關於 western reaches ，我們在網路上蒐集到這些相關的討論、資訊與評價

Time for a decisive battle (Lee Yee)

I wrote yesterday that “when the number of disqualified candidates reaches the maximum, the international community would come forth”. My friend reckons this a “new strategy”. Instead of a strategy, it is, I would say, the last option left by the National Security Law. Some agree, while others do not. A few raise questions or doubts. Here are my thoughts.
相關新聞：Paradoxical theory of Hong Kong organising U.S. riots (Lee Yee)
The US is leading the fight, with Japan coordinating with the foreign ministers of seven countries, the European Union claiming to indict China in the International Court of Justice in Hague, and the civilized world reacting way more intensely to the NSL than to the violation of human rights in Xinjiang concentration camp. Mike Pompeo’s comments, like “rogue behaviour” and “a choice between freedom and tyranny”, are harsh enough. All of this begs the question of what the US and the West are waiting for. With the NSL draft already released, why did Pompeo ask people to wait and see the results of the Legislative Council (LegCo) Election in September?
Although the NSL is disapproved by most of the civilized countries, both verbal censure and actual sanctions hinge on the LegCo Election in September - “an essential indicator”. But Why?
相關新聞：American violence v.s. Hong Kong violence (Lee Yee)
Pompeo has made it clear that if the CCP makes Hong Kong the same as Shanghai or Shen Zhen in the LegCo Election, the US will take Hong Kong as just another city in China, which means revoking all special treatment Hong Kong has been enjoying. Hong Kongers will be apparently victimized with a bitterly crumbling economy, even though Pompeo has not exactly said so.
Are Hong Kongers willing to be on the receiving end of it all? If Hong Kong’s pro-democracy camp shows acceptance of the NSL at the nomination stage of the LegCo Election, and gets elected with considerable votes, then the message delivered to the US would be that Hong Kongers are prepared to surrender to tyranny. To this end, the US will stop short of being meddlesome while deploying all defensive moves against Hong Kong like what it has been doing against China.
However, if Hong Kongers take to the streets as fiercely as what they did in the anti-extradition protests last year, it will go without saying that these freedom fighters are willing to stand at the frontline of global defence against tyranny.
The referendum on NSL walkout held last Saturday, which was not well publicized and prepared, has projected a wrong message to the international community: not many people are up in arms over the NSL. In light of this, the message conveyed to the world by the LegCo Election is pivotal.
The abovementioned pertain to the external situation. Internally, I have come across many online comments made by those who have no confidence in the pan-democracy camp. They believe there must be some candidates from the pan-democracy camp who will approve of the NSL in a bid to get qualified for the election, and urge the public to vote for them for collective interests. Some say that the incumbent legislators did not even dare to object to the National Anthem Law, not to mention saying no to the NSL. They suspect that the pan-democracy camp would sign an election agreement in which supporting the NSL is part of the deal, or the candidates would answer yes when asked by returning officers whether they side with the NSL, in order to take a seat in the LegCo.
Soon comes the primary election for the pro-democracy camp, and their real stance will be revealed in the debates.
The predicament Hong Kong is facing looks grim. The pan-democracy camp might not succumb to the NSL for being qualified for the election. But in case they do, I hope all the young people who care about the future of Hong Kong enroll in the election at their discretion, regardless of the primary election results, prescriptions or ethics. The more candidates running for seats of the LegCo, the voice are more widely spread. Imagine the picture when hundreds of candidates are disqualified. How can the US stand by?
If the Chinese Communist Party decides to step back for a while, and selectively disqualify a few youngsters, will too many candidates on the list dilute the votes and as a result only few are elected? Don’t worry. If that happens, some candidates from the pro-democracy camp will have to drop out in an attempt to secure enough votes for the seats. In election forums, the pro-establishment camp is bound to lose in the debates about the NSL. That being said, anyone who blatantly disapproves of the NSL is almost certainly to be disqualified.
Tam Yiuchung has mentioned that candidates must sign an agreement to show support for the Basic Law, and pledge loyalty to Hong Kong SAR. It is harmless to do so with these two terms, yet in no circumstances should they sign an agreement to show support for the NSL for the reason that so many clauses in the NSL violate the Basic Law. Their refusal should be made public so that the whole world knows how many LegCo candidates are disqualified after saying no to the NSL.
The NSL for Hong Kong has already been deplored by all civilized countries. The focus should be put on the revolt against the NSL in this LegCo Election. Other slogans like “independence of Hong Kong”, “self-determination”, “five demands”, and “liberate Hong Kong”, etc. should give way to avoid losing focus. The US and the western civilization only focus on the NSL for Hong Kong. The LegCo election is a decisive battle that is worth a fight.

