In March, the season of spring, a delegation of thirteen teachers and students from the Dutch Vocational Education Delegation came to the Department of Pharmacology of our college for study and exchange. Wu Lirong, Vice President of our college, Yu Xueliang, Director of the Teaching affairs office, Wen Caifen, Dean  of Nursing Department and representatives of teachers attended the opening and closing ceremony of the training course "Basic Theory and Technology of Traditional Chinese Medicine".

The 10-day training course is rich and tight. Teachers from Department of Nursing, Department of Clinical Medicine Science and Department of Pharmacology cooperate to organize teaching activities. In classes concerning specialty, Dutch teachers and students listened carefully and participated actively in the practice: they had a comprehensive understanding of how to keep in good health according to traditional Chinese medicine; they, in person, experience scraping, cupping, Taiji, Baduanjin and other traditional Chinese medicine techniques and health preservation activities; they also had a comprehensive understanding of the current situation of nursing in China, the development of our school and the general situation of nursing education in our college. Teachers and students of both sides interact cordially in an active atmosphere, receiving warm responses.

Liu Xun, Shen Min, Zhou Yang and Zhu Ye, teachers from the teaching group of Traditional Chinese Medicine, offered a vivid class to help the visiting teachers and students experience traditional Chinese medicine in the training room of the Pharmaceutical School.

Under the guidance of professional teachers from the teaching group of Traditional Chinese Medicine, the visiting teachers and students visited the Herbarium of traditional Chinese medicine, made sachets of traditional Chinese medicine, and tasted traditional Chinese medicinal dishes. During the visit, the delegation were very interested in traditional Chinese medicine culture, and from time to time they exchanged with professional teachers about the source, efficacy and preparation methods of sample liquid. For the use of traditional Chinese medicine special tools to make traditional Chinese medicine sachets, they said that this was a very special experience, and they were very fond of  sachets made by themselves. They said before this visit, their knowledge of traditional Chinese medicine was limited to acupuncture and massage. They did not know much about the use of traditional Chinese medicine for health preservation or treatment of diseases. They were very honored to be able to personally produce and taste the medicinal dish called “Poria cocos and glutinous rice dumplings”.

In addition to intensive classroom learning, the Dutch delegation also visited and inspected comprehensive, specialized hospitals and nursing homes such as Suzhou Traditional Chinese Medicine Hospital, Yiyang Nursing Hospital, Mingji Hospital, Wuzhong People's Hospital, Guangji Hospital and so on. On the basis of comprehensive and in-depth pre-communication, teachers and students fully communicated with the above mentioned hospitals and institutions. While deeply understanding the current situation of medical care and geriatric care in Suzhou, they also shared their experience in areas like nursing and caring for the aged in the Netherlands.

During this visit, the teachers and students of our college demonstrated the achievements of our college in personnel training and the development of nursing and old-age care in Suzhou, which gave a good impression to the Dutch teachers and students. This visit also exercised and improved the ability and level of international exchange and cooperation of our school.