There’s no fear of needles in my Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) class. 
For the last two weeks (and the next two weeks), I have been learning about the theories and practices of TCM. Aside from lecture, there have been several field trips to aid our learning. In the first week, the class visited the TCM Museum in Beijing and picked herbs along an unrestored—or, as Professor Gu would say, “wild”—section of the Great Wall. Most recently, we visited a hospital and saw several TCM treatments (mainly, acupuncture, bloodletting, and cupping) performed on patients and were even able to practice on each other (not acupuncture nor bloodletting, thankfully!). Through lecture and our various class outings, I’ve learned that TCM approaches disease treatment and prevention very holistically; diseases are often tackled using various methods such as herbal prescriptions, acupuncture, massages, and exercise.
Herb picking along a “wild” section of the Great Wall.
TCM never ceases to pique my interest. It has, however, been a bit difficult to learn about without skepticism. Although I’ve been exposed to TCM before, my education and the majority of my experience has ingrained in me the idea that western, modern medicine is what medicine is and what it should be. I’ve been taught that scientifically and factually based western medicine is the most advanced and “correct” method to treat disease, and alternative medicine is not an effective nor a valid alternative. As is such, I can’t help but raise a curious eye towards TCM. Coming from a western view towards medicine, it is easy to disregard TCM as a pseudoscience.
Even so, I have not allowed my skepticism to get in the way of learning. During one of the lectures, a professor said that TCM is more of a philosophy, as opposed to a science. When I learn TCM with an open mind and with the idea that TCM is a philosophy and not a science, I can understand the theories and methods with greater appreciation. I like to think of TCM as similar to cooking: it’s not a science, but there is science involved.
I would say that TCM is somewhere between a science and a philosophy. Sure, it may contain its fair share of pseudo-science, but on the other hand practical application over the centuries must also be considered scientific in a sense, since it is really applied experimentation yielding knowledge that is refined over time.
In addition, China has been making great progress in studying many of the herbs in TCM scientifically. For example, the Jiaogulan herb has appeared in more than 500 scientific studies (e.g. see here ) over the past 40 years, and this sort of efforts will in the end help bridge the gap between Western Medicine and TCM.