Why is traditional Chinese medicine so popular ... in Bulgaria?
Use of acupuncture goes back decades in the European country – but its popularity was punctured by the collapse of Sofia’s one-party system
After more than two decades, Tien Yun still remembers her first glimpses of Bulgaria – people strolling along sunlit streets, flowers everywhere, a child walking a dog in the park.
The television footage was enough to pique the Beijing native’s curiosity about the small country in the southeast corner of Europe.
“I had never before seen such a tranquil place because in Beijing there were a lot of people,” she said. “Afterwards, a question stayed with me about when I could visit this country.”
In May 1991, she touched down in Sofia, Bulgaria’s capital city. Then 42, Tien was arriving on the invitation of a local contact and after assurances her skills as a Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) practitioner would be sought after.
It was a tumultuous time in Bulgaria’s history. After the collapse of the one-party system two years earlier, the country was in the middle of a painful transition to a market economy. This meant high unemployment, electricity shortages, supermarket queues and – particularly in 1996-1997 – hyperinflation. Many Bulgarians were leaving the country, a trend that continues to this day.