[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 171 (Monday, December 31, 2012)]
[Senate]
[Pages S8587-S8588]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                          GRANDMASTER HONG LIU

 Mr. AKAKA. Mr. President, as I reflect back on my 36 years of 
service in Congress and the Senate, I realize how fortunate I was to be 
mostly healthy. As we age, we pay more attention to our health. The 
challenge is how to maintain good health.
  It was after I was struck in the shin by a stray golf ball on a 
Virginia course that I met a Chinese Grandmaster who introduced me to 
an ancient Chinese methodology for maintaining good health. This 
methodology was developed and tested over thousands of years--it was 
the ancient practice of natural healing using Qi Gong.
  Grandmaster Hong Liu was born in Shanghai, China. His Mother was the 
director of medical care and hospitals in Shanghai. As a result of 
being raised in a health-oriented environment, he enrolled in the 
Military Medical College to become a doctor of Western medicine.
  His home was always filled with visitors from the health industry, 
doctors, and even healers who practiced Traditional Chinese Medicine or 
TCM as it is popularly known today. Whenever the Qi Gong masters 
visited his Mother, crowds of sick people would gather seeking 
treatment. He would watch intently as these people were treated by 
those masters.
  Grandmaster Hong became interested in one of the healers who lived 
outside of Canton high up on a mountain in a cave, Master Kwan. During 
the time of the Cultural Revolution, Chairman Mao's wife banned all 
ancient medical traditions--healers escaped imprisonment by living in 
remote caves in high mountains outside the cities. This interest in 
ancient Traditional Chinese Medicine conflicted with his role as an 
army officer practicing in a military hospital. All doctors were 
scheduled for duty in the hospitals and were expected to perform 
routine duties. His days were scheduled with long hours of patient care 
leaving very little spare time. Medical doctors who did not perform 
their duties and who did not work diligently were reprimanded and 
sometimes demoted. For 8 years, he spent all of his spare time studying 
Qi Gong and traditional Chinese medicine under Master Kwan. This meant 
taking the train to Canton and then traveling many miles outside the 
City to a mountain called Golden Cock to get to Master Kwan's cave. 
Grandmaster Hong or Master Hong became an apprentice of Master Kwan and 
then became a Qi Gong Master in 1979. Grandmaster Hong came to the 
United States in 1990 and has practiced Traditional Chinese Medicine.
  Getting back to that golfing incident, I did not worry much about the 
golf injury after icing it because it seemed to have healed. It was not 
until a week later when I flew back to Hawaii and was at my physician's 
office for a regular checkup that it was discovered the inside of the 
wound had not healed and was infected. My physician prescribed 
treatment for the infection, but a family friend asked if I would 
consider additional treatment in complement with my physician's medical 
care. This was my introduction to natural healing and to Grandmaster 
Hong Liu, we call him Master Hong, who is a Grandmaster of Natural 
Healing, which includes Feng Shui, herbs, exercise, martial arts and 
nutrition. This introduction was the start of a remarkable journey for 
me into the world of natural healing using proper breathing, movement 
through exercise, and nutrition to nourish and heal.
  This natural healing method seemed too simple, but what I learned 
over time was that illness occurs when the natural flow or circulation 
of the energy canals or pathways in our body are blocked, but this can 
be remedied again with proper breathing, exercise, and eating 
nutritionally. Injuries to the body are remedied in the same manner 
with the addition of herbs. The Qi of Qi Gong is that natural energy 
that runs through those canals in our body like blood flows through 
veins. That energy is what keeps us living, and if that Qi is 
circulating property or flowing freely, then we are healthy. The simple 
``science'' of Natural Healing is viewed as an approach to remove the 
blockages that occur when the energy does not flow freely and balance 
the internal organ energy. The ultimate goal in Traditional Chinese 
Medicine is balance--the body should be balanced naturally--seems 
simple.
  Master Hong has not only been good to me--he is good to the people of 
Hawaii. He has held free seminars and events. His foundation holds 
free, weekly senior programs because he recognized the demographics of 
the aging population, its rapid growth globally, and the issues with 
affordable healthcare. He developed and offers a weekly self-healing 
program for seniors that includes exercises and nutritional information 
for them to get healthy and stay healthy. For the past 9 years, he's 
given immunity events to the community. People attend these events to 
get free patches to help boost their immunity systems. The immunity 
events are held on the hottest and the coldest days of the year because 
those are the most potent days for the effectiveness of those patches. 
The events originally started out as asthma events since Hawaii has had 
30 years of volcanic activity which affected the respiratory systems of 
many Islanders. Those asthma events evolved into the bigger bottom line 
picture or the source of the problem which is the immunity system.
  Master Hong is the founder of the Natural Healing Research Foundation 
in Hawaii. The foundation is his basis for advancing remedies for the 
major diseases affecting humanity by promoting the time honored natural 
healing practices of Eastern medicine in complement with Western 
medicine to attain that goal. The marvel of the remedies of natural 
healing is that it offers simple yet effective healing programs that 
work with conventional practices and have no side effects. The 
foundation reaches out to the community providing information and 
training in disease prevention and offering proactive solutions to 
maintain optimal health.
  Master Hong was proclaimed a ``Living Treasure'' not only in his 
homeland of China but also in the State of Hawaii because of his 
research of various diseases, cancer, drug addictions, diabetes, 
obesity, and heart disease to name a few, and his devotion to teaching 
preventive health care. He has also authored ``The Healing Art of Qi 
Gong'' by Warner Books.
  The basic simpleness of all of this knowledge is that this energy is 
all around us, but you need to work at keeping the movement of this 
energy moving or circulating in order to be healthy and balanced. I 
learned that foods of a certain color were specific to different 
organs. Foods white in color, mushrooms, ginger, garlic are for the 
lungs and skin, while foods that are black in color, black beans, black 
sesame, seaweed, are for the kidneys.
  There is so much that I have learned from Grandmaster Hong Liu, and 
there is more learning to be done when I get back to Hawaii. What I do 
know is that the Traditional Chinese Healing methods he used in 
complement with my regular physician improved my health.
  I will continue to learn from this Grandmaster, and I continue to be

[[Page S8588]]

grateful for my health and wellbeing. It has been about 8 years of 
learning and exercising and eating right for me, but in that time I 
have seen an industry boom in natural health care and products--what a 
coincidence. All of this makes me more aware of how fortunate and 
timely my meeting Grandmaster Hong Liu was to promote the balance and 
wellbeing in my life. Thank you, Grandmaster Hong for what you have 
done not only for me but for the people of Hawaii.

                          ____________________