Chinese Medicine

Chinese Medicine
Chinese Medicine With a Touch of Oriental Magic

China always has something interesting to offer the world. Be it the Great Wall of China, exotic Chinese food or their innovative medicines. Right from a simple headache to life threatening cancer, Chinese medicine has a cure for almost every disease under the sun – from tai chi to acupuncture.

Chinese herbal medicine is truly one of the most advanced herbal systems of the world, with an unbroken tradition going back to the 3rd century BC. It has continually undergone development responding to changing clinical conditions.

Chinese medicine includes all oriental practices originating from Southeast Asia that have their origins in China. Practitioners may work within a tradition that comes from Japan, Vietnam, Taiwan or Korea. It includes herbal therapy, acupuncture, dietary therapy, and exercises in breathing and movement (tai chi and qi gong).

The basis of Chinese medicine is the Taoist concept of Ying and Yang. These are opposite forces, which always have to be in harmony with each other. Traditional Chinese medicine focuses on lifestyle management in order to prevent disease before it occurs. It believes that the human body is a small universe with a set of complete and sophisticated interconnected systems, and that those systems usually work in balance to maintain the healthy function of the human body.

The history of Classical Chinese medicine commences with the Yellow Emperor (2698 to 2596 B.C), who is believed to have composed Neijing Suwen or Basic Questions of Internal Medicine, also known as the Huangdi Neijing. Classical Chinese medicine differs from traditional Chinese medicine though both have their basis in the same philosophy.

Traditional Chinese medicine has many branches, the most prominent of which are the Jingfang and Wenbing schools. The Jingfang focuses on the principles contained in the Chinese medicine classics of the Han and Tang dynasty. The more recent Wenbing schools’ practice relies on contemporary books including Compendium of Materia Medica from Ming and Qing Dynasty.

Traditional Chinese medicine is taught in nearly all medical schools in China. On the other hand, most of Asia and Northern America teach traditional medical practices. In the Western world, it is considered alternative medicine. In mainland China and Taiwan, it is a vital part of the health care system. Traditional Chinese medicine is also combined with western medicinal practices.

Interestingly, traditional Chinese medicine was banned in China by Mao Zedong as he considered it a backward way of treating. However, later it got restored after the Cultural Revolution, and since then it has been an integral part of everyday health.

Chinese medicine is also used in treating the side effects of chemotherapy, the withdrawal symptoms of drug addicts and treating a variety of chronic conditions, such as pains. It has also been used to treat antibiotic-resistant infection. There are claims that it can even treat early HIV infectants.

Traditional Chinese medicine has a "macro" or holistic view of disease. There are four types of traditional Chinese diagnostic methods: observe (wàng), hear and smell (wén), ask about the background (wèn) and touch (qiè). The pulse-reading component of the touching examination forms the core of these diagnostic methods.

One need not worry about the side effects at all. These medicines and practices are absolutely safe. Chinese medicine lives up to the saying that ‘Chinese medicine treats humans and not diseases’ as Charles Dickens once remarked that, ‘there is something in sickness that breakdowns the pride of a person’.