ON a mountain trail in China, when a young woman suddenly lost consciousness, Joel Mikael Walker acted before the crowd around him had time to decide what to do.

The German student of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), bent down beside her, tapped the inside of her elbows and stimulated several acupoints. He watched for signs that the body was responding. Several minutes later, when the woman’s pulse could be felt again, he allowed himself to relax.

A video of the rescue soon went viral online. Many Chinese viewers were struck not only by Walker’s command of TCM techniques, but also by the way he spoke: a blond-haired German speaking fluent Chinese, and often in a Henan dialect that made him sound, to many, unexpectedly local.

Walker, 31, has been studying TCM in Central China’s Henan Province for over a decade.

Previously invited to attend a Sinologist conference in Dunhuang, northwestern China’s Gansu Province, Walker said his years in China had changed his understanding of Chinese culture. It was not, he said, a fixed collection of symbols preserved behind museum glass, but a living body of thought that continues to address the spiritual dilemmas people are currently facing, especially in a world marked by uncertainty.

His fascination began almost accidentally, in his youth, when he first encountered the ideas of yin and yang and the five elements. The fragments Walker read were enough to unsettle him.

“The way of thinking, which understands the universe as a dynamically balanced whole, gave me an unprecedented shock,” he recalled.

That shock eventually carried him to Henan, a province often described as part of the heartland of Chinese civilization. The early days were difficult. The language was unfamiliar, daily habits were different, and the specialized vocabulary of TCM could be demanding even for native Chinese speakers.

At first, Walker said, he could hardly pronounce terms such as yin-yang and the five elements properly. Soon he was memorizing herbal prescriptions, identifying acupoints and learning diagnostic methods.

What sustained Walker, beyond curiosity and passion, was the holistic worldview embedded in TCM. He began to see that TCM was not merely a set of techniques for treating illness. Behind it was a larger way of thinking about the relationship between life and nature.

“The concept of yin and yang teaches me conflict doesn’t necessarily lead to confrontation, it can also be transformed,” Walker said.

For Walker, the lessons gradually moved beyond the clinic. The holistic view emphasized in TCM helped him better understand how many Chinese people think about the body, family, social relations and balance in daily life.

That understanding has also shaped his public life. Completing his undergraduate and graduate studies in TCM, Walker now shares his life in China and insights on TCM and Chinese culture in Chinese, German and English through social media. (Xinhua)