo: Getty Images

A festival of traditional Chinese medicine and a dedicated hospital are ways TCM is being promoted in the city. Here’s what you need to know.


Why Chinese Gen Z are getting TCM winter body checks

Qiu Jingchuan, deputy chief practitioner at Lei Yun Shang, takes a patient’s blood pressure at the company’s TCM clinic in Shanghai, China. Photo: Lisa Cam

Lei Yun Shang’s TCM clinic in Shanghai. Photo: Lei Yun Shang

Hong Kong-based TCM practitioner Samuel To at his clinic in Central. Photo: Xiaomei Chen

San fu tian moxibustion patches on a patient. Photo: Samuel To

Inside Lei Yun Shang’s TCM clinic in Shanghai. Photo: Lei Yun Shang

Lei Yun Shang’s traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) clinic in Shanghai is seeing more young people get health checks as winter sets in.


Ex-One Direction band member Zayn Malik praises Nin Jiom Pei Pa Koa, a Chinese herbal syrup, as an “elixir” for his voice in an interview with British Vogue in June 2024. Photo: SCMP composite/YouTube (@British Vogue)/Ninjiom.com

Serena Williams, who is featured having both cupping and acupuncture sessions in an HBO documentary. Photo: EPA-EFE

Tsao-Lin Moy does cupping for a client at her practice in New York. Photo: Nick Onken

Dr Reuben Chen, a doctor based outside Dallas, uses Chinese medicine extensively in his practice. Photo: Dr Reuben Chen

Traditional Chinese medicine relies on a huge range of ingredients to provide treatments. Photo: Shutterstock

Tara Greenberg, a Chinese medicine practitioner and fertility specialist in California, is seen with acupuncture needles in her face and head. Photo: Instagram/point.holisticwellness

Stars from Ariana Grande to Tom Brady are helping traditional Chinese medicine treatments like cupping and acupuncture soar in popularity.


Researchers, including in Hong Kong, have been looking at the potential of traditional Chinese medicine to treat dementia, cases of which are forecast to rise as the elderly population grows. Photo: Yik Yeung-man

Dr Fanny Ip Chui-fun, chief scientific officer of the Hong Kong Centre for Neurodegenerative Diseases, says there is a pressing need to find solutions to dementia. Photo: HKCeND

TCM has the potential to help treat dementia because of the way it promotes gut health – which is linked to brain health. Photo: Shutterstock 

The leaves and bark of Ginkgo biloba, a tree which has been around for 250 million years, have long been used in TCM. They are believed to improve cognitive function. Photo: Shutterstock

VascuReform is a herbal brain health product under the Cogniherbs label designed to protect cognitive function. Photo: Infitech

A diagram of a cross-section of the brain of an Alzheimer’s sufferer, showing atrophy of the cerebral cortex and an enlarged hippocampus and ventricles. Photo: Shutterstock 

A neuroscientist describes how traditional Chinese medicine may provide modern solutions to preserving cognitive function as we age.


This series is based on our reporting on TCM, its history, treatments and growing acceptance around the world.


Series

The rise of traditional Chinese medicine

This series is based on our reporting on TCM, its history, treatments and growing acceptance around the world.

Explainer | As TCM is promoted in Hong Kong, a primer on the cultural ‘treasure’

A festival of traditional Chinese medicine and a dedicated hospital are ways TCM is being promoted in the city. Here’s what you need to know.

Why Chinese Gen Z are getting TCM winter body check-ups

Lei Yun Shang’s traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) clinic in Shanghai is seeing more young people get health checks as winter sets in.

The celebrities driving traditional Chinese medicine’s boom in the West

Stars from Ariana Grande to Tom Brady are helping traditional Chinese medicine treatments like cupping and acupuncture soar in popularity.

Hong Kong researcher on how TCM could be used to fight dementia

A neuroscientist describes how traditional Chinese medicine may provide modern solutions to preserving cognitive function as we age.