Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) was born in the background of ancient Chinese “harmony culture”. The mainstream of Chinese culture is Confucianism and Taoism. Whether it is the medium doctrine of the Confucianism, or it is the idea of the Taoism that everything keeps harmony by holding Yin and Yang, they all emphasize the harmony.

Under the guidance of this philosophy, Chinese medicine upholds balancing, uprighting and eliminating the pathogens as the main principles of treating diseases and maintaining health, rather than confrontation and killing as methods to conquer diseases. In the fight against viral diseases, chronic inflammation, functional disorders, endocrine disorders and other diseases, TCM plays a good role.

Chinese medicine puts the occurrence of diseases, climatic changes, environmental variations, emotional fluctuations, imbalance of diet and life, and the disorder of sex life together. That is, the so-called Three Pathogens Theory. This etiology doctrine that is built on the basis of the macro methodology is entirely different from that of Western medicine which is on the basis of the microscopic and pathologic anatomy. But it is exactly a biological, psychological, social and new medical model that Western medicine is attempting to pursue. While Chinese medicine established its own system with this medical model about 2000 years ago.

Chinese medicine doesn’t look up to static anatomy as a starting point for understanding the diseases and does not rely on detection equipments. However, TCM relies upon inspection, listening and smelling, inquiry and pulse-taking to directly experience and study the human dynamic life information. Also it is based on syndrome differentiation to guide the disease treatment. This method not only can save a lot of examination fees for patients, but also can help doctors exchange with patients more closely, which reflects a real humanistic spirit.

Chinese medicine stresses “prevention before diseases rather than treating diseases”. This does not simply refer to the medical thought of prevention before disease onset. More importantly, before the discovery of the development trend of certain diseases, that is, when patients with symptoms or not feeling well, without waiting for the disease to be formed, without waiting for detection of positive results, you can use the medicine to prevent and treat it. To senile diseases, degenerative diseases, sub-health state, TCM has positive roles in the prevention and correction.

Chinese medicine treats diseases mainly with prescription and acupuncture. Acupuncture is used as a non-medication therapy, whose side effects are slight in an acknowledged way. Chinese medicine is mainly from the original medications of nature. Most of them are not only without toxicity or side effects, but also through processing, especially in accordance with the principle of “monarch, minister, assistant and envoy” combined into a prescription, TCM upholds "prescription corresponding with the disease” as the basic idea of treatment based on syndrome differentiation, and  “balancing, uprighting and eliminating the pathogens” as the principle of applying the prescription to play an integrated role in the body. This way can cure diseases and rarely cause side effects. TCM never simply combats poison with poison.

In short, Western medicine has absolute advantages in the medical fields like surgery, diagnosis of organic diseases, first aid, prevention of spreading of epidemic conditions, and life-sustaining activities in the need of modern science and technology to support. While in the treatment of chronic inflammation, chronic pains, functional disorders, endocrine disorders, viral diseases, hyperplastic diseases, degenerative diseases, senile diseases, commonly-encountered clinical syndromes, sub-health state of the human body, and difficult health problems, Chinese medicine takes the unparalleled advantages.

                                                                      Professor Pengjian     

                                                                     Translated by Dr.Zhu Ming and Yuan yuying