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Link to WeChat Article: https://v.xiumi.us/board/v5/3rELg/

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Post-Pandemic Era

Though living in the post-pandemic era, COVID-19 is still a problem that we have to cope with

considering the new strains that keep arising and the rather serious aftereffects. In the foreseeable

future, COVID-19 will continue to exist and people have to figure out a way to get along with

this “bad company”. Traditional Chinese Medicine(TCM) could be one of the most universal

solutions.

What is TCM?

Traditional Chinese Medicine(TCM) is a complete system that has been existing for thousands of

years. Many other Asian countries' medical systems, such as Japan and Korea, were developed

on the basis of TCM. TCM regards the human body as the integral of Qi, form, and mind on the

basis of the theory of five elements and yin and yang(the two opposing principles in nature).

TCM values the balance of the human body and all illnesses are caused by imbalance. Since the

human body is in dynamic balance, TCM stresses the importance of daily efforts to keep the

balance. Just as the old saying goes, the superior doctor prevents illness, the mediocre doctor

treats the impending illness, and the inferior doctor treats the actual illness. In a nutshell,

prevention is considered priority among priorities.

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Why TCM?

With a brief glimpse on TCM, you may now wonder why we should choose TCM. Are there any

evidence other than those fine words? Yes. From past experience, TCM has been effective in the

treatment for respiratory infections caused by SARS or MERS coronavirus, which have a high

genetic similarity compared to COVID-19, and H1N1 influenza. During the SARS pandemic,

researchers tested the herbal formula Yupingfeng Powder as a prevention measure. None of the

3724 participants had contracted SARS. Other herbal formulas like ShuFengJieDu capsules were

tested during H1N1 influenza and have been proven to effectively reduce the infection rate. The

National Health Commission and National Administration of TCM confirmed the past clinical

studies and recommended that when integrated with western medicine, TCM is effective in

treatment of COVID-19. Furthermore, the Chinese government recently encouraged the

application of TCM in rural areas and indicated that TCM can effectively reduce the time needed

to eliminate the virus, shorten hospitalization periods and alleviates symptoms.

How to apply TCM in life?

The TCM system includes not only medicine and clinical treatment but also a large part of daily

exercises. As the pandemic broke out, the Chinese government has been promoting “ba duan

jin”, which is a kind of Qigong practice, or could be considered as mild Chinese martial art.

TCM believes that through certain movements, the Qi inside the human body can be mobilized

and helps to restore the dynamic balance of the human body. Due to the easy movement and non-

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drastic nature of such Qigong practice, even elderly people and children can participate. The

whole practice takes about 10 minutes and it can help to build a stronger immune system. People

who have practiced “ba duan jin” have given high praise for the effect.

Aside from practicing “ba duan jin”, acupressure (click for more information) can also help to

prevent and alleviate the symptoms of COVID-19. Also, drinking Chinese herbal medicine like

QingFeiPaiDuTang may prevent infection. If you are interested, check out Herbs & Acupressure

Points for Coronavirus. However, these practices are better conducted under the guidance of a

doctor.

This article only provides a limited perspective on TCM. Some readers may still doubt the

scientific truth of TCM. Why don't you just give it a try? After all, seeing is believing.

Resources

http://www.gov.cn/xinwen/2023-01/04/content_5734917.htm

https://www.mountsinai.org/health-library/treatment/traditional-chinese-medicine

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S222541101630044X?via%3Dihub

https://acupuncturetherapeutics.com/herbs-acupressure-points-for-coronavirus/

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Peggy Pan

Jan 25, 2023

Lopatko

WRIT 2

A Reflection on Genre Translation

The article I chose is “Traditional Chinese Medicine as a complementary therapy in

combat with COVID-19—A review of evidence-based research and clinical practice”. The genre

I chose to do this translation is WeChat Article. This is a wide genre that could vary differently

according to each author’s style and it acts perfect as a genre that faces the general public. It is

also a genre that has great propagation performance due to its compatibility with all social

platforms and its easiness to share. I chose to use this format because I think that Traditional

Chinese Medicine(TCM) is greatly undermined and neglected by the global community.

Especially in the time that COVID-19 could normalize people’s life, I feel the necessity to help

propagandize TCM.

As a popular social and working application, WeChat has a large number of users, and

writing a post does not have many limitations, which is easily approachable. The audience of this

genre is primarily the general public, but also includes the business leaders and the policy

makers. Since the pandemic will continue to last for years, people need to get used to the

situation. Just like taking flu shots every year, having some knowledge on how to prevent

COVID-19 or to cure it at an early stage would be good for people. I value the idea of using

TCM as prevention and this is something practical to use in daily life not only in prevention for

COVID-19 but also for other diseases. I would like to extend the idea of the journal and convey

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it to the general public that prevention is always of more importance than treatment. Due to the

possible severe sequelae of COVID-19 and the vulnerability of children and elders facing this

virus, I believe TCM is something one should pay attention to and will be attracted to. The effect

of TCM is not the actual problem—many of those who have experienced TCM won’t doubt that.

The problem is that under modern society, people tend to seek help from Western medicine more

since it’s more effective from appearance. A large number of people hold a neutral attitude

towards TCM, and I hope I could persuade this portion of people to take a step towards TCM

with the journal article and other evidence as backup. The potential publication of TCM can

bring up profits for business corporations, such as selling some mild herbal formula that could be

consumed daily as protection from diseases, and can provide publicity directions for the policy

makers.

