62-450: San Jiao ("triple burner", or "triple energizer", or "triple heater") is a concept in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and acupuncture . It is the sixth organ of Fu, which is the hollow space inside the trunk of the body. In TCM, there are five solid organs and each solid organ has its counterpart in a hollow organ. For instance, the heart is considered a solid organ, and the small intestine its hollow counterpart, or Fu organ. San Jiao
124-530: A "gem". As of May 2011, in order to promote TCM worldwide, China had signed TCM partnership agreements with over 70 countries. His government pushed to increase its use and the number of TCM-trained doctors and announced that students of TCM would no longer be required to pass examinations in Western medicine. Chinese scientists and researchers, however, expressed concern that TCM training and therapies would receive equal support with Western medicine. They also criticized
186-528: A classificatory and mnemonic device to observe health problems and to reflect upon, store, and recover empirical knowledge," but they were also "subject to stultifying theoretical elaboration, self-deception, and dogmatism ." The doctrines of Chinese medicine are rooted in books such as the Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon and the Treatise on Cold Damage , as well as in cosmological notions such as yin–yang and
248-533: A largely 20th century invention. In the early twentieth century, Chinese cultural and political modernizers worked to eliminate traditional practices as backward and unscientific. Traditional practitioners then selected elements of philosophy and practice and organized them into what they called "Chinese medicine" (Chinese: 中医 Zhongyi ). In the 1950s, the Chinese government sought to revive traditional medicine (including legalizing previously banned practices) and sponsored
310-422: A range of motion, traction, and the stimulation of acupressure points. These techniques are claimed to aid in the treatment of both acute and chronic musculoskeletal conditions, as well as many non-musculoskeletal conditions. As with many other traditional Chinese medical practices, different schools vary in their approach to the discipline. In traditional Korean medicine it is known as chu na ( 推拏 ), and it
372-418: A reduction in government testing and regulation of the production of TCMs, some of which were toxic. Government censors have removed Internet posts that question TCM. In 2020 Beijing drafted a local regulation outlawing criticism of TCM. According to Caixin , the regulation was later passed with the provision outlawing criticism of TCM removed. At the beginning of Hong Kong 's opening up, Western medicine
434-495: A symbol of the Cultural Revolution, for the introduction of modern medicine into villages where traditional Chinese medicine services were used. The State Intellectual Property Office (now known as CNIPA ) established a database of patents granted for traditional Chinese medicine. In the second decade of the twenty-first century, Chinese Communist Party general secretary Xi Jinping strongly supported TCM, calling it
496-510: A tradition of more than 2,000 years, including various forms of herbal medicine , acupuncture, massage ( tui na ), exercise ( qigong ), and dietary therapy. It is primarily used as a complementary alternative medicine approach. TCM is widely used in China and it is also used in the West. Its philosophy is based on Yinyangism (i.e., the combination of Five Phases theory with Yin–Yang theory), which
558-501: Is a form of alternative medicine similar to shiatsu . As a branch of traditional Chinese medicine , it is often used in conjunction with acupuncture , moxibustion , fire cupping , Chinese herbalism , tai chi or other Chinese internal martial arts, and qigong . Tui na is a hands-on body treatment that uses Chinese Daoist principles in an effort to bring the eight principles of traditional Chinese medicine into balance. The practitioner may brush, knead, roll, press, and rub
620-468: Is also called "Eighty-One Nan". The book is based on basic theory and has also analyzed some disease certificates. Questions one to twenty-two is about pulse study, questions twenty-three to twenty-nine is about meridian study, questions thirty to forty-seven is related to urgent illnesses, questions forty-eight to sixty-one is related to serious diseases, questions sixty-two to sixty-eight is related to acupuncture points, and questions sixty-nine to eighty-one
682-541: Is also true the other way around, a point easily overlooked." TJ Hinrichs observes that people in modern Western societies divide healing practices into biomedicine for the body, psychology for the mind, and religion for the spirit, but these distinctions are inadequate to describe medical concepts among Chinese historically and to a considerable degree today. The medical anthropologist Charles Leslie writes that Chinese, Greco-Arabic, and Indian traditional medicines were all grounded in systems of correspondence that aligned
