Abstract
One aim of the student elective during medical training is to see different cultural and social aspects of practice. This article concerns a student visit from the University of Wales College of Medicine to the Imperial City of Xi'an in China, which offers a medical school with teaching in both traditional Chinese medicine and Western medicine. The visiting student can learn of the traditional theories and methods of diagnosis and have a chance to see and use treatment techniques such as acupuncture, moxibustion, cupping, herbal medicine, Chinese massage and qigong. The Chinese people in general use both Western and traditional medicine, trying one and switching to the other if the first is ineffective, and Chinese traditional doctors make use of Western diagnostic techniques when necessary.
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