Analysis of Bian Ques Story Tatit Kurniasih 20125216013 Assigment : The means of communication is as important as the content of communication.

The content of Doctor Bian Ques information was very useful, but his means of communication was poor. Please say something about this story according to your understanding.

OBSERVATION Sima Qian, who lived during the West Han dynasty (about 145-96 BCE), was a well-known historian. He wrote a biography of Bian Que in his work Shi Ji (Historical Record). In it, he discussed Bian Que's practicing medicine, wandering from town to town and effecting miraculous cures, even bringing the dying back to life. 1 Sima Qian says: "Bian Que expounded medicine as the guiding principle of (medical) technique; the later generations followed it and could not change any more." He was regarded as the founder of traditional Chinese medicine, but according to the historical materials in the biography, Bian Que lived and flourished for hundreds of years. Biography of Bian Que : Pien Ch'iao/Bian Que, one of the most famous medical men in ancient China, Bian Que means Wayfaring Magpie Bird a bird that flies here and there dispensing good fortune in Chinese, it means he flew everywhere to give health, happy and good luck to all of his patients. His name also means : several carved stones, unearthed from a tomb dating back to the Eastern Han Dynasty (25-220 AD),
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http://www.springerreference.com/docs/html/chapterdbid/77860.html

portray him with a human head and a birds body. 2 His real Chinese name was Qin Yueren. Bian lived during the time of the Zhou dynasty, between 500 and 600 BC. Most Bian Ques patients are normal people, and most of them gave love and respect to him. Kings in China invited Bian Que for health as well. He was a welcome and very successful doctor. He never done something wrong. He cured all his patients just by looking and touching them. He was good at various subjects in medicine and highly skilled in diagnosis and treatment, especially in pulsetaking and acupuncture. He was reputed to be an excellent diagnostician, excelling in pulse taking and acupuncture therapy. In Sima Qian's book Shi Ji, in Bian Que Chronicles, An Ancient Miracle Doctor: Bian Que (I), Sima Qian described that Bian Que obtained his medical skills from personal teachings by Chang Sangjun. After consuming a certain herb, Bian Que had the supernormal capability to see through walls and the human body. By searching in the internet, I found several kinds of supernormal capability that usually describes as a sixth sense. A capability that enables someone do more than normal people 3 : a. Clairvoyance Clairvoyance is like a second level of thought, one step higher than the normal level of thinking that we all do, Clairvoyants can work at that level to *see* beyond what people normally *see*. b. Clairaudience It's the ability to *hear* beyond the normal range of hearing
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http://chinese-medicine.fozoe.com/?tag=chinese-medicine-physician http://www.pharrah13.com/psychic_abilities

like messages in thought forms from an spirit who exists in another realm. c. Clairsentience Clairsentience is the ability to *feel* things that *something's there but other people can't see it*. d. Clairgustance Awareness of an spirit on the other side by the sense of taste. A sense experienced in the mouth. Based on these information, I considered that (maybe) Bian Que has a capability of Clairvoyance and Clairsentience. This tought has been concluded from Sima Qians recording about three specific medical cases that Bian Que handled. 1. In the first case, he diagnosed Zhao Jianzi's illness by feeling his pulses. 2. In the second case, he kept track of the state of the illness of the Crown Prince Guo through consulting, examining and feeling the pulse and finally brought Crown Prince Guo back from death. 3. In the third case, Bian was able to describe the developing illness of Marquis Qi Huan by simply looking at him. From all stories above, Bian Que seemed to have an unusual power that enables him to make a miracles. In accordance to Prof. Tangs instruction, I will analyze the third case of Bian Que story about describing illness of Marquis Qi King by simply looking at him. ANALYSIS I found 2 different versions of this story, so I decided to use these stories to analyze this case.

First story is taken from http://english.cri.cn4 : Bian Que: A Legendary Doctor Bian Que was one of China's most famous ancient physicians. He once went to The Kingdom of Qi in today's eastern China as a traveling physician. One day he visited the King and saw the king' facial color and energy and warned, "Your Majesty has an illness of the skin. If not treated, it may become serious." The king said, "I'm not sick. All doctors love to pretend that a healthy person is ill and then boast of their healing skills," he added. Ten days later, Bian Que again saw the king. He said, "Your illness has already entered your blood. If not treated, it will become more serious." The King dismissed him with displeasure. Another ten days passed, he met the King once again. "The illness has invaded your stomach and intestines. If not treated, it will become deeper and more severe." The king still said that he wasn't sick. A few more days passed, and he met the King again. This time the doctor didn't speak a single word. He simply walked away. The king felt this a bit strange and sent someone to ask why. Bian Que said, "When an illness is at the level of the skin, it can be cured with medicinal hot compresses; when an illness has entered the blood, it can be cured with acupuncture; when an illness has entered the stomach and intestines, it can be cured with boiled medicinal compounds, but the king's illness has already entered his bone marrow, there is no way to treat it." A few days later, as Bian Que expected, the king fell ill. He sent someone to look for Bian Que, but Bian Que had already left the kingdom. The king died shortly thereafter."

