Suo Jinlan (front row, third from left) receives an award for her 20-plus years of work at the Beijing Hospital of Tibetan Medicine during a ceremony marking the hospital's 30th anniversary on October 30 (COURTESY PHOTO) 

Seated among clusters of residential buildings not far from the Olympic Park in the Chinese capital, the Beijing Hospital of Tibetan Medicine is somewhat unremarkable. However, Tibetan medicine, a healthcare practice that originated in Tibet Autonomous Region, sheathes the hospital in a mysterious glow. 

The hospital, established in 1992, may be young and small compared to many of Beijing's time-honored hospitals but it is well-developed, nonetheless.

"There were only six doctors of Tibetan medicine when it was set up," Zhong Gejia, head of the hospital, said at the ceremony marking its 30th anniversary on October 30. "It has since developed into a national center for the traditional medicine of China's ethnic minorities."

Suo Jinlan, who has worked at the hospital for 29 years, has witnessed all the steps the institution has taken over the years.

She is of the Tibetan ethnic group from Qinghai Province; in 1993, her hometown clinic sent her to work at the Beijing-based hospital—temporarily.

"The hospital was nothing more than a few small houses in those days and conditions were very basic," she told Beijing Review. "It was super-hot in summer and we were always sweating profusely when running hot medicated baths [a typical treatment method in Tibetan medicine that requires patients to soak in herbal water]. Some medical workers had to drench towels in cold water and put these on their heads to cool off."

The harsh conditions did not, however, deter Suo, as she understood that the hospital was in dire need of Tibetan medicine doctors, especially in the early stages. So when asked if she wanted to stay on permanently, she replied with a resounding "yes." In the following years, several doctors from the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau joined the ranks.

The decision to settle down in Beijing, a city so far away from their hometown, wasn't an easy one for these doctors to make. The climate alone is a world removed from that in Qinghai and Tibet. "Beijing's summers, for example, are much more humid and that's hard for doctors from the plateau to adapt to," she said.

Over the course of three decades, this institution has always been the top choice for Tibetans residing in Beijing and its vicinity. In 2002, the hospital's new building featuring modern medical facilities went into operation. And over the years, the efficacy of Tibetan medicine has also become known to many more Beijingers and the hospital has developed a reputation for its treatment of specific diseases such as atrophic gastritis and diabetes.

"Today, the hospital employs more than 30 doctors of Tibetan descent," she said. "Among them, some have been working here for over 20 years. It has become an important training base for Tibetan medicine and a window for people to learn more about this type of traditional healthcare."

Copyedited by Elsbeth van Paridon 

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