A Rewarding Challenge

Beijing doctor sets 100,000 yuan pregnancy test in challenge to traditional Chinese medicine

A high-profile Beijing doctor offered a 100,000 yuan (HK$126,000) reward as he laid down a challenge to Chinese medicine practitioners to prove that their traditional methods work.

Ning Fanggang, a doctor at Beijing’s Jishuitan Hospital, said he wanted to know the truth behind traditional doctors’ claims that they can diagnose pregnancy by taking a pulse, in what is widely seen as the latest battle between Western medicine and its traditional Chinese counterpart.

Ning, a long-time critic of Chinese medicine who frequently questions the practice on his Weibo microblogging account, has pledged to give the money to any registered Chinese medicine doctor who is able to demonstrate at least 80 per cent accuracy in diagnosing pregnancy within 12 weeks using the traditional method.

He declined to comment when reached by the South China Morning Post on the telephone on Wednesday.

The idea for the challenge was first discussed in September and has triggered heated debate on the internet about the validity of Chinese medicine.

The rules were eventually laid down earlier this week, after multiple rounds of discussions between Chinese medicine supporters and organisers on how the challenge should proceed.

There will be 32 test subjects, randomly selected from a group of 40 women, half of them pregnant and half not, according to a set of conditions published on Weibo by CCTV journalist Wang Zhian, who organised the contest along with Beijing-based pharmaceutical company Renown.

Contestants will not be allowed to communicate with the subjects, who will be hidden behind a curtain, and will only be able to check their pulses.

Any traditional doctor who can correctly say whether at least 80 per cent of the women are pregnant or not will win 100,000 yuan. If more than one doctor is able to do so then the winners will share the prize.

As of Wednesday no challenger had registered, Wang told the Post.

On social media, some users questioned the rules of the challenge. A full diagnosis in Chinese medicine also requires observing, smelling, and asking patients questions in addition to checking their pulse, so the challenge was not fair, some posters argued.

Traditional Chinese medicine has a history that can be traced back more than 2,000 years. It incorporates a broad range of practices, including the use of herbal medicine, acupuncture, massage, qigong and dietary therapy. It is widely regarded in China as the more natural approach to health than Western medicine, with minimal side effects.

In recent years however, the practice has increasingly been sidelined and become a complementary treatment to Western medicine.

Critics of Chinese medicine have argued that the practice lacks scientific evidence, saying its diagnoses are subjective and vary widely between doctors.

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