Reminiscing about the Past Four Years: The CM114 White Robe Ceremony of the School of Traditional Chinese Medicine

Jia-xuan Lin, a fifth-year student of the School of Traditional Chinese Medicine

Reminiscing about the Past Four Years

In this turbulent era of the pandemic, a group of students have entered the great white tower with unswerving steps.  Even though the white robe ceremony of the School of Traditional Chinese Medicine was postponed for four months due to the pandemic, the ceremony finally took place on September 17. Compared to the previous years when they were in school, students of CM114, who have entered the hospital for clinical internship, appeared to be more mature, humble, and grounded. After various training sessions regarding infection control in the clinical settings, the students had a better understanding of pandemic prevention. They not only voluntarily worked in groups to disinfect seats and podiums, but they also designed admission bracelets for personnel control. During the performance and the oath-taking ceremony, all students wore masks to protect themselves and others, in order to do their part to reduce the risk of contagion.

The main theme of the white robe ceremony revolves around remaining faithful to the original intention, and rethinking the meaning of the white robe. The ceremony kicked off with a light-hearted Q&A video, followed by introducing all traditional Chinese medicine students into the venue for award presentation. After the CM114 students received encouragement from their teachers and seniors, doctors gave robes to them. After halftime, the bits and pieces of the past four years were shown in the form of memoirs.  They included the cheer dance in the freshman year, camping in the second year, and learning Chinese medicine, western medicine, and clinical skills. The ceremony ended with a firefly dance to represent the students' spirit of not forgetting their original intentions and moving forward bravely.

The video showed the students’ true thoughts and feelings of “putting on the white robe”.  These feelings and thoughts ranged from fear to occasional frustration, but the students were determined to continue to stay strong even though they may feel exhausted. In the solemn atmosphere, the ceremony interspersed some interesting videos, showing the students’ daily lives and revealing how they managed to balance between extracurricular activities and schoolwork which contains more than 300 credits. What came next was the oath-taking ceremony.  Despite the fact that the students having already started the clinical practice, they still made the oath word by word with even more awe and sincerity. During the speech, the students expressed their gratitude to their teachers, classmates, seniors, juniors, and their family. There were other ingenious sessions which were sophisticatedly designed to bring the atmosphere of the ceremony to a climax.

At the end of the ceremony, CM114 students sang a song “114” to express the bewilderment and confusion they used to have in their hearts. With support from each other, they blossomed into the kind of people who they always wanted to be. The entire White Robe Ceremony began with a momentum similar to the Golden Horse Award, followed by a video showing the students’ sincerity and unpretentiousness, and then smoothly interspersed various kinds of performances. Finally, the ceremony ended with the oath, speeches, and the white robe song, which perfectly portrayed the nature of the CM114 students: "quiet but grandeur, gentle but powerful".

Dressed in white robes, students of CM114 were about to step into the white tower and feel the weight of life. It is hoped that students will be loyal to their true selves in the future, uphold their original dreams and enthusiasm, and continue to move forward on the road of medical practice. It is also hoped that students of CM114 can still remember the bits and pieces of the past four years when their paths cross in the future. Being a healer, being kind and dedicated to patients and their family is not only what we should always keep in mind, but also the expectation from our teachers.

Each seat has been disinfected before the ceremony to protect the health of the participants.	Raise the right hand and swear with the highest sincerity, to treat patients like your own family.
The half-time performance demonstrates how the traditional Chinese medicine students manage to balance between extracurricular activities and schoolwork.	Group photo of students dressed in white robes. The right hand shows 1 and the left hand shows 4, to symbolize CM114.