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Mongolian medicine recovers

By Cao Li (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-08-25 09:11

From humble beginnings

Mongolian traditional medicine originated when herdsmen began using natural ingredients and ancient tools to make ointments to cure injuries or ailments caused by bareback horse riding, fighting or harsh weather.

Historians suggest the system was established in earnest in the 1200s, with some of the therapies later combined with those from ancient Indian, Han Chinese and ethnic Tibetan cultures.

Mida (right) has been using a traditional Mongolian therapy to treat her rheumatoid arthritis for decades. Wu Yunsheng / For China Daily  Related video:Mongolian medicine recovers

The Mongolian system is based on natural sources, adequate rest and healthy eating. Practitioners say their techniques have proven exceptionally effective in treating cardiovascular diseases, bone injuries, chronic gynecological diseases and hemiplegia (partial paralysis).

Certain remedies are even credited with aiding cancer patients, as they unclog the "white and black veins", energy channels that ethnic Mongolian people believe run through the body.

An hour's drive from Mida's grassland home in Baotou, Bai Shuzhen was relaxing in a waiting room at the Inner Mongolia Zhongmeng Hospital in Hohhot, which specializes in traditional Chinese and ethnic Mongolian medical treatment. She could not contain her excitement as she talked about how her stomachache had disappeared just 60 minutes after undergoing a Mongolian treatment.

"I have tried both Western medicine and traditional Chinese medicine but I find this (ethnic Mongolian remedy) works best for me," said the 69-year-old retired Hohhot primary school teacher. "I never had any idea what Mongolian medicine involved before today; neither did my family, friends or colleagues, even those who are ethnic Mongolian," she said. "All I'd heard was they were ancient remedies used by the nomadic groups," she added.

Also in the waiting room was Jigelatu, who agreed to let China Daily reporters watch his treatment for migraines. After hearing his name called, the 42-year-old was led into another room and seated before a doctor wrapped a towel tightly around his neck and cut open his forehead.

"My headaches feel like a belt tightening around my head," said the businessman as dark red blood drizzled from his head into a small bucket placed between his feet. "Just a few hours after this treatment, the pain will be totally relieved."

The doctor, who stopped the bleeding once the flow slowed to a light drip, said the treatment was to release the heat from the patient's blood.

At the nearby Hohhot Zhongmeng Hospital specializing in traditional Chinese and ethnic Mongolian medicine, 59-year-old Gerilesaihan was receiving a "fire treatment", which involves being massaged with flaming oils. "I heard the hospital here is good and, when I first came in May, I was on crutches and unable to speak," said the herdsman from Bayanhongor in the People's Republic of Mongolia, who has also had acupuncture and cupping therapy. "I regained the ability to speak after the first treatments."