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#1732859465827744-550: Is an alternative medical practice drawn from traditional medicine in China. A large share of its claims are pseudoscientific , with the majority of treatments having no robust evidence of effectiveness or logical mechanism of action . Medicine in traditional China encompassed a range of sometimes competing health and healing practices, folk beliefs , literati theory and Confucian philosophy , herbal remedies , food , diet, exercise, medical specializations, and schools of thought. TCM as it exists today has been described as
806-447: Is believed to be a body cavity of some kind which has the ability to influence other organs, and overall health, mainly through the free movement of Qi , the fundamental energy or life force on the microcosm and on the macrocosm it is associated with the interactions between The Heavens, humans and earth. San Jiao means "triple burner". The upper burner relates to organs the Heart, lungs in
868-689: Is called "Traditional Chinese Medicine" and practiced today in China and the West is not thousands of years old, but recently constructed using selected traditional terms, some of which have been taken out of context, some badly misunderstood. He has criticized Chinese and Western popular books for selective use of evidence , choosing only those works or parts of historical works that seem to lead to modern medicine, ignoring those elements that do not now seem to be effective. Critics say that TCM theory and practice have no basis in modern science , and TCM practitioners do not agree on what diagnosis and treatments should be used for any given person. A 2007 editorial in
930-568: Is currently no evidence that the Shang nobility used herbal remedies. Stone and bone needles found in ancient tombs led Joseph Needham to speculate that acupuncture might have been carried out in the Shang dynasty. This being said, most historians now make a distinction between medical lancing (or bloodletting ) and acupuncture in the narrower sense of using metal needles to attempt to treat illnesses by stimulating points along circulation channels ("meridians") in accordance with beliefs related to
992-528: Is one of the earliest written medical books in China. Written during the Eastern Han dynasty between 200 and 250 CE, it was the combined effort of practitioners in the Qin and Han dynasties who summarized, collected and compiled the results of pharmacological experience during their time periods. It was the first systematic summary of Chinese herbal medicine. Most of the pharmacological theories and compatibility rules and
1054-454: Is related to the needlepoint methods. The book is credited as developing its own path, while also inheriting the theories from Huangdi Neijing. The content includes physiology, pathology, diagnosis, treatment contents, and a more essential and specific discussion of pulse diagnosis. It has become one of the four classics for Chinese medicine practitioners to learn from and has impacted the medical development in China. Shennong Ben Cao Jing
1116-502: Is widely used in the Sinosphere . One of the basic tenets is that the body's qi is circulating through channels called meridians having branches connected to bodily organs and functions. There is no evidence that meridians or vital energy exist. Concepts of the body and of disease used in TCM reflect its ancient origins and its emphasis on dynamic processes over material structure, similar to
1178-636: The Treatise on Cold Damage Disorders and the Essential Prescriptions of the Golden Casket , which were edited separately in the eleventh century, under the Song dynasty . Nanjing or "Classic of Difficult Issues", originally called "The Yellow Emperor Eighty-one Nan Jing", ascribed to Bian Que in the eastern Han dynasty . This book was compiled in the form of question-and-answer explanations. A total of 81 questions have been discussed. Therefore, it
1240-608: The Inner Canon and developed a complete medical system centered on needling therapy. The AB Canon of Acupuncture and Moxibustion ( Zhenjiu jiayi jing 針灸甲乙經 , compiled by Huangfu Mi sometime between 256 and 282 CE) assembled a consistent body of doctrines concerning acupuncture; whereas the Canon of the Pulse ( Maijing 脈經 ; c. 280) presented itself as a "comprehensive handbook of diagnostics and therapy." Around 900–1000 AD, Chinese were
1302-607: The Tung Wah Hospital was established in Hong Kong in 1869 based on the widespread rejection of Western medicine for pre-existing medical practices, although Western medicine would still be practiced in the hospital alongside Chinese medicinal practices. The Tung Wah Hospital was likely connected to another Chinese medical institution, the Kwong Wai Shiu Hospital of Singapore, which had previous community links to Tung Wah,
