The Opening Ceremony of the Traditional Chinese Medicine Lecture Hall at Chang Gung University – Learning Traditional Chinese Medicine through VR

School of Traditional Chinese Medicine / Secretariat Office

Chang Gung University actively promotes innovation in education.  In light of the importance of traditional medicine, the university has invested nearly NTD$10,000,000 to establish the "Traditional Chinese Medicine Lecture Hall" on the fourth floor of the Second Medical Science Building.  The lecture hall was officially opened on November 15.  Prof. Hsien-Hong Yang, head of the School of Traditional Chinese Medicine, said that the lecture hall not only collects books and displays various types of Chinese medicine, but it also applies the virtual reality (VR) technology to the education of traditional Chinese medicine.  This innovation is the first of its kind in Taiwan and could help enhance students' learning effectiveness and open a new page for the innovation in the traditional Chinese medicine education.

The opening ceremony was attended by distinguished guests, including President Ming-Je Tang, Vice President Kuang-Hung Hsu, Vice President Chih-Wei Yang, and the top-level management of the university. Certificates of appreciation were presented to Mr. Shao-Wu Zhang from Chung Ching Tarng Chinese Medicine Co, who donated the traditional Chinese medicine ingredients and cultural relics, and to Mr. Sheng-Yang Zhang from Chong Ching Tang Co., Ltd, who donated Chinese herbal medicine and specimens, and to Mr. Bing-Wei Lin and Ms. Xiao-Fang Zhou from Hu Yuan Chinese Medicine Co., Ltd, who provided the traditional Chinese medicine identification materials. Both Mr. Lin and Ms. Zhou are also alumni of the Master's Program of Traditional Chinese Medicine at Chang Gung University.

Prof. Hsien-Hong Yang pointed out that Chinese medicine is traditional medicine, and the educational content is mainly written in classical Chinese. Students inevitably face the challenge of learning from the educational materials which are difficult to understand. Therefore, how to improve the teaching methods and boost students' learning motivation is particularly important for the School of Traditional Chinese Medicine. With the rapid development of science and technology, new technology can be applied to education.  It could not only effectively improve the learning effectiveness, but also facilitate the blend of traditional medicine and contemporary medicine.

At the outset of the establishment of the School of Traditional Chinese Medicine, our two founders Mr. Yung-Ching Wang and Mr. Yung-Zai Wang mentioned that contemporary medicine and scientific technology should be incorporated into the teaching of traditional Chinese medicine to enhance its essence and promote it to the public. Under this concept, the Traditional Chinese Medicine Lecture Hall consists of two major thematic axes: "Traditional Chinese Medicine Culture" and "Innovative Technology".  The lecture hall is not only equipped with a complete traditional Chinese medicine cabinet, showing a variety of medicinal herbs, but it also has VR equipment to facilitate teaching.

Prof. Hsien-Hong Yang said that the lecture hall has a Chinese medicine cabinet, which has a history of 60 years, donated by Zheng-Hong Zhang and Heng-Rui Zhang brothers. In addition, there are hundreds of kinds of medicinal herbs that can be observed closely and many precious ancient books for reading. Students can appreciate the spirit of traditional Chinese medicine more deeply. Furthermore, the introduction of VR-assisted teaching allows students to have a richer and more interactive learning environment. The university has now purchased 4 sets of acupuncture VR system, to be used in the teaching of acupuncture safety, as well as the original Chinese herbal medicine. It is believed that these will help improve the teaching quality.

The Traditional Chinese Medicine Lecture Hall is distinctive and means a lot to education. We have recently received many visit inquiries. The lecture hall is open from 9:00 to 16:00 from Monday to Friday. Visitors can make a group visit appointment on the Facebook page of the "Chang Gung University Traditional Chinese Medicine Lecture Hall", or contact the counter at (03)2118800 ext. 3042, or contact the office extension of the School of Traditional Chinese Medicine 5102. At present, we are still in the middle of the pandemic; hence all visiting guests are required to comply with relevant pandemic prevention measures.

President Ming-Je Tang (third from the left) led the top-level management of the university to launch the Traditional Chinese Medicine Lecture Hall.	Prof. Hsien-Hong Yang (first from the right) introduced the collection of the Traditional Chinese Medicine Lecture Hall.
Vice President Kuang-Hung Hsu (first from the left) visited the Traditional Chinese Medicine Lecture Hall.	Group photo of Vice President Chih-Wei Yang (left) and Prof. Hsien-Hong Yang (right).
Prof. Hsien-Hong Yang (left) introduced the collection of ancient books.	President Ming-Je Tang (left) listened to the operating instructions of the VR acupuncture teaching.