A common dream of top Chinese TCM doctors: making their profession obsolete?

I was skimming through the brochures of several (TCM) training camps when a phrase kept appearing everywhere consistently:

“If everyone learns medicine, there would be no need for doctors"
“ 人人学医，天下无医。”

At first, I dismissed it as poetic branding. But after weeks of research and firsthand conversations with some of China’s most respected TCM physicians, I began to understand: this was not a marketing slogan, but a shared, deliberate vision, that deeply rooted in TCM history and culture.

In their eyes, the greatest healer is not the one with the most titles or complex techniques, but the one who can restore self-reliance to the people.

In today’s world, that vision is more relevant than ever: an aging population, a surge in single-person households, and the unpredictable pandemic illustrated by painful memory of overloaded hospitals during COVID-19. We are heading toward a future where our current medical system, no matter how advanced, cannot carry the weight alone.

That’s why many of these master physicians are pivoting toward public education. Their goal is not to gatekeep knowledge, but to devolve it, empowering ordinary people with medical literacy and teach techniques prevent, curb illness at home.

My Reflection:

In a future of healthcare bottlenecks and demograpic shifts, prevention is no longer a luxury. It’s a necessity. Not to replace doctors, but to reduce dependence on centralized systems and empower households and communities with basic, lifelong healing knowledge.