Traditional Chinese medicine
A system of medicine at least 23 centuries old that seeks to prevent illness by keeping yin and yang in balance.
Traditional Chinese medicine is a system at least 23 centuries old that seeks to prevent or treat illness by maintaining the balance between yin and yang. Its earliest known written source is the “Huangdi neijing” (The Yellow Emperor’s Inner Classic), from the 3rd century BCE [1].
In this system the body’s life force, qi, flows through channels called meridians. The five phases (wuxing) of wood, fire, earth, metal and water are used to identify imbalances. Treatments include brews made from thousands of plants, acupuncture, cupping and moxibustion, in which cones usually made from an Artemisia, the same genus as Wormwood, are burned at acupuncture points. Li Shizhen’s “Bencao gangmu”, published in 1578, lists 1,892 drugs and about 11,000 prescriptions [1].
Some herbal formulas have been in use for more than 2,200 years. Nearly 200 modern medicines have come from about 7,300 medicinal plant species used in China; ephedrine, used for asthma, was first isolated from mahuang, that is Ephedra [2].
Ginseng is almost the emblem of this tradition. The root of Asian ginseng has long been used as a drug in China, Korea and Japan and is made into a stimulating tea. The Chinese regarded it as a panacea, but used it more to prevent illness than to cure it [3].