Traditional Chinese medicine still has a role to play in a balanced approach to human health
HOW to keep fit is a permanent question in people's lives. Though many people are now used to taking pills and injections, lots of people, especially the elderly, still prefer to use traditional Chinese medicine.
In ancient times traditional medicine and drugs were the only means to treat diseases and protect people's health. The Chinese still have great faith in this long-tested medical wisdom, even though Western medicines is practised everywhere.
Traditional Chinese medicine and pharmacology take the ancient ideas of yin-yang and wuxing (the "five vital elements") as the theoretical basis for explaining the various physiological and pathological phenomena and their interactions.
Yin-yang, wuxing
Ancient Chinese held that the universe is formed with two kinds of qi (or "energy") called yin and yang, and that it is the interplay of these two opposing principles of nature that spark all change and movement in the universe.
The concept of yin-yang was originally used to refer to the direction of the two sides of the same subject in relation to the sun - the side facing the sun is yang and the opposite side, yin. As times went by, the yin-yang concept became increasingly broad in meaning - yin referring to things static, cold, dark, descending or inward while yang, to things dynamic, warm, bright, ascending or outward.
Ancient Chinese held that the interplay of yin and yang is the fundamental law governing all changes and movements in the universe - spring replacing winter, boon in bane and bane in boon. Only when the yin and yang - the various forces in the universe or society - are in perfect equilibrium can the universe or society maintain a proper order.
The concept of yin-yang is closely associated with the concept of wuxing - the "five elements"(metal, wood, water, fire and earth). Ancient Chinese believed that the physical universe consisted of these five elements.
The five elements are interlocked in set patterns according to their natural relationships, exerting a generative and a subjugative influence simultaneously on one another. Wood generates fire, fire generates earth, earth generates metal, metal generates water, and water generates wood.
Meanwhile, wood subjugates earth, earth subjugates water, water subjugates fire, fire subjugates metal, and metal subjugates wood. It's through this generative-subjugative cycle of the five elements that the physical universe or nature maintains a dynamic balance, a balance that manifests itself in such phenomena as the changes of the four seasons every year.
The yin-yang and wuxing concepts are the key theoretical premises of traditional Chinese medicine. According to the yin-yang concept, excitation suggests that the human body is in the state of yang and depression suggests yin. When the yin and yang elements in the body are well balanced, the person is in good health and he falls ill when the balance is disrupted.
The wuxing concept also finds its manifestation in the human body. Each vital organ is seen as belonging to one of the five elements - the heart belongs to fire, the liver to wood, the spleen to earth, the lungs to metal, and the kidneys to water. The heart is the "chief of the vital organs".
The five vital organs are interlocked in the same kind of generative-subjugative relationships, and it is believed that a pathological change in any of the vital organs inevitably results in abnormal function of other vital organs.
The five vital organs in traditional Chinese medical theory do not conform exactly to Western anatomical science. They are taken as the five vital systems of the human body connected with other organs of the body by jingluo - a network of main and collateral channels through which qi or the vital energy circulates. For instance, the ears are connected with the kidneys through jingluo and the eyes, with the liver.
Wang, wen, wen, qie
According to theories of traditional Chinese medicine, the human body is a unitary whole. When the functions of an internal organ are disrupted, the symptoms can be discerned in the complexion, eyes, color, voice and texture of the tongue fur. By analyzing these indicators, the doctor can know what is wrong with the patient.
Over the past 2,000 years and more, physicians of traditional Chinese medicine have always used four methods of diagnosis: wang (observing), wen (listening to the patient's voice and smelling the patient's odor), wen (inquiring), and qie (feeling the pulse of the patient).
When a patient goes to see a doctor, the doctor will carefully observe the patient's complexion, skin colour and ask the patient relevant questions. Then he will put his first three figures along the radial artery of the patient's wrist feeling for three specific points. Light pressure reveals three separate pulses and heavy pressure reveals another three different ones. Twelve pulses exist in the two wrists. Each pulse reveals the conditions of an organ, which may be "weak" or "bounding". Skilled Chinese doctors can detect over 30 different pulse statuses on each of the 12 pulses.
The Huangdi Neijing (the Yellow Emperor's Canon of Medicine) is the earliest and most comprehensive of the classical medical works summarizing the elaborate Chinese theories refined through long experience in the struggle against disease. Compiled in the third century BC, it is the exemplary and central text of traditional Chinese medicine.
The fundamental theories and clinical experiences of traditional Chinese medicine are so closely related to each other that one could never be a competent physician without a full understanding of the yin-yang and wuxing theories.
Unlike Western medicine that prefers to deal with structural concepts, fixed quantities and rigid laws, traditional Chinese medicine attempts to cure diseases by helping the patient restore the balance of qi in different vital organs. It treats the human body's physiological functions as an integral whole and an inseparable part of the universe of nature and society.
In addition, the drugs and concoctions of traditional Chinese medicine are made of natural materials such as herbs and stringent procedures should be followed in their preparation.
About 1,000 years ago, traditional Chinese medicine and pharmacology were introduced to Viet Nam, Korea and Japan, whereas Western medicine arrived in China during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). Possessing distinct - and perhaps complementary - merits, traditional Chinese and Western medicine are now used simultaneously in many hospitals.
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