http://english.cri.cn/1702/2005-4-14/121@227694.htm

The second story is taken from : www.chinesestoryonline.com 5 Hide Sickness For Fear Of Treatment () During the Spring and Autumn period, there was a famous doctor named Bian Que who often traveled everywhere to collect medicine to cure patients. One year, Bian Que was in The State of Cai, where he visited Marquis Huan, the ruler of Cai. Looking at the ruler for a while, Bian Que said, "Your Highness, please excuse me for talking up, you are suffering from an illness, which now is in the skin. But it may get worse without treatment." The Marquis did not believe at all, as at that time he felt no symptoms. "Thank you, doctor, but I'm fine" he said. After Bian Que left, he told his attendants complacently: See, even a doctor like Bian Que is trying to profit from others fears. Ten days later, Bian Que saw the Marquis again. This time he directly warned him: "Your highness, the illness has developed into the muscles. Without immediate treatment, it will go from bad to worse." At this, the Marquis was very unhappy, repulsing coldly Bian Ques kindness. After another ten days, Bian Que came to the Marquis, anxiously saying: Your Highness, your illness had gone into the stomach and the intestines, without treatment, something terrible will happen for sure. Again, the Marquis brushed aside his advice. After the third ten days, Bian Que happened to see the Marquis in the street. Looking at him from afar, he simply turned round and went away. Surprised by this, the Marquis sent an attendant to ask him for the reason. Well, Sir, Bian Que said helplessly, I run because I cannot cure your masters illness; I run because I cannot bear to watch
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chinesestoryonline.com/idiom-story/557-hui-ji-ji-yi.html

your master die. How does it get into such a mess? said the attendant, astonished. The first time I saw your master, his illness was only in the skin. Warm water and some plasters could cure it; when it got into the muscle, acupuncture could cure it; even if it developed into the stomach, I could still save your masters life with medicine. But now the illness has invaded into the marrow, there is nothing I can do about it. After that, Bian Que rushed away. Just as he had predicted, the Marquis died soon after. From these story I started my own analysis by evaluating : 1) Who is the speaker and the audience? Answer : The speaker is Bian Que (a famous doctor) The audience is Marquis Huan (a ruler of Cai/King) 2) What is the message? Answer : The message is about Marquis Huans illness that can be seen by Bian Que. 3) Where did it take place? Answer : Cai Kingdom/The State of Cai 4) When did it happen? Answer : During the spring and autumn period (No information about a specific year) 5) Why did it happen? Answer : Because of Marquis didnt feel any symptoms and he didnt believe to Bian Que, so he had no opportunity to be cured and die several days after Bian Que attendance. Bian Que gave 3 advices to King Marquis about his illness. I put a green-coloured font to mark the first advise, orange-coloured font to mark the second advice and red-coloured font to mark the third advice. I also blue-coloured font to mark the explanation

about the treatment.

First Story "Your Majesty has an illness of the skin. If not treated, it may become serious." Second Story "Your Highness, please excuse me for talking up, you are suffering from an illness, which now is in the skin. But it may get worse without treatment." "Your highness, the illness has developed into the muscles. Without immediate treatment, it will go from bad to worse." Picture

"Your illness has already entered your blood. If not treated, it will become more serious."

"The illness invaded stomach intestines. If treated, it become deeper more severe."

has your and not will and

Your Highness, your illness had gone into the stomach and the intestines, without treatment, something terrible will happen for sure. The first time I saw your master, his illness was only in the skin. Warm water and some plasters could cure it; when it got into the muscle, acupuncture could cure it; even if it developed into the stomach, I could still save your masters life with medicine. But now the illness has invaded into the marrow, there is nothing I can do about it.

"When an illness is at the level of the skin, it can be cured with medicinal hot compresses; when an illness has entered the blood, it can be cured with acupuncture; when an illness has entered the stomach and intestines, it can be cured with boiled medicinal compounds, but the king's illness has already entered his bone marrow, there is no way to treat it."

