Traditional Chinese Medicine and Modern Medicine In China

The earliest book of Chinese herbs

The earliest extant book of Chinese herbs named Shennong's Classic of Materia Medica (also known as ShenNong's Herbal or The Divine Farmer's Herb-Root Classic) was known written in Han Dynasty (202 BC - AD 220).

Shennong is one of the legendary ancestors of the Chinese nation. He is believed to have taught people how to identify different kinds of plants and how to grow crops so as to survive and bring up children.

the Chinese herbs - a introduction

The usage of herbs has a very long history in China. Ancient Chinese created primitive medicine during their struggle against nature. While in their quest for food, they found that some foods and plants had the specific property of relieving or eliminating certain diseases. That was the beginning of finding and using herbal medicines.

Through practice and the elevation of ancient physicians' experience into theory, literatures compiling actions of herbs, their localities of production, harvesting, processing, natures and flavours, toxicity and non-toxicity, combination, prohibitions, dispensing and dosage and administration laid down the foundation of the Pharmacology of Chinese Medicine. 

The Yin-Yang Theory

4000-5000 years ago China was an agricultural culture. The sun was the primary source of energy. Sunlight or the lack thereof was used to measure time and grow crops. With their observation of nature and the environment, ancient Chinese people used "Yin" which originally referred to the shady side of a slope and "yang" which originally referred to the sunny side to understand and describe other occurrences, which occurred in pairs and had complementary and opposing characteristics in nature.

The major theories of TCM, Yin-Yang Theory and Five Phase Theory

The major theories of TCM includes Yin-Yang Theory and Five Phases (wuxing) Theory which were two kinds of viewpoints on nature in ancient China. Chinese ancient physicians applied these two theories in traditional Chinese medicine, which have guided clinical practice up to the present.

The Yin-Yang Theory

An ancient Chinese philosophical concept, dealing with two opposite aspects, namely, yin and yang, of matters in nature which are interrelated with each other. Its principle is widely applied to traditional Chinese medicine. Such as:

What is TCM - A simple introduction

TCM (Traditional Chinese medicine) is a complete theoretical system of diagnosis and treatment of diseases. As we know TCM has been in existence for at least 2 to 3 thousands years in China. In modern health care system in the world, TCM is considered an alternative medical system.

TCM generally refers to the Han medicine whick mainly developed by ancient Han people and other traditional medicine in China, such as Tibetan medicine, Mongolian medicine, Miao medicine are called Chinese National Medine.