Earning Gold from Dead Tibetan Caterpillars

October 9, 2013

Mary Jenkins writes in the May 2010 National Geographic about Tibetan cowboys and Chinese-made motorcycles in his Tea Horse Road piece unwittingly revealing the truth about Tibetan life under Chinese rule.

The Tibetan cowboys, who once used horses, now use motorcycles to tend their flocks. On the way to 17,756-foot Nubgang Pass, Jenkins passes the black yak-hair tents of Tibetan nomads, and sees big Chinese trucks or Land Cruisers parked outside. He wonders how poor Tibetans can afford such luxuries. Aren’t they supposed to be suffering?

I think, “Maybe they are smuggling drugs into China from India”.  As I read on, I learn I’m wrong.

On his way back from the pass, Jenkins discovers these Tibetan cowboys have found wealth in their high grasslands from parasite infected caterpillars called Yartsa Gompo in Tibet and Chong Cao in China.  These dead caterpillars sell to Chinese medicine shops throughout Asia for as much as 80 dollars a gram—more than the price for a gram of gold.

Why?

The Chinese and Tibetans think these dead caterpillars are a cure-all medicine that also acts as an aphrodisiac boosting sexual performance—just what China needs with its population of almost 1.4 billion.

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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of My Splendid Concubine [3rd edition]. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too. This is the love story Sir Robert Hart did not want the world to discover.

His latest novel is the multiple-award winning Running with the Enemy.

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17 Comments | business, capitalism, China, Chinese Culture, cultural differences, environment, Tibet | Tagged: , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

Beating Cancer with Chinese Medicine

May 8, 2011

While watching Oprah with my wife recently, Pam Grier, known for her Foxy Brown role, was a guest on the show.

Grier has been a major African-American actress from the early 1970s.

She says, “People see me as a strong black figure, and I’m proud of that, but I’m a mix of several races: Hispanic, Chinese, and Filipino. My dad was black, and my mom was Cheyenne Indian. So you look at things beyond just race or even religion: I was raised Catholic, baptized a Methodist, and almost married a Muslim.”

In 1988, Grier was diagnosed with stage four cancer and given a few months to live. There was nothing Western medicine could do to save her.

During Grier’s appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show on Thursday, February 3, she said, “My physician said, ‘Western medicine has done all it can, I recommend that you go to Chinatown. You’ll meet these practitioners and you’ll listen to them.’ ”

She started making regular trips to Chinatown in Los Angeles.

In Attitudes Toward Health in China, I wrote, “The focus in China is on prevention — to plan your lifestyle around healthy habits. That’s why early in the morning in China you may find many older Chinese outside exercising using the graceful, poetic movements of Tai Chi to insure health and longevity.”

In Health Care Without Drugs, I wrote, “The history of acupuncture goes back over 8,000 years. One would think if it didn’t work, this medical practice would have ended long ago.”

The use of herbal medicines in China has been traced back to the Zhou Dynasty, late Bronze/early Iron Age, about 2,500 to 3,000 years ago.

In fact, the World Health Organization reports that about 80% of people worldwide use herbal medicines for their healthcare.

All of these facts of Eastern and/or Chinese medicine beg for a question. Why do Western drug companies reserve the right to use the word “cure” and no one else may use it legally?

“As many of you [may not] know the word “cure” is reserved for use of the [Western] medical/pharmaceutical industry only. To use this word in the West is to risk prosecution.” Source: Hulda Regehr Clark, Ph.D., N.D.

“The word “cure” is reserved exclusively for pharmaceuticals; it can never be used with herbs or other nutritional therapies.”  Nick Adams, the Health Ranger at Natural News, says, “I find that to be an interesting double standard.”

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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of the concubine saga, My Splendid Concubine & Our Hart. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too.

If you want to subscribe to iLook China, there is a “Subscribe” button at the top of the screen in the menu bar.

4 Comments | America, American culture, China, Chinese Culture, Chinese history, health care | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

Gwyneth Paltrow Popular in China

January 7, 2011

With Country Strong, Gwyneth Paltrow’s popularity in China may mean a busy box office in Chinese theaters.