The first story looks simpler and shorter and the second story is more clear and have a good sequences, beside that, Bian Ques 7

words were more polite. These two story describe relatively the same things. The difference is located at the conversation between Bian Que, Marquis Huan and the attendant. In these story, Bian Que had approached Marquis as his potential clients and offered his services. He didnt want to treat the king for his own advantages but he was hoping that Marquis will agree to be treated. Bian Que had approach Marquis for 3 times to tell the truth but why Marquis King didnt want to believe him? This can be happen because of a communication failure. Lets analyze this case with some theory. As we all know that : Communication is the activity of conveying information through the exchange of thoughts, messages, or information, as by speech, visuals, signals, writing, or behavior. Communication requires a sender, a message, and a recipient. The communication process is complete once the receiver has understood the message of the sender. 6

Figure 1. Flow of Communication Based on this figure, the sender is Bian Que and the recipients is Marquis Huan. These people maybe have different opinions, values, beliefs, and needs. They didnt have an ability to exchange ideas with others, understand others perspectives and solve problems. Communication is occur when there is someone who send the message and someone who receive the message. So, I divide this flow into 2 parts, sending message and receive a message.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communication

A. SENDING MESSAGES The first flow of sending messages is consist of three elements such as : 1. Verbal Messages (the words choosen) Sending effective messages requires the sender to state his point of view as briefly and succinctly as possible. Bian Ques language has tremendous power to create a good relationship between him and the king. Bian Que has choose a good words to tell his advice and he also avoid critical/blaming/judgmental words that tend to create a resistant and defensive mindset that is not conducive to productive problem solving. 2. Paraverbal Messages (the words tone, pacing and volumes) Paraverbal communication refers to the messages that the sender transmit through the tone, pitch, and pacing of our voices. A sentence can convey entirely different meanings depending on the emphasis on words and the tone of voice. It is how Bian Que say something, not what he say. I can not find how was the tone and pacing of Bian Que in the story, hence, I cant determined the paraverbal message of Bian Que. 3. Nonverbal Messages (body language) Nonverbal messages are emotions, facial expression, postures and gestures. It is the primary way that to communicate with someone who have a higher position from the sender. This story also doesnt tell about Bian Ques gestures, facial expression and emotions, so I cant evaluate this nonverbal message. Beside the process of sending messages, communication failure can be detected by evaluating the process of receiving message.

B. RECEIVING MESSAGES 1. Listening The key to receiving messages effectively is listening. Listening is a combination of hearing what another person says and psychological involvement with the person who is talking. Listening requires more than hearing words. It requires a desire to understand another human being, an attitude of respect and acceptance, and a willingness to open one's mind to try and see things from another's point of view. True listening requires Marquis to suspend judgement, evaluation, and approval in an attempt to understand Bian Ques frame of reference, emotions, and attitudes. In this case, Marquis Huan didnt want to hear, understand and respect to Bian Que as the speaker. He also didnt want to open his mind and try to see or think from Bian Ques side. He had a negative judgement to Bian Que, maybe due to his fearness of being cheated. By using the same elements of sending, receiving/listening skills can be analyzed to find the reason of communication failure: Verbal: Marquis didnt paying attention to the words and feelings that are being expressed. Marquis didnt use a reflective listening tools such as paraphrasing, reflecting, summarizing, and questioning to increase understanding of the message and help Bian Que to tell his story. Paraverbal : Marquis (maybe) didnt give full physical attention to the speaker. Marquis (maybe) didnt lean gently towards the speaker.

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Marquis (maybe) didnt facing the other person squarely. Marquis (maybe) didnt maintaining an appropriate distance between him and Bian Que. Marquis (maybe) didnt moving his bodies in response to the Bian Que.

Nonverbal: Marquis didnt give a full physical attention to the speaker Marquis didnt aware to the speaker's nonverbal messages;

Based on these result, I realized something that may become another reason of this communication failure. In the book of Management Communication : Principles and practice (3 rd Edition) written by Michael E. Hattersley and Linda McJannet, I found some important question to investigate whether the communication is effective or not is : Have you mastered and organized all the relevant information? Have you defined a clear, achieveable goal? Have you taken account the personal and organizational context? Have you considered the needs of your audiences? Have you expressed yourself as clearly, vividly and forcefully as possible? Have you chosen the right communication channel? These questions are asking about the elements of communication. So, I try to answer this question and examining every elements of communication : a) Sources (the subject that initiating action and his/her credibility) : Bian Que is a famous doctor that had already cured many patients and most of them gave love & respect to him. Kings in China invited Bian Que for health as well. He was a

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welcome

and

very

successful

doctor.