從非典到新冠肺炎

From SARS to Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) - English version is in the second half

新冠肺炎，Novel coronavirus (2019-nCoV) 新型冠状病毒肺炎，疫情越來越嚴重，被證實可以人傳人，也在武漢以外的許多地方發現病例，造成世界各國及世界衛生組織（WHO）高度關切，當然也讓很多住在中國大陸及附近區域的華人非常緊張，就好像當年的非典肺炎疫情即將再一次大爆發一樣。

目前，現代醫學還沒有找到治療新冠肺炎的方法，只能針對某些症狀來處理，疫苗的研發更是遙遙無期。怎麼辦？每次遇到這種情況，中醫就會被搬出來，這次也不例外。新冠肺炎爆發後，網上馬上有許多中醫對付新冠肺炎的文章。當然，除非哪位中醫師看過、治好過大量的新冠肺炎病例，所有的討論都是猜想、假設。然而，有些猜想及假設值得參考，有些猜想及假設卻明顯在誤導大眾。

我還沒有治療過新冠肺炎，不能大肆評論。不過，我治好過很多禽流感、豬流感、及每年流感導致的嚴重肺炎及其它病變的病人。其中許多病人是被美國大型西醫院證實為嚴重肺炎，被要求醫院或居家隔離，偷偷溜出來找中醫看診的。也因此許多病人及討論中醫的網站，希望我能針對新冠肺炎發表一些意見。

我們以前就討論過，這些彪悍的流感病毒，經過那麼多年、那麼多次的變種（mutation），每年都不一樣，東漢時期傳下來的經典中醫，根本沒有遇到過現在的病毒，怎麼可能治療如此嚴重的肺炎呢？

中醫從來就不認識病毒，也不從病毒種類的角度來思考。中醫是探討人體受到外界因素破壞，失去平衡後，身體會有哪些現象、哪些反應，根據那些現象、那些反應來調整身體狀況，期待身體能恢復到平衡狀態，把外界因素帶來的破壞減到最小。我打個半開玩笑的比方，警匪槍戰時，我們注意到壞人哪個方向來的火力強大，造成我們部署在哪個位置的警員傷亡，這時我們會趕緊重新部署人員，或者想辦法增派警力，我們大概無暇去管壞人是用哪個牌子的槍、哪個工廠做的子彈！

雖然幾百年幾千年下來，病毒變種等等的外界因素改變了非常多，人體演化的改變卻非常有限。人體的功能，無論是怎麼被破壞的，某項功能被破壞而導致的症狀、反應、後續演變，卻依然有明顯的脈絡可循。也因為如此，在很多情況下，中醫以專注人體本身平衡狀態的治療方式，反而比西醫專注在外來敵人的治療方式來得有效許多。

依據多年累積大量的臨床病例觀察，無論是禽流感、豬流感、還是每年的流感，人體敗壞的進程依然如同傷寒雜病論探討的一樣，非常簡化的說，從一般桂枝湯證、葛根湯證等的表寒，轉變到小青龍湯證等的裡寒，津液不足、水道運化失調而化熱，變成比較嚴重的大青龍湯證，或者更嚴重肺臟的寒熱夾雜，金匮要略肺痿肺癰咳嗽上氣病脈證治第七篇中的射干麻黃證、葶藶大棗瀉肺湯證、澤漆湯證、小青龍加石膏湯證等等混雜出現，搞得亂七八糟，也不再是什麼簡單方劑可以對應的。

然而，雖然進程很像，不同於一般外感的是，這些嚴重流感肺炎病情加重的改變速度快非常多，也來得猛烈頑強很多。一般的外感從桂枝湯證、葛根湯證等轉變到大青龍湯證或更複雜的病情，通常需要一兩週的時間。同時，還得病人自己非常不注意，或者醫生治療錯誤，一般感冒才會沒辦法自己好，反而變成嚴重的病症。這幾年的流感，從一開始覺得不太對勁，到嚴重複雜的病情，只需要三四天，而且有越來越快的趨勢。這大幅提高中醫師治療流感時，判斷功力及敏感度的要求，中醫師必須在許多症狀還沒有出現時，就得抓緊時間，趕緊行動，卻又不能預防過度，反而讓病情加重。換句話說，時機、劑量、藥材比例變得非常重要，稍有不慎，就無法反轉病情。

舉個例子，有些病人得了流感，咳嗽非常嚴重，痰非常多，呼吸困難。依照中醫的辨證，假如一致都是寒，舌苔白、小便清、怕冷等等，本來依照辨證論治，我們可能會開射干麻黃湯加減給病人。然而，因為流感的進程非常快速，中醫師得非常敏感，譬如看到舌苔白卻帶有一絲絲乾的感覺，就很可能得加上大寒的石膏來避免肺喪失津液，卻又不能加太多石膏，以免肺寒加重。又譬如聽到咳嗽聲音非常深沈，從肺的底部發出，又帶有膿痰的濁音，就很可能得加上瀉肺的葶藶來避免肺中水飲、痰飲大幅增加，卻又不能加太多葶藶，以免肺變得太虛弱。