Gwyneth Paltrow – Country Strong – CMA Awards 2010

However, Facts and Details says, “Many foreign films never make it to China. The guidelines on content are very strict: No sex, no religion. Nothing to do with the occult. Nothing that could threaten public morality or portray criminal behavior—in other words, the basic ingredients for many successful films. Those that are allowed to be shown often have key scenes deleted.”

The China Daily reported how Paltrow asked Beyonce for singing tips while Country Strong was in production. She told Access Hollywood, “I kind of asked my girl singer friends for advice. I asked Faith Hill a lot of questions – and Beyonce actually too.”

Why would China Daily be reporting this of Paltrow if Country Strong hadn’t been approved for Chinese audiences?


Gwyneth Paltrow’s solo in Infamous

In fact, Paltrow’s belief in Chinese medicine may help see Country Strong, with some cutting, appear in Chinese cinemas.

About five years ago, Gwyneth attended a premiere in a backless gown revealing a collection of symmetrical, purple dots that graced the skin of her back. Those marks were a sign of “cupping” and sent a flurry of photographs around the globe and even prompted her friend Oprah Winfrey to explore this ancient (medical) practice on her show.

“It feels amazing and it’s very relaxing, and it feels terrific,” Paltrow told Winfrey. “It’s just one of the alternative medicines that I do instead of taking antibiotics.”

“I have been a big fan of Chinese medicine for a long time because it works,” Paltrow said.


Gwyneth Paltrow sings Bette Davis Eyes

Facts and Details reports of popular Hollywood movies in China, in 1994, The Fugitive, with Harrison Ford, became the first American feature film to be shown legally in Chinese cinemas. Titanic was also a big box office hit. Pearl Harbor was the second highest grossing film ever in China.

Then in 2006, Chinese sensors approved Miami Vice and left a steamy love scene with Collin Farrell and Gong Li largely intact.

In July 2009, Transformers 2 became China’s biggest box office hit replacing Titanic.

Discover Looking Like Jessica Alba in China

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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of the concubine saga, My Splendid Concubine & Our Hart. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too.

If you want to subscribe to iLook China, there is a “Subscribe” button at the top of the screen in the menu bar.

Leave a Comment » | America, China, cultural differences, family values, government, media | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse

Careful Dreaming

September 17, 2010

Trying to understand our dreams is as old as history.

Three thousand years ago, Grandmaster Zhou Gong, who lived during the Zhou Dynasty, wrote the book of Auspicious and Inauspicious Dreams.

Freud-Sigmund.com says, Zhou Gong’s book “is a book that is commonplace in a lot of houses of Chinese people.” 

When someone wakes up and wants to know the meaning of a dream, he or she opens that book.

Zhou Gong wrote that there were seven dream categories. For example, if you dream of the sun or moon rising, your family will be prosperous, educated and have good jobs. 

However, if you dream of dirty clothing covered with mud, your wife’s pregnancy will be challenging.

This video is a short documentary about Chinese interpretations and the meanings of dreams in relation to past lives.

Selfgrowth.com has a post that goes into detail with examples of Zhou Gong’s categories.  The interpretations range from good luck to bad. 

There’s also a book on Chinese Medicine that has a section about how dreams help with a medical diagnosis. 

Sad dreams are due to a deficiency of ‘qi’ in the heart and liver or of ‘yin’ in the liver meaning, you might have liver disease and tuberculosis. Source: Absolutely Feng Shui

See Chinese Herbalism

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Lloyd Lofthouse is the award-winning author of the concubine saga, My Splendid Concubine & Our Hart. When you love a Chinese woman, you marry her family and culture too. 

If you want to subscribe to this Blog, there is a “Subscribe” button at the top of the screen in the menu bar.

Leave a Comment » | China, Chinese Culture, Chinese history, history | Tagged: , , , , , , | Permalink
Posted by Lloyd Lofthouse