Hangzhou- Yerzat Ayan from Kazakhstan is a student holding the “Belt & Road” scholarship for traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). When we met her, she volunteered at the Exhibition Hall of Traditional Chinese Medicine Culture of the 19th Asian Games’ Main Media Center. As the only foreign traditional Chinese medicine practitioner in the hall, she was like a bridge linking Chinese traditional medicine culture with the foreign audience. She explained traditional Chinese medicine culture and provided bilingual services to foreign media professionals of the Asian Games.

During her childhood, she witnessed how acupuncture treatment of the TCM healed her mom’s knee, which motivated her to learn the TCM. Although the learning process was difficult due to language barriers, she told us that she felt accomplished, especially when she received praise from patients and spread Chinese traditional medicine culture to different countries. 

During our conversation, she also introduced the development of TCM in Kazakhstan. Nowadays, with cooperation between Chinese universities and institutions in the TCM field and Kazakhastanian universities, an increasing number of Kazakahastanians have begun to learn the TCM. Meanwhile, choosing TCM as a treatment is also a trend in her country.