Turning point

The handover year should have been a tuning point for Chinese medicine. The first Chief Executive, Tung Chee-hwa, introduced a bill in 1997 Policy Address , that aimed to recognize the professional status of Chinese medicine practitioners and develop Hong Kong into an international centre for the manufacture and practice of Chinese medicine.

"The concept of building Hong Kong into a Chinese medicine centre has a significant meaning: it has forecasted an optimistic future for local Chinese medicine," said Mrs. Chan.

Chang Huichun , a registered Chinese medicine practitioner also said that with strong support from the government and efficient capital, it seemed that nothing could hold back the growth of Chinese medicine.

Registered Chinese medicine practitioner-Chang Huichun

"The provision of letting registered Chinese medicine practitioners issue sick-leave certification delivers an important message that local government has planned to lift Chinese medicine's social status to the same level as Western medicine," said Chang.

"In addition, an increasing number of Hong Kong people have realized the side effect of Western medicine, which in turn, has forced them to reconsider Chinese medicine, which is less harmful," she added.

Chang is a Taiwanese, who studied Chinese medicine in the mainland in 1980s. Since Chinese Medicine Practitioners Licensing Examination has been opened to oversea Chinese medicine practitioners from 2003 , Chang passed the exam and became a registered Hong Kong Chinese medicine practitioners in 2006.