我們回頭來看這次的新冠肺炎。根據有限的資訊，我們知道感染後有大約兩週的潛伏期，這段時間沒有什麼症狀，病人可能只會感到有些疲憊。剛開始發病時，很像一般的感冒，病人會發熱、乏力，並不嚴重，沒有什麼流鼻涕等上呼吸道的症狀，有的甚至沒有發熱。約一半的病人一週多後恢復，另一半的病人卻在一週後出現呼吸困難，有些病人會快速進展為急性呼吸窘迫綜合征、膿毒症休克、代謝性酸中毒、凝血功能障礙等等嚴重的問題，可能導致死亡。

從上面的敘述，我們不難發現，一開始很像一般中醫外感的桂枝湯證、葛根湯證，一半的病人也就自己恢復了，另一半的病人卻出現快速的入裡化熱現象，肺津液迅速流失，非常濃稠的痰飲沈積在肺部下方。同時，中醫認為肺為人體調節津液的源頭，肺金生水，好比天空下雨一般，而當肺的功能及津液調節出現嚴重障礙，很快就會拖累三焦水道、腎臟等的功能，導致上面提到的幾種嚴重病情。換句話說，新冠肺炎可以讓輕微的太陽證外感，迅速發展成嚴重的肺痿肺癰，再進一步瓦解人體其它功能的運作。

怎麼治療？在沒有直接治療武漢肺炎病人的情況下，我們也只能根據有限的資訊來推論，不過，以前大量的流感肺炎治療病例，可以讓我們比較有信心的面對新冠肺炎。當病人已經出現明顯新冠肺炎症狀時，大多已經入裡化熱，嚴重的肺痿肺癰。這個時候，得用大劑量的石膏清肺熱、加強肺津液運作。也得靠葶藶、大戟等把肺下方濃稠的痰飲及胸腔可能的積液去掉，痰飲積液不去，是無法修復肺家津液運作的。同時，肺氣不宣，就好像吸管上頭堵住了，吸管內的水無法上下，我們還得使用麻黃等宣肺、發陽的中藥來配合。另外，肺已經受損了，除了大動作急救外，比較穩定後，還得靠一些潤肺的藥來收尾，讓肺完全恢復。如果我們列一個可能加入的中藥單，大致有石膏、葶藶子、大戟、生半夏、麻黃、射干、紫菀 、款冬花、 生薑、炙甘草、紅棗、麥門冬、杏仁等等。當然，如前面所言，用藥的時機、劑量、藥材比例非常重要，每一個病人的差異也很大，嚴格考驗中醫師的功力與膽識，一旦判斷錯誤，不但沒有效果，反而可能會加重病情。

網上有些中醫師，說新冠肺炎或其它流感肺炎可以用板藍根清熱解毒來治好。也有些中醫師說可以用麥門冬湯等等的輕劑治好嚴重的肺炎。甚至還有些中醫師說多喝綠豆湯可以預防新冠肺炎！其實，真的遇過、治好過禽流感、豬流感等嚴重流感肺炎的中醫師，一看這些文章，就幾乎可以確定這些人根本沒有治療過嚴重肺炎的經驗，充其量只是在西醫治療下，在旁邊幫幫病人一些小忙而已。這樣的情況下，難怪中國政府平時大力推展中醫，真的有如同新冠肺炎這樣重大疫情爆發時，卻看不到中國政府大量使用中醫方法來治療病人、控制疫情。醫學是實戰的學問，沒有大量臨床病例，講得再好聽都是沒有用的，如果希望中醫真的在主流醫學裡站立起來，希望中醫真的能面對大規模的疫情，回歸最基本的臨床療效，才是最重要的，其它都只像是武術表演，而非實際作戰。

From SARS to Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19)

Written in Chinese by Dr. Andy Lee, January 21, 2020
Translated to English by Dr. James Yeh and Dr. Andy Lee, March 28, 2020

The epidemic from Novel Coronavirus is becoming much more serious. Transmissivity among people has been proven. (Note: It's now named COVID–19. The term “Coronavirus” will be used here.) Cases were found in areas beyond Wuhan. It has caused serious attentions from the WHO (World Health Organization) and many countries around the world. The residents in China and the surrounding regions are quite worried and wonder whether it will break out like SARS (2003). (Note: The article was written on January 21, 2020, before Coronavirus became a global pandemic.)

