The Evolution of Traditional Chinese Medicine
Read the first post in this series of articles about Traditional Chinese Medicine: What is Traditional Chinese Medicine?
Historical studies have demonstrated that the medical philosophy of China was grounded in principles very similar to those of other Eastern medical philosophies, which is interesting when you consider this would have evolved without the power of email. The Eastern countries were drawing the same conclusions about the body and medicine at the same time, obviously without any form of electronic communication. Mummified bodies across the Eastern continents have been found with acupuncture marks which bear resemblance to acupuncture points we use today for the conditions of which they died millenia ago.
Barefoot Doctors
Obviously in ancient communities, medics did not arrive in ambulances equipped with diagnostic technology. Instead there was a reliance on a community of so-called Barefoot Doctors – individuals who were versed in diagnostic frameworks and remedies handed down to them by their families and communities. Because such people did not have medical dictionaries to consult, they used the environment in which they lived to give terminology and reference to the conditions they came across. It also helped explain, presumably, to their patient in language they understood, what was going on.
Obviously, China is a vast country and the likelihood of all Barefoot Doctors acting in the same way is very unlikely. During the cultural revolution in 1966, Chairman Mao attempted to harmonise Chinese Medicine and employed the best brains in the business to put together a standardised framework, which is what we now call Traditional Chinese Medicine. Some sceptics argue that this was a cynical attempt by Mao, a purported non-believer in TCM, to export Chinese Medicine in order to make money from the West. However, for anyone even vaguely familiar with the workings of TCM, you would know this would have constituted a massive investment of time and resource to come up with what some would have you believe is a complicated joke book.
Language and Culture
This then throws up a language and culture barrier. TCM uses language, concepts and references which are alien to our Western mindset.
It sounds, frankly, weird to the untrained ear – it has taken me several years to get comfortable and fluent in the terminology. I admit when I first heard someone being diagnosed with ‘an invasion of wind heat’ I thought ‘what is this nonsense I am paying thousands to learn?’, but once you understand the framework of this language, all of a sudden it makes perfect sense. Any profession uses jargon and vocabulary unique to itself – you only need to listen to the shipping forecast on BBC Radio 4 to know this. TCM is no different.
This post is one in a four part series on Traditional Chinese Medicine.
Part 1: What Is Traditional Chinese Medicine?
Part 2: The Evolution Of Traditional Chinese Medicine
Part 3: What is the Difference Between Western and Chinese Medicine?
