Just like that, Jiang Bingxin experimented on herself for more than two months, and the area of acupuncture shifted from her legs...
When the reporter followed a lady into the room, they saw that the "doctor" was actually a fashionable 90s-born girl. Her left hand pressed on the patient's stomach while her right hand held a 12-inch long silver needle, which slowly entered the patient's body as she moved it up and down.
Starting as an assistant to an old TCM doctor, Jiang Bingxin witnessed the wonders of acupuncture. To learn acupuncture, she, already a student in the Tourism English major at Southwest Minzu University's International Education College, resolutely dropped out despite her family's opposition.
"At first, I couldn't get the needle in." The first lesson her master taught Jiang Bingxin was how to insert the needle correctly with proper technique to minimize pain. However, Jiang Bingxin struggled to pass this hurdle, spending three whole months practicing just the insertion technique alone.
Later, during her study of acupuncture, Jiang Bingxin realized her lack of professional knowledge. Therefore, she decided to further her studies and is now a student in the Traditional Chinese Medicine major at Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine's Affiliated Acupuncture School.
In the following one and a half years, whenever Liu Hequn came to Chengdu to treat patients, Jiang Bingxin would assist him. Gradually, Jiang Bingxin became interested in Liu Hequn's unique style of acupuncture. By this time, Jiang Bingxin was already a student in the Tourism English major at Southwest Minzu University's International Education College.
In May this year, Jiang Bingxin could already perform acupuncture treatments for simple issues like headaches and bloating.
Currently, Jiang Bingxin attends school from Monday to Friday and sees patients on Saturday and Sunday. Her treatments are completely free, and the patients who let her practice on them are familiar relatives and friends or people introduced by familiar patients.
The area shifted to her stomach. "At first, I was just randomly inserting needles, not knowing when I had inserted them in the wrong place. Several times, I caused gastrointestinal spasms." Gradually, Jiang Bingxin's skills became more proficient, and after three months, she could already insert the needle with minimal pain.
Over time, the lively girl developed a passion for acupuncture.
During her time as an assistant, Jiang Bingxin witnessed the wonders of acupuncture and felt the joy of patients being cured. She believed that being a doctor was a joyful thing.
According to rough estimates, from May this year until now, Jiang Bingxin has provided free acupuncture treatment to over 500 people without any safety incidents.
Eventually, although Jiang Bingxin's persistence led her parents to agree to her dropping out, they still did not fully understand her decision.
She is Jiang Bingxin, born in March 1990 in Longquanyi District, Chengdu. Like most 90s girls, she is lively, outgoing, and values individuality. Recently, she has become a well-known local figure because she uses her silver needles to provide free treatment for common ailments.
Therefore, Jiang Bingxin decided to return to school and start learning traditional Chinese medicine knowledge from scratch. In September, Jiang Bingxin became a new student in the Traditional Chinese Medicine major at Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine's Affiliated Acupuncture School.
For this reason, the Jiang family held a family meeting attended by nearly 20 people, including grandparents, great-grandparents, uncles, aunts, and other relatives. Except for her father, almost everyone opposed her dropping out.
One evening before sleeping, after practicing on a pillow for a while and feeling she had gotten the hang of it, Jiang Bingxin decided to experiment on herself. For her first attempt, she chose her leg. "I was so nervous that my hands were shaking and I was sweating profusely." After much hesitation, she closed her eyes, gritted her teeth, and inserted the needle into her leg. "It hurt a lot, and because I was too tense and my technique was incorrect, I couldn't get the needle in."
Since the movement of a pillow resembles that of a human body, Liu Hequn instructed Jiang Bingxin to practice on a pillow first. After three weeks, Jiang Bingxin believed she had mastered the needle insertion technique and began planning to experiment on herself.
Recently, in a small house on Taohua Mountain in Longquanyi, Chengdu, several people who had traveled from afar waited eagerly to enter the house and experience the miraculous acupuncture techniques of the "doctor" inside.
Back and forth, Jiang Lin and Liu Hequn became friends. In June 2008, when Liu Hequn needed an assistant to help him treat patients in Chengdu, Jiang Lin recommended Jiang Bingxin. Having just finished her college entrance exams, Jiang Bingxin was completely uninterested in medicine, but due to her father's influence and having spare time, she started working as a small assistant for Liu Hequn.
In 2006, Jiang Bingxin's father, Jiang Lin, suffered a meniscus injury in his left knee. Through a friend's introduction, he met the renowned Beijing TCM doctor Liu Hequn. Liu Hequn used his unique acupuncture method, inserting a few needles into Jiang Lin's stomach. After two courses of treatment, Jiang Lin's condition was fully recovered.
After one subject ended, Jiang Bingxin said to her father, "Dad, I want to drop out and learn acupuncture from Doctor Liu." "Alright, if you want to drop out, go ahead!" Jiang Lin thought that since his daughter was still young, she could try many things, and she had the right to decide her own future.
"When I was an assistant, patients would ask me about the effects of certain medications and whether they could cure diseases. My answer was always that I didn't know." Jiang Bingxin began contemplating her future. To master her master's medical skills, she needed to understand TCM knowledge and traditional acupuncture methods. Moreover, to obtain a physician qualification certificate in the future, she would need a diploma from a medical school.
"The master's acupuncture differs from traditional acupuncture and yields excellent results," Jiang Bingxin said. Traditional acupuncture needles are only four inches long, but her master's acupuncture needles are six inches, eight inches, and even up to twelve inches long. Furthermore, the insertion techniques and locations differ from traditional acupuncture.
In January this year, Jiang Bingxin learned from her father that Liu Hequn would be staying in Chengdu for a long time. She began considering apprenticing under Liu Hequn to learn acupuncture. At the end of the semester...
Reported by Wang Di and intern Zhang Feifei of Huaxi Metropolis Daily with photography.