The first International Conference on Integrative Western and Traditional Chinese Medicine was held in Polish southern city of Krakow Tuesday, with the participation of many Chinese medicine practitioners from Poland, China and the United States.

The two-day conference, exploring the possible synergies between Western and Traditional Chinese Medicines, was hosted by the Faculty of Medicine of Jagiellonian University and the Confucius Institute in Krakow.

Apart from the scholars, the conference attracted nearly 100 local Chinese medicine enthusiasts and medical practitioners.

In his speech, Ka-Kit Hui, Director of the Center for East-West Medicine at the University of California, Los Angeles, introduced the different views of Chinese and Western medicine regarding the diseases. He also explained the issues of Chinese acupuncture, Tai Chi practicing and the current situation of the Chinese and Western medicine combination.

Hui said that based on his more than 20 years of research on integrated Chinese and Western medicine, he believed that Chinese and Western medicine should not be antagonistic, but rather complementary and they should learn from each other.

He underlined that while the Western medicine was very effective in the aspects of disease treatment and patient saving, the Chinese medicine focused more on disease prevention and keeping the physical fitness. According to him, if the status quo of the Chinese and Western medicine being independent and not mutually related could be changed, the whole mankind would benefit from it.

While giving interview to Xinhua, Zhao Jing, Associate Professor at the Institute of Basic Research in Clinical Medicine, the China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, said that the conference not only helped promote the Chinese medicine and traditional Chinese culture, but also had important implications for medical practitioners, enabling them to improve their medical standards.

Zhao emphasized that the acceptance and attention paid to the Chinese medicine by the international community nowadays have gradually increased, and China was also vigorously promoting the Chinese medicine to the outside world. The general public should first feel the efficacy of the Chinese medicine, following, it should be given recognition by the governments.