So far, the modern medical field has not found a cure for Coronavirus, but resorts to treating patients’ symptoms only. Any vaccine to treat Coronavirus is still no way in the sight. What do we do? Every time such a situation happens, the topic of using Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is raised (at least among the Chinese communities). There is no exception this time. Many articles related to using TCM on Coronavirus have been popping up on the web. However, unless some TCM doctors who have actually treated many Coronavirus cases, all the discussion would be hypotheses or assumptions. Some hypotheses are worth considering while many others could be quite misleading.

Personally I have not treated patients cases related to Coronavirus. (Note: Shortly after this writing, the author has directly and indirectly participated in treating patients of Coronavirus successfully, and has published other later blogs which included his involvement in treating those patients. Please refer to his medical blog http://www.DrLee.us.) However, I did treat and cure patients inflicted by other viruses in the past, such as the Bird Flu, Swine Flu, and other influenza. A good amount of those patients were diagnosed as severe pneumonia by large hospitals and were required for isolation or self-quarantine. Hence many of patients and online medical forums online are asking for my opinions about Coronavirus.

As we discussed before, all these viruses from the outbreaks are either newly found or mutated from previous strands. The strand can be different every year. Therefore, people always ask how one can say that the TCM knowledge developed in East Han Dynasty (25-220 AD) would be any useful for treating the modern diseases, let alone the severe ones.

It turns out that TCM does not recognize any virus and does not deal with the concept of which type of virus is microscopically at work. TCM looks at how human bodies would become out-of-balance and react to external stimuli. Once the body is out of balance, what symptoms will exhibit and what reactions will be to adjust the body conditions to regain the balance, hence to reduce the damage to the body to the minimum. Let me take an example to illustrate: when there is a gunfight between the police and bandits, we want to see which direction the shots are coming from, causing casualties of the police force, so that we are able to adjust or reinforce the police power. We have no time to think about which brand of the guns or bullets the bandits use.

Over thousands of years, the external viruses have changed and evolved quite a bit, but the evolution of human beings was quite limited. The human body function, no matter how it was damaged, the symptoms due to the damage of the function, the reactions, and the following progression of the disease still follow certain paths. For this very reason, TCM’s focus on the balance of the human body often surpasses the effectiveness of Western medicine, which focuses more on external treats and the microscopic aspect of how human body’s cells are impacted by the external treats.

From the accumulation of many years of clinical treatment and observations, no matter it is Bird Flu, Swine Flu or other influenza, the bodily ‘damage’ and its progression by the viral attack still follow the description of the classic TCM literature “Treatise on Cold Damage on Miscellaneous Disease” (傷寒雜病論). In short summary, the disease usually starts with “Exterior Deficiency or Weakness” (表虛) or “External Coldness” (表寒), for which is matched to one of the several syndromes named with the corresponding herbal remedies such as “Gui Zhi Tang” (桂枝湯) and “Ge Geng Tang” (葛根湯). Then, the disease moves onto the next stage “Interior Coldness” (裡寒) or “Lung Coldness” (肺寒), which shows the syndromes named as “Xiao Qing Long Tang” (小青龍湯), etc. When the respiratory system is “affected by the coldness”, the body fluid function of the respiratory system gets affected. The circulation function of the lung becomes “Dry and Overheated” (燥热). This would lead to a more serious stage “Heated Interior” (入裡化熱) and would often be matched to its herbal remedy “Da Qing Long Tang” (大青龍湯). Or, even worse, it becomes so-called “mixed coldness and heat” (寒熱夾雜) in the lung. Such a complex situation was extensively discussed in Chapter 7 of the classic literature “Synopsis of Prescriptions of the Golden Chamber” (金匮要略肺痿肺癰咳嗽上氣病脈證治第七篇). At this complex stage, the illness development varies significantly among patients of different preconditions and other variants. It is no longer the situation that a simple herbal remedy can be applied to all the situations. The TCM theory illustrates various treatments by those herbal remedies such as “She Gan Ma Hung Tang” (射干麻黃湯), “Ting Li Da Zao Xie Fei Tang” (葶藶大棗瀉肺湯), ”Ze Qi Tang” (澤漆湯), “Xiao Qing Long Jia Shi Gao Tang” (小青龍加石膏湯), and others.

However, even the disease progressions are similar, the more serious viral attacks like Coronavirus can and often do progress much faster with more severe consequences than the common flu. As described in the previous paragraph, normally the disease progression of the “External Coldness” stage to the more serious “Heated Interior” stage usually takes one to two weeks. It is also often due to the ignorance of the patient or misdiagnosis and treatment of the doctor, which prevents the patient from recovering from this “catching a cold”. In the recent several years though, the time period between the time that the patient did not feel well and the time that the patient is in a serious and complex situation can be as short as 3 to 4 days. We also see the trend that this period gets shorter and shorter. In other words, the disease progression is getting much faster. This phenomenon poses a much higher demand on TCM doctors’ ability to make a quick and proper judgment and sensitivity to the subject matter. TCM doctors must intercept the disease progression before it reaches to a more serious stage, even without obvious symptoms of the next stage. TCM doctors have to timely prescribe the proper herbal remedy in terms of the type of herbs and relative dosages of herbs. Too weak a dosage could not stop the progression while too strong a dosage could worsen the condition also. A misjudgment would not be able the turn the conditions around, but hurt the patient more.