As Dirk has said, “genres usually come with established conventions”(254). WeChat

articles are short articles that are usually easy to read with graphs and pictures. The style of the

article could vary with the author's choice. It could be fancy and contains gif or videos, but it

also could be of plain text. The business articles are usually colorful and have a fancy layout. The

built-in tools for WeChat articles allow the editor to setup interactive contents for their readers

such as a window that allows the readers to scroll through a long picture or article inside the

WeChat article without taking up too much spaces. Or like putting in a question and allows the

readers to click on it for question. Videos and musics and gifs are also common choices to enrich

the content and structure of the WeChat articles. These layout tool help to grab the audiences'

attention at the first sight and keep them reading through the whole article. The science

popularizing articles will be less fancy but usually have graphs, pictures and videos presented. So

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that the audience could have a much more intuitive feeling on the subject. The wording won't be

too formal and won't contain too much jargon so it will be easy to understand. The shorter length

helps to retain the audience. Rhetorical devices such as similes and metaphors will be used to

entertain the audience but also help them to better understand the concept. Some authors will

keep a humorous tone to better engage the readers.

“Intentions…are essential to a good piece of communicative writing”(Giles 198). My

intentions when writing the translation is to provide the general public with some knowledge of

TCM as an approach to the daily prevention of COVID-19. The original essay, on the contrary,

faces the academia, which is a very specific audience. To make the translation smoother, I think

carefully about my intentions. When I say my audience is the general public, it’s not actually

facing all human beings. I considered my audiences to mainly be English speaking people or can

read English since this is the language I’m writing with. As I result, I expect my audience to be

ignorant on the topic I’m writing about. From the review comments I received, they confirms my

expectation. Therefore, when I’m making the translation I would like to make things as simple as

possible. I also included videos and pictures as visual support to help my readers get the idea I’m

trying to convey. On the other hand, due to the complexity of the whole TCM system, I couldn’t

include all the informations I value in a single article. To resolve the problem, I encourage my

readers to practice TCM and provided links to further informations, so that the readers that a

interested can explore more on the topic while the others that aren’t interested won’t be bored by

my long speech. Aside from the audience, where to publish this article is also an important factor

to consider. It decides whether I can reach my audiences efficiently. Due to the features of

WeChat articles, I could publish it personal and at the same time find other organizations or

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famous personal accounts to republish it to reach broader audience. I intend to chose accounts

that publish articles about TCM or COVID-19 to be the republic media since it could help

increase my article’s credibility and could easily reach the audience that are already interested in

the topic. I believe through these actions I could attract the audience I intended to reach and

attract people’s attention.

When doing translation, I have to deal with the huge difference between the academic

article and between a popular WeChat article. The WeChat article left me with a much looser

writing environment but also requires me to make extensions and subtractions on the original

article. I need to extract the core idea from the original article and make it into an easy

understanding concept with some sort of evidence. As Carroll said, “Rhetoric—the way we use

language and images to persuade—is what makes media work”(46). A great advantage of

WeChat articles is that I could make use of this online media and add not only pictures but also

words into it. Adding video to my translation article really helps the readers to visualize the

concept that they are not used to familiar with. Audience is also a problem I have to deal with.

Since I decided to face the general public, which means I’m writing to people not only from

China but also from America or other places in the world. Theoretically I have to explain the

concepts about TCM that they are not familiar with. However, as a system that has developed for

over thousands of years, it’s not possible to make things clear in a few sentences. Limited to the

genre and the purpose of my translation, I won’t want to include long text explaining those

concepts. As a result, I chose to give those concepts as definitions to the readers, and present

them with evidence how the things work but not what these things are. I also try to persuade the

audience to practice TCM. If they are interested, they would independently search for more

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information. Just as stated before. I hope my translation could work as the firing line but not as

the bomb itself.

I’m actually quite familiar with this genre because I used to write these kinds of articles

for my club as advertisements for our magazine. Even though it's the same genre I’m writing

about, they are still very different. Recognizing the difference between them and then addressing

them properly is what I have to think about as the author(Dirk 254-256). It’s also fun that I

should figure out a layout that fits the English words but not Chinese Characters. I think this

experience is quite useful, I could encounter situations like advertising for products or for events

in the future. Or it could be situations where I want to share experiences or write stories.

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Works Cited

Carroll, Laura Bolin. “Backpacks vs. Briefcases: Steps toward Rhetorical Analysis.” Writing

Spaces: Readings on Writing, edited by Charley Lowe and Pavel Zemliansky, vol. 1,

2010, pp. 46.

Dirk, Kerry. “Navigating Genres.” Writing Spaces: Readings on Writing, edited by Charley Lowe

and Pavel Zemliansky, vol. 1, 2010, pp. 254-256.

Giles, Sandra L. “Reflective Writing and the Revision Process: What Were You Thinking?”

Writing Spaces: Readings on Writing, edited by Charley Lowe and Pavel Zemliansky,

vol. 1, 2010, pp. 198.

Wu, Xi Vivien et al. “Traditional Chinese Medicine as a Complementary Therapy in Combat

with COVID 19—A Review of Evidence based Research and Clinical Practice.” Journal

of advanced nursing 77.4 (2021): 1635–1644. Web.