Snapshots from Asia: The TCM Hall
Editor's note: This is the last of Wan Yan Ling's Snapshots from Asia series, as she's now back in the States for another semester of graduate school. I've really come to look forward to these twice-weekly little windows on day-to-day life in Singapore and am sad that this is the last one on Ling's figurative roll of film. The good news is that Ling is going to continue to write for us on a periodic basis—one that we'll figure out once she gets settled in for the fall. So, without further ado, here you go. —Adam
There was quite a lively debate about Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) here a while back, so I thought it apropos to introduce the good ol' TCM hall as it is today.
A popular image conjured up for TCM dispensaries is of a wizened, gray-bearded old man with spidery fingers, carefully measuring out roots, seeds, and twigs on sheaves of paper. There would be floor-to-ceiling, wall-to-wall shelves of glass alchemist jars threatening to avalanche at the slightest inquisitive prod, and labels in illegible hieroglyphs that told you nothing at all.
Not too welcoming, huh?