The above can be illustrated by a simple example. A patient caught flu and has symptoms such as heavy coughing, lots of sputum, and difficulty in breathing. From the TCM dialectics, with observations of white tongue coating, clear urine, and feeling chilly, etc., it is clearly caused by “Coldness”. Such a patient typically should be prescribed with “She Gan Ma Hung Tang” (射干麻黃湯) or its variations. However, due to the fast progression of the modern flu, the TCM doctor would need to pay attention to much subtle details such as the dryness of the tongue although it still shows the white coating. In this case, Sheng Shi Gao (Gypsum, 生石膏) might need to be added to the herbal remedy to make sure that the lung would not suffer dryness. Given that Sheng Shi Gao (Gypsum, 生石膏) itself is an ingredicient that is “very cold” in nature, the dosage could not be too strong to make the lung too chilly. At the opposite end of the spectrum, if the sound of the coughing is very ‘deep’, like dense sputum coming from the bottom of the lung, the herbal remedy might need to add Ting Li (Sisymbrium indicum, 葶藶) to clear up the lung to avoid too much mucus in the lung. And again, the dosage of葶藶 could not be too much to weaken the lung. (Note: Handling the proper timing and proper remedy can be a real test to the ability and experience of the TCM doctor.)

Let’s go back to the discussion on Coronavirus. From the limited information available so far, we know that there are about two weeks of incubation period after the infection. There are little symptoms during this period and the patient may just feel more tired than usual. More obvious symptoms will start like those of common flu with fever, fatigue but not too serious. Upper respiratory symptoms like running nose are less common. Some patients may not even exhibit fever. About half of the patients infected will recover over a week or so. The other half of the patients will experience difficulty in breathing, or rapid progression to acute respiratory distress syndrome, septic shock, metabolic acidosis, coagulopathy, etc. Some patients had died due to these severe conditions.

From the above description, this Coronavirus, in the beginning, is very much like the common flu and will stay in stages of “Exterior Deficiency or Weakness” (表虛) or “External Coldness” (表寒). Half of the patients infected will recover by themselves as in common cold. The other half of the patients may exhibit situations of rapid penetration into inner organs and excess ‘heat’, which causes loss of fluidity of respiratory system and accumulation of dense sputum at the lower part of the lung. In the TCM theory, the lung serves as the initial “gating factor” of body fluids. When the lung fails to serve the proper function, other organs like the kidney will be adversely affected also. In other words, Coronavirus can turn a light “External Coldness” to extremely severe “Lung Atrophy” (肺痿) and “Lung Abscess” (肺癰), which in turn will impair the function of other organs.

How to treat? Without direct experience of treating Coronavirus patients, we can only postulate from our limited information available in hand. (Note: Shortly after this writing, the author has directly and indirectly participated in treating patients of Coronavirus successfully. The treatments were exactly as outlined in this article.) From the ample experience of dealing pneumonia cases caused by flu, we are confident that we can also treat Coronavirus successfully. When patients are showing the obvious Coronavirus symptoms, most of them would have entered the stage of “Heated Interior” (入裡化熱) with “Lung Atrophy” (肺痿) or “Lung Abscess” (肺癰) to a certain degree. At this stage, we will need large dosages of Sheng Shi Gao (Gypsum, 生石膏) to clear the heat to ensure the proper fluidity function of the lung. Also, we will rely on Ting Li (Sisymbrium indicum, 葶藶), Da Ji (Euphorbia pekinensis Rupr., 大戟), etc. to clear up the dense mucus at the lower part of the lung and to remove the edema of the chest chamber. Without getting rid of the excess mucus and fluid, the lung cannot properly function. We need to use Ma Huang (Ephedra sinica Stapf., 麻黃), etc. to enhance the lung function (宣肺、發陽) and restore proper breathing. When the lung is damaged as in fibrosis, after the conditions stabilize, we need to “moisturize” the lung (润肺) to help the lung to recover fully. In other words, we will most likely use the herbal ingredients such as Sheng Shi Gao (Gypsum, 生石膏), Ting Li (Sisymbrium indicum, 葶藶), Da Ji (Euphorbia pekinensis Rupr., 大戟), Sheng Ban Xia (Pinellia ternate, 生半夏), Ma Huang (Ephedra sinica Stapf., 麻黃), She Gan (Belamcanda chinensis, 射干), Zi Wan (Aster tataricus, 紫菀), Kuan Dong Hua (Tussilago farfara flower, 款冬花), Sheng Jiang (Ginger, 生薑), Zhi Gan Cao (processed Glycyrrhiza uralensis Fisch., 炙甘草), Hong Zao (Ziziphus jujube, 紅棗), Mai Men Dong (Ophiopogon japonicas, 麥門冬), Xing Ren (Prunus armeniaca, 杏仁), and others. As we discussed in previous paragraphs, the timing, dosage, the relative ratios of different herbal ingredients are very critical. Given that there are quite some variations in patient conditions, the challenges on TCM doctors’ comprehensive knowledge, judgment and courage are unprecedented.