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#17328594658271364-555: The five phases . The "Documentation of Chinese materia medica" (CMM) dates back to around 1,100 BCE when only a few dozen drugs were described. By the end of the 16th century, the number of drugs documented had reached close to 1,900. And by the end of the last century, published records of CMM had reached 12,800 drugs." Starting in the 1950s, these precepts were standardized in the People's Republic of China, including attempts to integrate them with modern notions of anatomy and pathology . In
1426-405: The humoral theory of ancient Greece and ancient Rome . The demand for traditional medicines in China was a major generator of illegal wildlife smuggling , linked to the killing and smuggling of endangered animals . However, Chinese authorities have in recent years cracked down on illegal wildlife smuggling, and the industry has increasingly turned to cultivated alternatives. Scholars in
1488-566: The 1950s, the Chinese government promoted a systematized form of TCM. Traces of therapeutic activities in China date from the Shang dynasty (14th–11th centuries BCE). Though the Shang did not have a concept of "medicine" as distinct from other health practices, their oracular inscriptions on bones and tortoise shells refer to illnesses that affected the Shang royal family: eye disorders, toothaches, bloated abdomen, and such. Shang elites usually attributed them to curses sent by their ancestors. There
1550-543: The 1970s from the Mawangdui tomb that had been sealed in 168 BCE, the Inner Canon rejected the influence of spirits and the use of magic. It was also one of the first books in which the cosmological doctrines of Yinyang and the Five Phases were brought to a mature synthesis. The Treatise on Cold Damage Disorders and Miscellaneous Illnesses (Shang Han Lun) was collated by Zhang Zhongjing sometime between 196 and 220 CE; at
1612-460: The Chinese philosopher Zhang Gongyao triggered a national debate with an article entitled "Farewell to Traditional Chinese Medicine", arguing that TCM was a pseudoscience that should be abolished in public healthcare and academia. The Chinese government took the stance that TCM is a science and continued to encourage its development. There are concerns over a number of potentially toxic plants, animal parts, and mineral Chinese compounds, as well as
1674-467: The Five Elements, but also of the "Great Numbers" ( 大數 ; dà shū ) For example, the number of acu-points has at times been seen to be 365, corresponding with the number of days in a year; and the number of main meridians–12–has been seen as corresponding with the number of rivers flowing through the ancient Chinese empire . Tui na Tui na ( [tʰwéɪ.nǎ] ; Chinese : 推拿 )
1736-567: The Five Phase theory, were used to explain health and disease in texts such as Huangdi neijing . Yin and yang are the changing factors in cosmology, with qi as the vital force or energy of life. The Five Phase theory ( Wuxing ) of the Han dynasty contains the elements wood, fire, earth, metal, and water. By understanding medicine from a cosmology perspective, historians better understand Chinese medical and social classifications such as gender, which
1798-703: The History of Medicine . Ian Johnson says, on the other hand, that the English-language term "traditional Chinese medicine" was coined by "party propagandists" in 1955. Nathan Sivin criticizes attempts to treat medicine and medical practices in traditional China as if they were a single system. Instead, he says, there were 2,000 years of "medical system in turmoil" and speaks of a "myth of an unchanging medical tradition". He urges that "Traditional medicine translated purely into terms of modern medicine becomes partly nonsensical, partly irrelevant, and partly mistaken; that
1860-401: The areas between each of the joints, known as the eight gates, to attempt to open the body's defensive qi ( wei qi ) and get the energy moving in the meridians and the muscles. Techniques may be gentle or quite firm. The name comes from two of the actions: tui means "to push" and na means "to lift and squeeze." Other strokes include shaking and tapotement . The practitioner can then use
1922-487: The basic tenets of TCM is that the body's qi (sometimes translated as vital energy ) is circulating through channels called meridians having branches connected to bodily organs and functions. The concept of vital energy is pseudoscientific. Concepts of the body and of disease used in TCM reflect its ancient origins and its emphasis on dynamic processes over material structure, similar to Classical humoral theory . TCM has also been controversial within China. In 2006,
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1984-454: The circulation of "Qi". The earliest evidence for acupuncture in this sense dates to the second or first century BCE. The Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon ( Huangdi Neijing ) , the oldest received work of Chinese medical theory, was compiled during the Han dynasty around the first century BCE on the basis of shorter texts from different medical lineages. Written in the form of dialogues between
