Chapter 611: The East Falls Short of the West
The next several questions were almost all given to the reporters.
The reporters didn’t ask about any medical issues; their questions were very targeted, like the previous two.
Zhao Xuefeng had already said what he’d been holding in for five years, so what was there he couldn’t say now?
Very quickly, Zhao Xuefeng finished answering the questions and stepped down from the stage.
The host stood by the podium, looking at the list and announcing: "Next, please welcome Director Liu Mang from Kanyue City Medical University to the stage. His speech title is: ’On Internal Medicine Clinical Experience and Concepts’."
After the announcement, the audience erupted into chatter again, and their expressions became somewhat strange.
Liu Mang... isn’t that guy insane? Doesn’t seem like he’s here, right?
This morning, when Liu Mang was called crazy by Lin Tian, there were psychiatrists present who could have tested him.
But that guy got knocked out by Lin Tian, so how could they test him? They don’t even know if he’s in the hospital now.
Seeing that no one was going up the stage for a long time, the murmuring became even louder.
Lin Tian smiled faintly: "Looks like that old guy isn’t coming this time. What a bore."
"You have the nerve to say that," Liou Qingcheng rolled her eyes playfully and said, "You hit him so hard earlier that you almost broke his neck."
"Lin Tian, I’m usually not one to advocate violence, but I really appreciated what you did this morning. But you should still use such methods sparingly," Zhao Xuefeng said with a chuckle, his mood now somewhat lifted, recalling Lin Tian’s actions earlier, even better.
"Don’t wait for him, that guy’s not coming, get to the next one."
Zhang Zhixing waved his hand; as a deputy director of the Ministry of Health, he naturally had the authority to say such things.
Just when the announcer was about to announce the next speaker, suddenly the auditorium doors were pushed open, and a nurse called out to everyone inside: "Just wait a moment, Director Liu Mang will be here soon."
The announcer looked at Zhang Zhixing, and seeing Zhang Zhixing nod in agreement, stepped off the stage to wait with everyone else for Liu Mang.
Waiting is a very frustrating thing, especially since they have already waited before.
If it wasn’t for the nurse constantly saying good words to everyone, someone might have been unhappy by now, not to mention the traditional medicine practitioners didn’t have a good impression of him to begin with.
Finally, after the second hand on the wall made two rounds, Liu Mang hurried in.
He looked quite disheveled.
How disheveled?
His neck was crooked, with a large swollen red patch, and his branded suit was still dusted with morning dirt.
Combined with his Waihai City hairstyle, he looked extremely sleazy.
As he made his way, Liu Mang kept apologizing to the crowd, saying, "Sorry, sorry. I’m late, sorry to keep you waiting."
Although he said that, when his eyes met Lin Tian and Zhao Xuefeng’s, they gleamed with a fierce look, like he was about to eat them alive.
Liu Mang took to the stage, but his neck was still crooked.
Someone asked, "Director, what happened to your neck?"
At the mention of this, Liu Mang became angry. If it weren’t for so many health department leaders in the audience, he might have started cursing already.
"Before I begin my speech, let me clarify a few things. First, I do not have conjunctivitis! Second, I am not insane! I’ve already gotten tested by psychiatry and am perfectly normal!"
His tone was unconsciously heavy, as if he’d been through great injustice.
"Also, because of my lateness, I apologize to everyone again." With that, he bowed towards the leadership seats.
Liu Wen rolled his eyes and quietly muttered, "Still the same as before, what a showman."
"’On Internal Medicine Clinical Experience and Concepts,’ this is the theme of my paper today. What exactly is internal medicine? It is a large category within Western medicine, quite a broad topic. The human body’s internal organs, as well as limbs and bones, all fall under internal medicine..."
Then, Liu Mang started his long-winded speech. To Lin Tian, it sounded like an old woman’s bound feet—long and smelly.
His speech on the surface was about internal medicine, but in reality, it was all about promoting Western medicine and criticizing traditional medicine.
"Western medicine is modern medicine. Medicine should not have national boundaries; it is based on the foundation of concrete evidence."
"If someone says the body has 206 bones, they can bring out a specimen. If someone says there are veins and arteries, the central nervous system, they can dissect it for you to see. Western medicine says life is composed of countless cells, they can show it to you through a microscope. Western medicine says humans have blood types, have DNA, they can present research reports."
"Do old methods really work? Talking about the brain dripping as mucus, the heart as the master of the spirit. Does anyone believe that? Does anyone understand that?"
"Some say it’s terminology, a concept. Fine, how about a research report? Can it be provided? I fear even if you dissect the corpses inside and out, layer by layer, you’ll find nothing."
"Take the simplest example. Were there anesthetics in ancient medical practices? Don’t talk about Hua Tuo’s Anesthetic Powder—that’s long lost. Even if it existed, it probably isn’t as good as modern medicine, right? And common minor illnesses like colds, fevers, tetanus—without modern medicine, the mortality rate would probably skyrocket."
"Modern medicine is rational and evidence-based. But what about ancient? It’s all based on experience, sift the chaff from the wheat..."
The speech wasn’t just reading off the script; it was about expressing one’s own points of view based on it. So there was no rote reading.
But the approved speech script Liu Mang had wasn’t like this, it was pointed word by word, aiming to tear traditional medicine into a thousand holes.
He might have suddenly changed like this, possibly related to the knife chop Lin Tian had delivered to his neck.
What he said sounded very reasonable, and most of what he said was true, but it was extremely targeted.
He magnified the shortcomings of traditional medicine to the extreme, and those were age-old issues.
Though he didn’t mention traditional medicine in his words, anyone could tell that the ’ancient medical practices’ he referred to was indeed traditional medicine. ’Modern medical practices’ was Western medicine!
This clash between ancient and modern should have been fascinating, a mutual learning experience.
But now it had become full of confrontation.
Everything in the world is constantly evolving and updating, and medicine is no exception.
But who dares to say that what we have now is definitely better than before?
Isn’t it?
The wisdom of the ancients is immeasurable, just like Hua Tuo, Li Shizhen, and Bian Que, those legendary figures in the medical field, they are myths in the arena of medicine.
The contributions they made to medicine are enormous.
Who dares to deny it?
Liu Mang dared to deny it!
He spoke of ancient medicine as if it were worthless, wasn’t that his meaning? He specifically referred to the entire field of ancient medicine!
The main idea of his speech today was so clear that even the reporters understood it: The ancient is inferior to the Western!