The story of Chuang Shu-chi, the first female traditional Chinese medical doctor in Taiwan:
The name Chuang Shu-chi might not ring a bell for people in Western countries, but she is a household name in Japan and Taiwan. Without the benefit of a formal medical education, Taipei-born Chuang became the first accredited female doctor in traditional Chinese medicine in Taiwan.
When she made the decision to study medicine in Japan in 1954, Chuang could not speak or read Japanese at all. Seven years later, however, she received a Ph.D. degree in medicine from Keio University, Tokyo, eventually becoming a special medical advisor to Empress Michiko of Japan in 1978.
Chuang’s patients have included people from all walks of life at home and abroad. One of her most famous patients was Wang Yung-ching, the late Taiwanese business tycoon and founder of Formosa Plastics Group.
After a long and distinguished career in medicine, the 90-year-old doctor announced her retirement from medical practice on May 8, 2009, in order to enjoy time with her family in her later years.
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In 1938, the 18-year-old Chuang married Chen You-le through an arranged marriage, but unfortunately her father died of colon cancer in the same year. And misfortunes never come one at a time: her husband died of lung cancer in 1945 while she was carrying a child, and she also contracted malaria, all at the age of 26. Without the head of the household, she had to raise four children, take care of her sick mother and scratch out a living.
The blows of her loved ones’ deaths drove Chuang to study the causes of cancer and devote her life to relieving cancer patients’ pain. In 1950, the Kuomintang government held the first national medical licensing examination for traditional Chinese medicine in Taiwan. She received full marks in four subjects and failed only the last – the Constitution of the Republic of China. The review committee decided to make an exception, allowing her to take an oral exam. As a result she became the first accredited female doctor for traditional Chinese medicine in Taiwan in 1951
