Full Text of Ralph Yau and Horance Wong's Presentation at the Montessori Asia Conference 2025 Vietnam
【East Meets West: Elevating Montessori with Chinese and Western Integration】

I. When East Meets West

Today, I’d like to share with you a unique experiment: bringing the wisdom of Chinese medicine into Montessori education.

Maria Montessori herself was one of the first female doctors in Italy. Her view of the child was rooted in Western medicine.

Let’s start by watching this short clip—it’s how we first practiced Montessori. This popular video was featured at the 2017 Montessori Asia Conference in Hong Kong.

《Video》
https://youtu.be/gake77yDRmQ

But very soon, I realized: Chinese families live differently from Western ones.

Hong Kong is a very special place for this. As an international city, it fully embraces the most advanced Western education, but at the same time, it also preserves deep Chinese traditions.This balance—East meets West—is one of the reasons for Hong Kong’s success: Eastern and Western ways of thinking can run in parallel.

Perhaps you’ve noticed: even in Western restaurants, Hong Kong people often ask for warm or hot water, instead of cold water. Parents may even request schools not to give children too much cold food or iced drinks.

So, I believe: Montessori must be localized, and at the most fundamental level, that starts with how we understand the body. Montessori teachers are experts in one thing—integrating all knowledge into effective Montessori practice.

And I encourage all of you here: bring your own local culture and wisdom into Montessori. That is true creation.

II. My Story: From My Child to Chinese Medicine

More than twenty years ago, my son once had mild asthma. The doctor immediately prescribed asthma medicine. Another time, when he had a high fever that would not go down, the doctor suggested immediate hospitalization.

These experiences made me reflect:
* Is my child’s body really that fragile? Is a cold really untreatable, something we can only suppress with medicine?
* That was when I turned to Chinese medicine. I studied under several masters and learned how to diagnose through careful observation.

Over time, I became the “doctor” of my own family.

And I realized: every parent should also be both a teacher and a doctor to their child. And even children can learn to become their own little doctors.

Animals are born with an instinct to know what to eat and what to do to stay healthy. But humans gradually lose this intuition. That is why we must teach children to observe, to think, to act—to recover their instincts, and add rational thinking.

It is also the child’s inner call: “Help me to do it myself.”

Chinese medicine and Montessori are, in fact, both responding to this call.

III. The Inspirations of Chinese Medicine for Montessori

1. Observation – What is “normal”?

To observe, we must first know what “normal” looks like.
* Montessori education talks about Normalization.
* Chinese medicine speaks of the normal state of the body.

We don’t always need instruments. Anyone can observe their own health with simple questions:
1. Are your hands and feet warm, while your head feels cooler? (If the hands are colder than the head—even if a thermometer says normal—the body is already in sub-health.)
2. Is your appetite normal?
3. Are your stools and urination normal?
4. Do you sleep through the night?
5. Do you sweat normally?
6. Do you feel energetic?

Children from three to six years old can already begin to ask these questions, to know their living body.

Such simple observations, combined with yin–yang and five-element thinking, create a flexible system of understanding.

This is the first common ground between Chinese medicine and Montessori: Observation.
* Chinese medicine: looking, listening/smelling, asking, pulse-taking.
* Montessori: observing the child. Without observation, there is no diagnosis; without observation, there is no education.

2. Individualized Approach – Helping children find their own way of growth

Case 1: ADHD children
Some children I met were diagnosed with ADHD in Western medicine, often treated with drugs or behavioral therapy. But Chinese medicine saw them differently: “heat above, cold below; imbalance of yin and yang.” These children often had “hot heads, cold hands and feet, and sweating easily.” Once the root cause was found, and once they learned to adjust diet and receive treatment, their hyperactivity improved.

Case 2: Painful periods and cold drinks
As a teenager, she once suffered painful menstruation after drinking iced beverages before her period. From then on, she learned to avoid cold drinks at least one week before menstruation, and drink less in daily life. Her problem improved greatly.

These examples show: once children understand, they can become their own little doctors.
** Cognition changes → behavior changes → health improves.

This is the second common ground: Individualization.
* Chinese medicine: treatment based on differentiation.
* Montessori: follow the child.

3. Living in Harmony with Nature – Yin and Yang, the Five Elements

The inspiration of the Five Elements
In Chinese culture, the wisdom of the number five is everywhere. Children discover that only the pentagon allows for the perfect balance of “generation and control.” They are amazed by the logic of the magic number 5. This connects to the philosophy of the Five Elements. Education is the same: only in difference and respect can children find balance.

The experience of Yin and Yang in the body
Children can also experience yin–yang through their own body: when lifting an object, the biceps contract while the triceps relax; when lowering, the opposite. This interaction is yin–yang.

In classification and matching games, children are also practicing: “yin inside yang, yang inside yin.”

This is the third common ground: Harmony with Nature.
* Chinese medicine: balance of yin and yang, living with the seasons.
* Montessori: respecting the child’s natural rhythm of development.

IV. From Philosophy to Classroom Practice

With support from the Chinese Medicine Development Fund and our Chinese medicine parents, we designed the Montessori Chinese Medicine Early Childhood Curriculum.

It has been introduced to ten kindergartens, and also includes teacher training and parent education.

Because good education never stops at the classroom. In my school, for example, parents are required to attend at least eight hours of parent classes—and after 20 years, this has shown excellent results.

The Chinese medicine curriculum is the same: parents must also take part.

V. Practical Classroom Activities

Now, let’s turn to the actual activities you’ll see in the PPT. These bring the philosophy alive:

1. Practical Life – Soup Making and Herb Preparation
Children wash herbs, help prepare soup, and learn “from concrete to abstract.” Example: lily–almond–sea coconut soup. They notice how the soup soothes dryness in their throat.
2. Sensorial Education – Herbal Aroma Bottles and Texture Walls
Children smell herbs, touch their surfaces, and play matching games to strengthen memory and sensory awareness.
3. Mathematics – Herbal Counting Baskets
Children count, sort, and classify herbs, linking abstract math with real, tangible materials.
4. Language & Culture – Stories and Classification Cards
Stories such as Bian Que (the ancient physician) illustrate the healer’s role. Cards help classify plant parts and yin–yang concepts.
5. Movement – Eight Brocades (Ba Duan Jin)
A traditional qigong exercise incorporated into class, balancing stillness and movement, promoting health.
6. Seasonal Learning – Living with Nature
In autumn (dryness), children learn moistening recipes like lily soup. In winter (cold), they experience warming remedies like ginger tea. This teaches them to live in rhythm with the seasons.

VI. Vision

At the root, both education and medicine are about:
** Observation, and respecting individual differences.

If teachers can observe children like Chinese doctors observe patients…If parents can again become the first teachers and doctors of their children…Then children will grow up healthier and happier.

** “East meets West” is not only Hong Kong’s story. It can also be Vietnam’s story, Asia’s story, and the world’s story.