In those articles online, some TCM doctors claimed that Coronavirus can be cured by Ban Lan Gen (Isatis tinctoria root, 板藍根), which is believed to have natural antibiotic chemicals to “clear up the heat and toxics”. Some TCM doctors suggested using a simple mild herbal remedy “Mai Men Dong Tang” (麥門冬湯), which mainly relies on the ingredient Mai Men Dong (Ophiopogon japonicas, 麥門冬). Some people even suggested that having the green bean soup could prevent Coronavirus. In fact, those TCM doctors who have good experience of treating Bird Flu, Swine Flu, and pneumonia caused by other influenza would know that the people making those claims never had the real experience of treating severe pneumonia. They at most helped in a minor way the patients under Western medicine treatments. Under such conditions, it is not a surprise that the China government has not used TCM as the primary method of treating Coronavirus, despite its big promotion of TCM in the recent years. (Note: After this writing, Coronavirus epidemic became so severe in China that the China government changed its strategy and started to use TCM extensively in treating many mild Coronaviurs cases.)

Medicine is the science based on real treatment results. Without a good amount of successful cases in clinical treatments, it is useless to promote any fancy idea of treating patients. If we would like TCM to be respected in the mainstream medicine and to be meaningfully used in a severe epidemic like Coronavirus, it is critical to focus on the most fundamental. That’s the clinical results. Like the martial arts, unless you can fight off the bad guys, it’s just a show of fancy movements.

（http://andylee.pro/wp/?p=7169）
#當張仲景遇上史丹佛

【《金融時報》深度長訪】

今年做過數百外媒訪問，若要說最能反映我思緒和想法的訪問，必然是《金融時報》的這一個，沒有之一。

在排山倒海的訪問裡，這位記者能在短短個半小時裡，刻畫得如此傳神，值得睇。

Joshua Wong plonks himself down on a plastic stool across from me. He is there for barely 10 seconds before he leaps up to greet two former high school classmates in the lunchtime tea house melee. He says hi and bye and then bounds back. Once again I am facing the young man in a black Chinese collared shirt and tan shorts who is proving such a headache for the authorities in Beijing.

So far, it’s been a fairly standard week for Wong. On a break from a globe-trotting, pro-democracy lobbying tour, he was grabbed off the streets of Hong Kong and bundled into a minivan. After being arrested, he appeared on the front pages of the world’s newspapers and was labelled a “traitor” by China’s foreign ministry.

He is very apologetic about being late for lunch.

Little about Wong, the face of Hong Kong’s democracy movement, can be described as ordinary: neither his Nobel Peace Prize nomination, nor his three stints in prison. Five years ago, his face was plastered on the cover of Time magazine; in 2017, he was the subject of a hit Netflix documentary, Joshua: Teenager vs Superpower. And he’s only 23.

We’re sitting inside a Cantonese teahouse in the narrow back streets near Hong Kong’s parliament, where he works for a pro-democracy lawmaker. It’s one of the most socially diverse parts of the city and has been at the heart of five months of unrest, which has turned into a battle for Hong Kong’s future. A few weekends earlier I covered clashes nearby as protesters threw Molotov cocktails at police, who fired back tear gas. Drunk expats looked on, as tourists rushed by dragging suitcases.

The lunch crowd pours into the fast-food joint, milling around as staff set up collapsible tables on the pavement. Construction workers sit side-by-side with men sweating in suits, chopsticks in one hand, phones in the other. I scan the menu: instant noodles with fried egg and luncheon meat, deep fried pork chops, beef brisket with radish. Wong barely glances at it before selecting the hometown fried rice and milk tea, a Hong Kong speciality with British colonial roots, made with black tea and evaporated or condensed milk.

“I always order this,” he beams, “I love this place, it’s the only Cantonese teahouse in the area that does cheap, high-quality milk tea.” I take my cue and settle for the veggie and egg fried rice and a lemon iced tea as the man sitting on the next table reaches over to shake Wong’s hand. Another pats him on the shoulder as he brushes by to pay the bill.

