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TCM does not seek the precise pathogens which caused an illness - huntingfor the particular bacteria, virus, fungusor parasite. So how do these therapiescure illness？ To answer this question, firstyou must know how TCM understandsthe human body. People are a part of nature, but are still independent of nature.Acupuncturists see the body as a transportation network: they must clear roadswhen congested and maintain the roadsso traffic can flow properly. For the qigong therapist, they see the body as anintegral part of a living energy-filled universe. They work to adjust things throughbreathing right and exercises when thereexists an overabundance or deficiency ofenergy. For herbal remedies, ancient herbalists noticed that sometimes when a plantpart resembled a specific organ in thebody, that herb could be used to remedythe corresponding organ. For example, abrain shaped food like walnut was said toincrease mental capacity. Sometimes biomedicine verifies these ancient observations and in the case of the walnut, it doeshave a high concentration of essential fattyacids and compounds shown to preserveand protect vascular and brain function.Thousands of other herbal combinationswere tested and observed over centuriesof clinical experience. Many were common foods which, upon eating for solong, were seen to produce certain effects,whether positive or negative.
Preface
Chinese medicine has two meanings: the broad meaning refersto the traditional medicines createdby working people of all ethnicgroups in historical China, including "Tibetan medicine," "Mongolian medicine," and many othermedicines of the minority populations. The narrow meaning pointsonly to the traditional medicinecreated by the majority Han nationality in China. What we usually call"Chinese medicine," and what weuse in this text, refers to this narrower sense.
Traditional Chinese medicine（TCM） is one of the few traditionalmedicines in the world which is notonly still used today, but is actuallygrowing in use - and in some areaslike the United States, growing morequickly than any other type of medicines. It is the ideological productof ancient Chinese people observingthe human body and fighting diseases,and it is also an extension of Chinese culture and philosophy. It took thousandsof years of experiences and theoreticalknowledge fighting human diseases, forthis to gradually develop into a completemature system of medicine. TCM is basedon the concept of holism. On the onehand, it focuses on relationships betweenpsychology and physiology, and the hu-man body and nature, thus it is concernedmore about the patient as a whole ratherthan focusing on the disease as a separateentity from the patient. Both TCM andbiomedicine theories believe in physiological homeostasis - that a body in balanceis healthy and when the body is out ofbalance it becomes unhealthy or diseased.
