China: Hot food and hot weather

LUZHOU, Sichuan Province, China—I have been in China this week, making my third visit to what is currently known as The Affiliated Hospital of Southwest Medical University. On each visit, the name has changed—on one hand, as the status of the institution has risen, and, on the other hand, as objections from elsewhere in the province have risen about the name that is being used. Apparently, there are objections to the current name, and it may well change again before I return. Whatever the name, the hospital I visit here is in the same place: Luzhou, China, on the banks of the mighty Yangtze River.

Ostensibly, my visit here is to deliver a lecture at an international conference on transitional care. My topic? Telemonitoring of older people. When asked by other presenters if I am an expert on the subject, my reply was: “Well, I am now!” I have to admit to only a passing acquaintance with telehealth in any of its varieties, and there is much greater expertise available on the topic at my university. But I am the visiting professor here, and I am expected to know everything.

Yours Truly with Pulon Chang, Yang-Ming University,
Taipei, Taiwan; Frances Wong, Hong Kong Polytechnic
University; and Du Yihua, president, The Affiliated Hospital 
of Southwest Medical University, Luzhou, Sichuan, China.

I enjoyed reading about telehealth and telemonitoring and, with the help of my old friend and interpreter Daniel Liu, I managed to deliver my session. I am also very grateful to David Barrett, PhD, RN, senior lecturer on my faculty at the University of Hull, for some PowerPoint slides based on his recent research. Otherwise and more significantly, I am here to continue collaboration between the hospital and my university. We have already graduated one doctoral student, and we plan to have academic visitors and additional doctoral students.

About the food

Guess who.

Food was plentiful and spicy as ever. My hosts outdid themselves one night when we visited a very traditional restaurant. My advice: If you have doubts about spicy food, avoid anything labelled “traditional.” Not for the first time in Luzhou, I was rendered speechless by some of the food, which combines the heat of chillies and the local specialty spice, which I now know is colloquially called “tip of the tongue,” as it renders the tip of your tongue, lips, and inner cheeks numb. You can’t speak, and neither should you, until the effect passes. The only known antidote is cold beer, also plentiful. I ran on the banks of the Yangtze River again, but the weather was too hot for anything very serious.

Climbing

Finally, after some procrastination, I returned to the climbing wall, my first visit in nearly 10 months. I really enjoyed my half hour (all I could manage) but have been unable to return due to a severe shortage of skin on my fingers, which are mostly healed now. I’m ready for a second visit soon.

For Reflections on Nursing Leadership (RNL), published by the Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International. Comments are moderated. Those that promote products or services will not be published.

Facing up to demographic change in China

LUZHOU, Sichuan Province, China—Luzhou City has the same population as my native Scotland: 5 million people. The UK could be dropped into Sichuan Province, and it would take a major expedition to find it. The size and scale of everything in China is impressive, but its growing population is presenting problems.

The one-child policy was misguided. It failed to curb population growth and led to asymmetric growth whereby China has a surplus of men. The policy also led to another demographic change. By 2050, if the trend continues, the proportion of the population that is younger and economically active will be outweighed by the older and more dependent proportion. This change in the dependency ratio means that an increasingly older population will require care when fewer people are available to look after them.

While in Luzhou, I participated in a conference at Affiliated Hospital of Luzhou Medical University on elder health promotion and nursing care. The session I presented was titled “Preparing nurses to work with older people.” This was my second visit, and they honoured me with a three-year visiting professorship and signed a memorandum of understanding with my university.

Reunion

It was good to see old friends. Not the least was my translator, Daniel Kuwei Liu, an extraordinary young man fluent in English and French. Formerly located in Luzhou, he now works in Beijing. When the opportunity arose to translate for me, he made himself available. Much frustrates me about working in China, but the sincere loyalty of many Chinese people to old friends is salutary. 

With Daniel Kuwei Liu and conference delegates.

Another loyal friend who has featured in blogs passim, Sally Chan, PhD, RN, FAAN, now head of nursing and midwifery at The University of Newcastle, New South Wales, Australia, also addressed the conference. Chan made a previous appearance in this blog when she was head of nursing at National University of Singapore. In addition to addressing the conference, Chan and I met with senior staff members of the hospital affiliated with the university, and we also gave short speeches to nursing students. We were asked many questions about ourselves and how nursing could be developed.

Sally Chan and Yours Truly.

Nursing is considered a relatively low-status occupation in China, and the image of the profession is poor. I hope the opportunity that the students had to hear from a global nursing academic like Chan and the editor-in-chief of a major nursing journal lifted their vision. Men are particularly lacking in nursing here, and the few men present were interested to see someone who had spent his career in the profession. However, above all else, everyone was astonished to hear I had eight children and only one wife.

The mighty Yangtze

Luzhou is situated on the banks of the Yangtze River, which runs from the Himalayas to Shanghai. On my previous visit, pollution was such that I could not see the river. This time, I managed two three-mile runs along the riverbanks in the early morning. Air quality was good, and the temperature and humidity were bearable. On the first day, I shared the banks with assorted joggers, dancers, martial artists, and fishers. On the second day, it was raining, and the few people I saw looked at me as if I was crazy.

Sichuan Province is famous for the pandas near the capital city, Chengdu, and also for the cuisine which is—famously—spicy. I was rendered speechless at least twice when I swallowed a chili. There is a particular seed here that makes your mouth go numb. For a few minutes, you speak as if you have just left a dental surgery. This passes, though, and my best advice is not to speak until the effect wears off.

“Hot pot” cooking is also very common, although not unique to Sichuan Province. This is a process of cooking your own food in a steaming pot into which a rich variety of ingredients can be added. Frankly, it is not my favourite way to eat, as it is hard work. That and the constant way of toasting, common in Sichuan, whereby everyone leaves their place and goes round the table offering thanks and clinking glasses. You barely consume one uninterrupted mouthful and are exhausted by the end of the evening.

I go home for Easter Sunday and a few days of leisure but will address the PhD Experience Conference at the University of Hull, slated for 7-8 April. At the end of the week, I go to the Middle East, to Saudi Arabia. I fly to Riyadh, which I have visited before, but will also visit Jeddah for the first time. This will be another reunion with old friends and former PhD students. It’s not all hard work!

For Reflections on Nursing Leadership (RNL), published by the Honor Society of Nursing, Sigma Theta Tau International. Comments are moderated. Those that promote products or services will not be posted.