KPU acupuncture students travel to traditional Chinese medicine university in Beijing

Fourteen Kwantlen Polytechnic University acupuncture students took part in a two-week educational trip to the Chinese capital of Beijing over the summer. 

Hosted by the Beijing University of Chinese Medicine (BUCM), this visit marked the first time KPU acupuncture students had the opportunity to travel and learn in traditional Chinese medicine’s (TCM) country of origin.

Students participated in lectures and demonstrations in English on a variety of TCM topics and treatments, visited a hospital, and took a tour of a pharmaceutical company with a focus on TCM herbology. 

They stayed in BUCM dormitories and ate in the school cafeteria, giving them many opportunities to interact with local TCM students. 

“My biggest highlight probably was the friends that I made,” says Hayden Ostrom, a recent graduate of the acupuncture program. 

“I found people to be really approachable on campus .… I play badminton here in Canada, and badminton is quite popular in China. I brought my rackets with me, and we’d go up to people in the cafeteria who had badminton rackets and [ask], ‘Do you play badminton? Can I play with you?’” 

Current KPU acupuncture student Meaghan McAneeley says the experience travelling with her fellow students gave way to a shared sense of camaraderie and adventure as they headed overseas. The mix of students at varying levels of their program, including some recent graduates, made for an enhanced learning experience, she says. 

“[The] graduates, I think, had a deeper appreciation for some of the concepts. It fostered a relationship between the different cohorts. I made friends, as well, learning abroad,” McAneeley says. 

“I know this is cheesy, but I keep telling people that it was one of my best educational experiences, and also just one of my best experiences in life.” 

While the trip did not contribute to credits for their program, students say the experience in China was valuable to their education as future acupuncture and TCM practitioners in Canada. 

Kelly Yip, who graduated from the acupuncture program in September, says she was fascinated to see how integrated TCM and western medicine are in China, with many doctors being trained in both practices. 

“There, they have a pharmacy section [where] they have actual herbal medicine in the hospital, a whole floor. So a patient could go see a doctor above, then come downstairs, and they would have different herbal remedies,” Yip says.  

“It’s good to get the experience, to see the type of culture, the background of the history of TCM, as well as seeing the differences in it. That grounds you into how you want to direct your future practice.” 

BUCM, a public university in China, funded the learning experience for students, who were only responsible for airfare and tourism activities outside the university, says KPU acupuncture instructor Dr. Yan Qu, who travelled with the students. 

Qu says the trip is part of a wider initiative by the Chinese government to encourage TCM studies in universities outside of China. 

While there were some hiccups being the first group from KPU to go, Qu says she was overall pleased with the experience and is optimistic that similar learning opportunities for KPU students will emerge in the future through the government initiative.

Qu adds an important takeaway was how well the education at KPU had prepared students for their trip to BUCM. She says many students in China are not getting the same hands-on experience KPU students are, giving them more confidence — a sentiment shared by Ostrom. 

“I really did have a realization that what we learned here is the real deal, and it is effective in helping people,” Ostrom says.