Wong has been a recognisable face in this city since he was 14, when he fought against a proposal from the Hong Kong government to introduce a national education curriculum that would teach that Chinese Communist party rule was “superior” to western-style democracy. The government eventually backed down after more than 100,000 people took to the streets. Two years later, Wong rose to global prominence when he became the poster boy for the Umbrella Movement, in which tens of thousands of students occupied central Hong Kong for 79 days to demand genuine universal suffrage.

That movement ended in failure. Many of its leaders were sent to jail, among them Wong. But the seeds of activism were planted in the generation of Hong Kongers who are now back on the streets, fighting for democracy against the world’s most powerful authoritarian state. The latest turmoil was sparked by a controversial extradition bill but has evolved into demands for true suffrage and a showdown with Beijing over the future of Hong Kong. The unrest in the former British colony, which was handed over to China in 1997, represents the biggest uprising on Chinese soil since the 1989 pro-democracy movement in Beijing. Its climax, of course, was the Tiananmen Square massacre, when hundreds, perhaps thousands, of people were killed.

“We learnt a lot of lessons from the Umbrella Movement: how to deal with conflict between the more moderate and progressive camps, how to be more organic, how to be less hesitant,” says Wong. “Five years ago the pro-democracy camp was far more cautious about seeking international support because they were afraid of pissing off Beijing.”

Wong doesn’t appear to be afraid of irking China. Over the past few months, he has lobbied on behalf of the Hong Kong protesters to governments around the world. In the US, he testified before Congress and urged lawmakers to pass an act in support of the Hong Kong protesters — subsequently approved by the House of Representatives with strong bipartisan support. In Germany, he made headlines when he suggested two baby pandas in the Berlin Zoo be named “Democracy” and “Freedom.” He has been previously barred from entering Malaysia and Thailand due to pressure from Beijing, and a Singaporean social worker was recently convicted and fined for organising an event at which Wong spoke via Skype.

The food arrives almost immediately. I struggle to tell our orders apart. Two mouthfuls into my egg and cabbage fried rice, I regret not ordering the instant noodles with luncheon meat.

In August, a Hong Kong newspaper controlled by the Chinese Communist party published a photo of Julie Eadeh, an American diplomat, meeting pro-democracy student leaders including Wong. The headline accused “foreign forces” of igniting a revolution in Hong Kong. “Beijing says I was trained by the CIA and the US marines and I am a CIA agent. [I find it] quite boring because they have made up these kinds of rumours for seven years [now],” he says, ignoring his incessantly pinging phone.

Another thing that bores him? The media. Although Wong’s messaging is always on point, his appraisal of journalists in response to my questions is piercing and cheeky. “In 15-minute interviews I know journalists just need soundbites that I’ve repeated lots of times before. So I’ll say things like ‘I have no hope [as regards] the regime but I have hope towards the people.’ Then the journalists will say ‘oh that’s so impressive!’ And I’ll say ‘yes, I’m a poet.’ ”

And what about this choice of restaurant? “Well, I knew I couldn’t pick a five-star hotel, even though the Financial Times is paying and I know you can afford it,” he says grinning. “It’s better to do this kind of interview in a Hong Kong-style restaurant. This is the place that I conducted my first interview after I left prison.” Wong has spent around 120 days in prison in total, including on charges of unlawful assembly.

“My fellow prisoners would tell me about how they joined the Umbrella Movement and how they agreed with our beliefs. I think prisoners are more aware of the importance of human rights,” he says, adding that even the prison wardens would share with him how they had joined protests.

“Even the triad members in prison support democracy. They complain how the tax on cigarettes is extremely high and the tax on red wine is extremely low; it just shows how the upper-class elite lives here,” he says, as a waiter strains to hear our conversation. Wong was most recently released from jail in June, the day after the largest protests in the history of Hong Kong, when an estimated 2m people — more than a quarter of the territory’s 7.5m population — took to the streets.

Raised in a deeply religious family, he used to travel to mainland China every two years with his family and church literally to spread the gospel. As with many Hong Kong Chinese who trace their roots to the mainland, he doesn’t know where his ancestral village is. His lasting memory of his trips across the border is of dirty toilets, he tells me, mid-bite. He turned to activism when he realised praying didn’t help much.

“The gift from God is to have independence of mind and critical thinking; to have our own will and to make our own personal judgments. I don’t link my religious beliefs with my political judgments. Even Carrie Lam is Catholic,” he trails off, in a reference to Hong Kong’s leader. Lam has the lowest approval rating of any chief executive in the history of the city, thanks to her botched handling of the crisis.

I ask whether Wong’s father, who is also involved in social activism, has been a big influence. Wrong question.

“The western media loves to frame Joshua Wong joining the fight because of reading the books of Nelson Mandela or Martin Luther King or because of how my parents raised me. In reality, I joined street activism not because of anyone book I read. Why do journalists always assume anyone who strives for a better society has a role model?” He glances down at his pinging phone and draws a breath, before continuing. “Can you really describe my dad as an activist? I support LGBTQ rights,” he says, with a fist pump. His father, Roger Wong, is a well-known anti-gay rights campaigner in Hong Kong.