He

never

done

something wrong. He cured all his patients just by looking and touching them. He was good at various subjects in medicine and highly skilled in diagnosis and treatment, especially in pulsetaking and acupuncture. He was reputed to be an excellent diagnostician, excelling in pulse taking and acupuncture therapy. b) Goal (Setting goals) Bian Ques goal : To tell Marquiss illness and treat/cure him. Bian Ques Purpose : To do his job, as a doctor, to cure his patient (do his best to save someones life) especially his king. Bian Ques Strategy : He told the king that he is ill, but he didnt do any investigation, examination and give some detail explanation why he should let Bian Que to examine and cure him. c) Audience : Marquis is a ruler of cai (king). He has big authority to make a decision. d) Context (environment, culture, history, competitive situation or challenging norms) : Bian Que was living in Marquis territory, so he had to be aware of the opportunities to design his communication strategy. He had to involve in a big effort to reach his communication goals to The King (his clients). e) Message (organized all the relevant information in clearly, vividly and forcefully way) : Bian Que did not organized all of the important and relevant information in clearly, vividly and forcefully way. He didnt explain the most important information in the detail. f) Media (the right communication channel) : Bian Que chose the simplest communication channel, speak the words, straightaway. This channel requires a willingness to talk face to face and a trust. Marquis didnt trust Bian Que as a good 12

doctor. He thought Bian Que would tell lie and cheat him for money. g) Feedback (receivers response) : since communication is not an act, but a process, the receiver should feel involved in the process and give a response to the sender, either he/she understand or not. Marquis didnt give any response, he only said that he was not sick. He didnt ask Bian Que the reason and the details of his sickness. Bian Que was a kind doctor, but his good intention about Marquis was not able to deliver and he was not able to do his job (cure people). To become a great and well-infomed doctors, he should have a good capabilities to make a connection and relationship with his patient as his customer. He should do audience analysis first before he make any communication. In this case, He should use a sell approach strategy because he was in command of the information but Marquis retains the ultimate decision-making power. "We all use language to communicate, to express ourselves, to get our ideas across, and to connect with the person to whom we are speaking. When a relationship is working, the act of communicating seems to flow relatively effortlessly. When a relationship is deteriorating, the act of communicating can be as frustrating as climbing a hill of sand." - Chip Rose, attorney and mediator Based on this quotes, relationship between the sender and receiver is very important to build a good communication. On the other hand, I found some journal that stated : Good doctors should communicate effectively and accurately with patients to make them

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more satisfied with the service.

But what are the necessary communication skills and how can doctors acquire them? Good doctor should have 3 components of interpersonal skills like : communication skills, consultation skills, and interviewing skills. When doctors use communication skills effectively, both they and their patients would get the benefit, such as: 1. Doctor could identify their patients problems more accurately. 2. Patients become more satisfied with their care and they are able to understand their symptoms, problems, investigations, and treatment options. 3. Patients are more likely to adhere to treatment and to follow advice on behaviour change. 4. Patients distress and their vulnerability to anxiety and depression are lessened. 5. Doctors with good communication skills have greater job satisfaction and less work stress 6. Doctors own wellbeing is improved. 7. Effective methods of communication skills training are available, the opportunity to practice key skills and receive constructive feedback of performance is essential

According to this explanation, Bian Que as a doctors did not communicate with his patients as well as he should and we can not
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consider possible reasons for this. CONCLUSION In most areas of life, the best idea in the world can fail if its not communicated effectively. How clearly and persuasively the sender present their information and recommendation matters as much as how well theyve analyzed their data or how sensibly theyve outlined a course of action. Bian Que was a great and famous doctor at that time. Although Bian Que has an unusual power like clairvoyage and clairsentience, he had fail to explain the real condition to his patient. It was because of his limitation of communication skill that a doctor should have it. Bian Que didnt present his information clearly, persuasively, and completely to his receiver, Marquis Huan. In spite of establishing a good communication, we have to examine his message by 7 C's (clear, concise, concrete, correct, coherent, complete, courteous) method to create efficient communication and to make better interactions between sender and receiver. He should focus on Marquis and try to show Marquiss benefit and interest. He should try to visualize Marquis desires, problems, emotions circumstances and possible reaction to his request. He maybe didnt know how to explain it based on the communication principles. Peter Drucker has identified four fundamental communication principles : Communication is perception Communication is expectation Communication makes demands Communication and information are different and indeed largely opposite yet interdependent This analysis conclude that Bian Que didnt do a right communication which should have make demands of the receiver. 15

He didnt analyze the behavioral science, situation of his audience, the importance of message. He also didnt emphasizes the connection between clear thinking and clear communication that connected to logic, evidence, persuasion and imaginary in our language.

Sources : http://english.eastday.com/e/zx/userobject1ai4059567.html http://english.cri.cn/1702/2005-4-14/121@227694.htm http://www.bmj.com/content/325/7366/697 http://library.thinkquest.org/05aug/00996/English/index10.htm chinesestoryonline.com/idiom-story/557-hui-ji-ji-yi.html 16

http://www.bmj.com/content/325/7366/697

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