A Tradition That Traveled From China to Taiwan to America
Every family has a story about how it arrived where it is today. Ours happens to include medicine.
The Ni family’s medical tradition reaches back many generations in China, but traditions do not survive simply because they are old; they survive because, at critical moments, someone decides they are worth carrying forward. For our family, one of those people was our father, Master Hua-Ching Ni.
Leaving China
Our father lived through one of the most turbulent periods in modern Chinese history. When political upheaval threatened many aspects of traditional Chinese culture, he left mainland China for Taiwan. What he carried with him was more than knowledge of acupuncture, herbs, and medicine—he carried a way of understanding life.
Chinese medicine developed from the observation that human beings are not separate from nature. Health reflects our ability to adapt to seasons, age, environment, food, activity, stress, and change. These ideas had been transmitted through our family for generations. Eventually, that tradition crossed another ocean.
America, 1976
Our father arrived in Southern California at an extraordinary moment. America was celebrating its Bicentennial, and California was becoming one of the first states to formally license acupuncture. But legal recognition did not mean public acceptance, as Chinese medicine was still foreign to most Americans.
Our father nevertheless established a practice in Malibu and began doing what generations of our family had done before him: seeing patients, teaching, and passing on what he had learned. That small beginning eventually became Tao of Wellness.
A Tradition Must Be Taught
My brother, Dr. Daoshing Ni, and I grew up inside this world. Medicine was never simply a profession in our family. It was connected to nutrition, movement, meditation, philosophy, observation of nature, and the cultivation of one’s own character.
Our father taught us that the medicine is only as good as the person practicing it. That conviction eventually helped inspire the creation of Yo San University, where many students would study Chinese medicine.
The tradition had traveled again—not geographically this time, but from one family into a much larger community.
Three Generations in America
Today, something our father could only have imagined in 1976 has happened—his children continued the work, and now his grandchildren are carrying it forward.
Dr. Yu-Ming Ni practices preventive cardiology. Dr. Yu-Shien Ni practices acupuncture and Chinese medicine with a particular focus on women’s health. Their training and their world are very different from ours. That is precisely as it should be.
A living tradition should never become a museum piece. Each generation must understand its roots deeply enough to carry the essential wisdom forward while allowing the medicine to respond to the needs of its own time.
Walk Through the Story
On September 19, we are bringing this journey to life as part of Tao of Wellness’s 50th Anniversary Celebration & Open House.
Our special History Walk will trace the Ni family’s journey across generations—from China to Taiwan to America, from our father’s early practice to Tao of Wellness today.
But this celebration isn’t only about our family. A medical tradition survives because people trust it. For fifty years, patients have walked through our doors, sent their families, referred their friends, and allowed us the privilege of participating in their lives. You have carried this tradition with us.
Please join us on Saturday, September 19, from 1–3 PM in Santa Monica. RSVP requested to officeadmin@taoofwellness.com
Come walk through the history, meet the generations, and celebrate the journey with us.