I notice he has put down his spoon, with half a plate of fried rice untouched. I decide it would be a good idea to redirect our conversation by bonding over phone addictions. Wong, renowned for his laser focus and determination, replies to my emails and messages at all hours and has been described by his friends as “a robot.”

He scrolls through his Gmail, his inbox filled with unread emails, showing me how he categorises interview requests with country tags. His life is almost solely dedicated to activism. “My friends and I used to go to watch movies and play laser tag but now of course we don’t have time to play any more: we face real bullets every weekend.”

The protests — which have seen more than 3,300 people arrested — have been largely leaderless. “Do you ever question your relevance to the movement?” I venture, mid-spoonful of congealed fried rice.

“Never,” he replies with his mouth full. “We have a lot of facilitators in this movement and I’m one of them . . . it’s just like Wikipedia. You don’t know who the contributors are behind a Wikipedia page but you know there’s a lot of collaboration and crowdsourcing. Instead of just having a top-down command, we now have a bottom-up command hub which has allowed the movement to last far longer than Umbrella.

“With greater power comes greater responsibility, so the question is how, through my role, can I express the voices of the frontliners, of the street activism? For example, I defended the action of storming into the Legislative Council on July 1. I know I didn’t storm in myself . . . ” His phone pings twice. Finally he succumbs.

After tapping away for about 30 seconds, Wong launches back into our conversation, sounding genuinely sorry that he wasn’t there on the night when protesters destroyed symbols of the Chinese Communist party and briefly occupied the chamber.

“My job is to be the middleman to express, evaluate and reveal what is going on in the Hong Kong protests when the movement is about being faceless,” he says, adding that his Twitter storm of 29 tweets explaining the July 1 occupation reached at least four million people. I admit that I am overcome with exhaustion just scanning his Twitter account, which has more than 400,000 followers. “Well, that thread was actually written by Jeffrey Ngo from Demosisto,” he say, referring to the political activism group that he heads.

A network of Hong Kong activists studying abroad helps fuel his relentless public persona on social media and in the opinion pages of international newspapers. Within a week of his most recent arrest, he had published op-eds in The Economist, The New York Times, Quartz and the Apple Daily.

I wonder out loud if he ever feels overwhelmed at taking on the Chinese Communist party, a task daunting even for some of the world’s most formidable governments and companies. He peers at me over his wire-framed glasses. “It’s our responsibility; if we don’t do it, who will? At least we are not in Xinjiang or Tibet; we are in Hong Kong,” he says, referring to two regions on Chinese soil on the frontline of Beijing’s drive to develop a high-tech surveillance state. In Xinjiang, at least one million people are being held in internment camps. “Even though we’re directly under the rule of Beijing, we have a layer of protection because we’re recognised as a global city so [Beijing] is more hesitant to act.”

I hear the sound of the wok firing up in the kitchen and ask him the question on everyone’s minds in Hong Kong: what happens next? Like many people who are closely following the extraordinary situation in Hong Kong, he is hesitant to make firm predictions.

“Lots of think-tanks around the world say ‘Oh, we’re China experts. We’re born in western countries but we know how to read Chinese so we’re familiar with Chinese politics.’ They predicted the Communist party would collapse after the Tiananmen Square massacre and they’ve kept predicting this over the past three decades but hey, now it’s 2019 and we’re still under the rule of Beijing, ha ha,” he grins.

While we are prophesying, does Wong ever think he might become chief executive one day? “No local journalist in Hong Kong would really ask this question,” he admonishes. As our lunch has progressed, he has become bolder in dissecting my interview technique. The territory’s chief executive is currently selected by a group of 1,200, mostly Beijing loyalists, and he doubts the Chinese Communist party would ever allow him to run. A few weeks after we meet he announces his candidacy in the upcoming district council elections. He was eventually the only candidate disqualified from running — an order that, after our lunch, he tweeted had come from Beijing and was “clearly politically driven”.

We turn to the more ordinary stuff of 23-year-olds’ lives, as Wong slurps the remainder of his milk tea. “Before being jailed, the thing I was most worried about was that I wouldn’t be able to watch Avengers: Endgame,” he says.

“Luckily, it came out around early May so I watched it two weeks before I was locked up in prison.” He has already quoted Spider-Man twice during our lunch. I am unsurprised when Wong picks him as his favourite character.

“I think he’s more . . . ” He pauses, one of the few times in the interview. “Compared to having an unlimited superpower or unlimited power or unlimited talent just like Superman, I think Spider-Man is more human.” With that, our friendly neighbourhood activist dashes off to his next interview.