2046-730: The colonial and feudal past. The government established a grassroots health care system as a step in the search for a new national identity and tried to revitalize traditional medicine and made large investments in traditional medicine to try to develop affordable medical care and public health facilities. The Ministry of Health directed health care throughout China and established primary care units. Chinese physicians trained in Western medicine were required to learn traditional medicine, while traditional healers received training in modern methods. This strategy aimed to integrate modern medical concepts and methods and revitalize appropriate aspects of traditional medicine. Therefore, traditional Chinese medicine
2108-505: The efficacy of any Traditional Medicine intervention." A 2012 review of cost-effectiveness research for TCM found that studies had low levels of evidence , with no beneficial outcomes. Pharmaceutical research on the potential for creating new drugs from traditional remedies has few successful results. Proponents suggest that research has so far missed key features of the art of TCM, such as unknown interactions between various ingredients and complex interactive biological systems. One of
2170-450: The end of the Han dynasty. Focusing on drug prescriptions rather than acupuncture, it was the first medical work to combine Yinyang and the Five Phases with drug therapy. This formulary was also the earliest public Chinese medical text to group symptoms into clinically useful "patterns" ( zheng 證 ) that could serve as targets for therapy. Having gone through numerous changes over time, the formulary now circulates as two distinct books:
2232-466: The facilitation of disease. Trafficked and farm-raised animals used in TCM are a source of several fatal zoonotic diseases . There are additional concerns over the illegal trade and transport of endangered species including rhinoceroses and tigers, and the welfare of specially farmed animals, including bears. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is a broad range of medicine practices sharing common concepts which have been developed in China and are based on
2294-433: The first to develop a form of vaccination, known as variolation or inoculation , to prevent smallpox . Chinese physicians had realised that when healthy people were exposed to smallpox scab tissue, they had a smaller chance of being infected by the disease later on. The common methods of inoculation at the time was through crushing smallpox scabs into powder and breathing it through the nose. Prominent medical scholars of
2356-475: The healing strategies of the practitioner was unique every time to the specific diagnosis of the patient. Medical case studies existed throughout Chinese history, but "individually authored and published case history" was a prominent creation of the Ming dynasty. An example such case studies would be the literati physician, Cheng Congzhou, collection of 93 cases published in 1644. Historians of science have developed
2418-468: The history of medicine in China distinguish its doctrines and practice from those of present-day TCM. J. A. Jewell and S. M. Hillier state that the term "Traditional Chinese Medicine" became an established term due to the work of Dr. Kan-Wen Ma, a Western-trained medical doctor who was persecuted during the Cultural Revolution and immigrated to Britain, joining the University of London's Wellcome Institute for
2480-465: The human body is opposed to the European duality of a separate mind and body. It is critical for scholars to understand the fundamental differences in concepts of the body in order to connect the medical theory of the classics to the "human organism" it is explaining. Chinese scholars established a correlation between the cosmos and the "human organism". The basic components of cosmology, qi, yin yang and
2542-522: The integration of TCM and Western medicine, and in the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s, promoted TCM as inexpensive and popular. The creation of modern TCM was largely spearheaded by Mao Zedong , despite the fact that, according to The Private Life of Chairman Mao , he did not believe in its effectiveness. After the opening of relations between the United States and China after 1972, there
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2604-454: The journal Nature wrote that TCM "remains poorly researched and supported, and most of its treatments have no logical mechanism of action ." It also described TCM as "fraught with pseudoscience ". A review of the literature in 2008 found that scientists are "still unable to find a shred of evidence" according to standards of science-based medicine for traditional Chinese concepts such as qi , meridians, and acupuncture points, and that
