SANYA, June 4/.TASS/. The Center for Traditional Chinese Medicine in the resort city of Sanya in the Hainan Province has opened courses to teach foreigners, the Hainan Daily newspaper reported.
According to the newspaper, the program is designed for a month and includes learning the technique of Chinese massage, cupping, as well as gua sha therapy (special massage with a scraper). The students daily attend two hour classes of theory in the morning and one and a half hours of practical studies in the afternoon.
"First of all, we give preference to students from Russian-speaking regions - traditional Chinese medicine is most popular there," said Zhang Wei, deputy head of the center, as quoted by the newspaper. He also noted that the first group of seven Russians already completed training in March 2019.
"Short-term courses allow students to quickly master the theoretical and practical basics of traditional Chinese medicine, and then continue the practice back at home," continued Zhang Wei. In the future the center plans to attract students from countries participating in the One Belt One Road Iniative. "This will contribute to the development of cultural ties between peoples and will allow to popularize traditional Chinese medicine on regional and global scale," he stressed.
China's initiative to create a global transportation and investment infrastructure "One Belt One Road" combines two projects: The Economic Belt of the Silk Road and the Maritime Silk Road of the XXI Century.
According to the news outlet, visitors more often prefer to combine a classic beach holiday with a wellness retreat. Since 2014, more than 70,000 foreign tourists have tried traditional medicine treatment in the city of Sanya, and only in 2018 their number exceeded 12,300.