A Self-Made TCM Doctor in Hangzhou

Lang Yulin is such a good doctor of traditional Chinese medicine that two authors have just written a long reportage on him and his miraculous career as a TCM doctor. On May 18， 2010， Zhejiang Writers Association and Hangzhou Writers Association jointly held a ceremony to launch the book by Xue Jiazhu， chairman of Hangzhou Writers Association， and Bin Yin， a Shanghai-based writer.

Lang Yulin was not destined to be a TCM doctor， though he was interested in herbs when he was a child. What turned him to mysterious TCM for help was his rheumatoid arthritis. Lang is a native of Yuhang District， Hangzhou. After he retired the military service in 1955m， he worked as a technician， a department director and a workshop director in a factory over years. In 1971， he came back to work in Yuhang. It was here that he began to suffer from rheumatoid arthritis. The pain tortured him so much that he was hardly able to walk. Doctors at big hospitals told him that western medicine did not have effective treatment for this disease. Then Lang turned to local TCM doctors for help. The result was equally disappointing. He tried medical liquor with a viper dipped in it. The rheumatoid arthritis did not go away. He was poisoned and developed the serious skin rash. The itchy rash tortured him on and off for one and half a year.

With nowhere else to go， Lang made up his mind to grasp his destiny in his own hands and turned to herbs as his last resort. He began to read TCM books and studied all kinds of prescriptions. He made notes and experimented with herbs. He needed more than 10 wood crates to store his notebooks. He tried various recipes on himself. At last， he cured himself of rheumatoid arthritis and skin rash.

The success with himself turned Lang Yulin’s eyes to other patients tortured by similar diseases that doctors failed to provide modern cure. Since he cured himself， Lang as a TCM doctor has treated more than 100，000 patients， including many extremely difficult cases.

A man in his 60s suffered from incontinence of urine. He had to use diapers. Lang Yulin cured him. A girl in Jiaxing， Zhejiang Province was stricken with psoriasis. The skin disease was so serious that her breasts were hardened as rocks. Her mother took her to see Lang and it was cured. The girl was able to resume her education. A young man in Lin’an suffered a serious case of psoriasis. He spent about nearly 100，000 yuan going to hospitals in Beijing and Wuxi and came home with a lot of herbs. But the disease did not go away. He said he could have bought a car with the money for medicine. Then he heard of Lang Yulin and came to him for help. He got rid of the disease.

Lang Yulin has practiced TCM for decades and he wants his children to continue to run the family clinic in the hope that the clinic will continue from one generation to another until forever. His daughter used to work in a business and earned good salary. And his son used to work as a government official in a law department. Under the advice of their father， both gave up their well-paid jobs and studied TCM at Zhejiang TCM University. Now they have established themselves as TCM doctors. The family of TCM doctors is dedicated to treatment of difficult diseases. Some are planning to go abroad.

The book portrays Lang Yulin’s life and career and let readers gain a meaningful glance into a TCM doctor’s dedication to curing people of diseases. It portrays how Lang Yulin became a highly respected TCM doctor and what efforts he has made to introduce TCM to the world. The reportage also serves as a good example of TCM in action in everyday life.□