Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) has a long history. As far back as ancient times, our ancestors developed primitive forms of medicine while struggling to survive in the natural world. TCM is not only a distillation of thousands of years of experience in combating disease, but also the culmination of the most brilliant scientific and cultural achievements of ancient China. With its unique theoretical framework and outstanding clinical results, TCM has established itself as a distinct branch within the global medical community, and many of its theories and research methods continue to be validated by modern science.
TCM views the human body as an organic whole centered on the zang-fu organs and meridians. It regards both humans and all phenomena in nature as two aspects of the opposing yet unified principles of yin and yang. TCM holds that the progression of disease is a process of yin-yang imbalance and the struggle between pathogenic factors and the body’s defensive energy. It emphasizes internal causes within the body, adhering to the principles that “pathogenic factors gather where there is deficiency” and “when the body’s vital energy is strong, pathogenic factors cannot invade.” Therefore, TCM treatment focuses on regulating yin and yang, strengthening the body’s defensive energy, and expelling pathogenic factors.
TCM holds that “what exists internally must manifest externally.” Without opening the “black box,” it employs the four diagnostic methods—inspection, auscultation, inquiry, and palpation—to gather pathological “information.” This information is then analyzed using TCM theory to conduct the Eight Principles of Differential Diagnosis (cold, heat, deficiency, excess, yin, yang, exterior, and interior), as well as differential diagnosis based on qi, blood, zang-fu organs, the Six Meridians, Wei Qi, Qi, Ying, and Blood to analyze the etiology, pathology, nature, and prognosis of the disease. Treatment is then administered in accordance with the principles of TCM: addressing the root cause, balancing yin and yang, strengthening the body’s vital energy and expelling pathogenic factors, and tailoring the approach to the specific time, place, and individual. “Strengthening the healthy qi and expelling pathogenic factors” involves using Chinese herbal medicines or other therapies—such as acupuncture and tuina—that support the healthy qi, combined with dietary adjustments, physical exercise, and qigong, to bolster the body’s resistance to pathogenic factors, eliminate the disease-causing pathogens, achieve recovery, and restore health; Regulating yin and yang involves reducing excess and replenishing deficiency to achieve a balance where yin and yang are in harmony, thereby eliminating disease; tailoring treatment to the season, location, and individual means formulating appropriate therapeutic methods based on the season, region, and the patient’s constitution, gender, and age.
TCM treatment methods include inducing sweating, emesis, purgation, harmonization, warming, clearing, resolving, tonifying, subduing wind, and relieving spasms. There are now more than 5,000 types of Chinese herbal medicines, which are used to formulate hundreds of decoctions, as well as a wide variety of other preparations such as pills, powders, ointments, elixirs, wines, syrups, sprays, and liniments. These remedies effectively cure diseases and restore vitality. TCM has achieved significant clinical efficacy in treating various conditions across internal medicine, trauma, gynecology, pediatrics, otolaryngology, dermatology, ophthalmology, and neurology.