2666-404: The legendary Yellow Emperor and his ministers, it offers explanations on the relation between humans, their environment, and the cosmos , on the contents of the body, on human vitality and pathology, on the symptoms of illness, and on how to make diagnostic and therapeutic decisions in light of all these factors. Unlike earlier texts like Recipes for Fifty-Two Ailments , which was excavated in
2728-483: The organization of society, the universe, and the human body and other forms of life into an "all-embracing order of things". Each of these traditional systems was organized with such qualities as heat and cold, wet and dry, light and darkness, qualities that also align the seasons, compass directions, and the human cycle of birth, growth, and death. They provided, Leslie continued, a "comprehensive way of conceiving patterns that ran through all of nature," and they "served as
2790-483: The post-Han period included Tao Hongjing (456–536), Sun Simiao of the Sui and Tang dynasties, Zhang Jiegu ( c. 1151 –1234), and Li Shizhen (1518–1593). Chinese communities living in colonial port cities were influenced by the diverse cultures they encountered, which also led to evolving understandings of medical practices where Chinese forms of medicine were combined with Western medical knowledge. For example,
2852-565: The president of the Chinese Medical Association said that, "This One Medicine, will possess a basis in modern natural sciences, will have absorbed the ancient and the new, the Chinese and the foreign, all medical achievements – and will be China's New Medicine!" During the Cultural Revolution (1966–1976) the CCP and the government emphasized modernity, cultural identity and China's social and economic reconstruction and contrasted them to
2914-614: The proposed "seven emotions and harmony" principle have played a role in the practice of medicine for thousands of years. Therefore, it has been a textbook for medical workers in modern China. The full text of Shennong Ben Cao Jing in English can be found online. In the centuries that followed, several shorter books tried to summarize or systematize the contents of the Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon . The Canon of Problems (probably second century CE) tried to reconcile divergent doctrines from
2976-484: The relationships between the Five Phases in terms of sequence, of acting on each other, of counteraction, etc. All these aspects of Five Phases theory constitute the basis of the zàng-fǔ concept, and thus have great influence regarding the TCM model of the body. Five Phase theory is also applied in diagnosis and therapy. Correspondences between the body and the universe have historically not only been seen in terms of
3038-433: The study of medicine in traditional China into a field with its own scholarly associations, journals, graduate programs, and debates with each other. Many distinguish "medicine in traditional China" from the recent traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), which took elements from traditional texts and practices to construct a systematic body. Paul Unschuld, for instance, sees a "departure of TCM from its historical origins." What
3100-429: The term 身 , and observing the history from the perspective of cosmology rather than biology. In Chinese classical texts, the term 身 is the closest historical translation to the English word "body" because it sometimes refers to the physical human body in terms of being weighed or measured, but the term is to be understood as an "ensemble of functions" encompassing both the human psyche and emotions. This concept of
3162-444: The thorax and the breathing function therefore relates to Heaven. The middle burner relates to the organs top of the stomach, the spleen, liver and the digesting function, therefore belongs to Human. The lower burner relates to the organs below the abdomen, Kidneys, Bladder and the urogenital functions, therefore belongs to Earth. If the triple burner function well, then the organs are in harmony. According to traditional Chinese medicine,
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#17328594658273224-500: The traditional principles of acupuncture are deeply flawed. "Acupuncture points and meridians are not a reality", the review continued, but "merely the product of an ancient Chinese philosophy". In June 2019, the World Health Organization included traditional Chinese medicine in a global diagnostic compendium, but a spokesman said this was "not an endorsement of the scientific validity of any Traditional Medicine practice or
3286-531: The triple burner is essential in transporting fluids throughout the body, removing itching and heat, treating swellings, and overcoming problems with various organs. This article about alternative medicine is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Traditional Chinese medicine Model humanity: Main philosophical traditions: Ritual traditions: Devotional traditions: Salvation churches and sects : Confucian churches and sects: Traditional Chinese medicine ( TCM )
3348-410: The universe can be divided into. Primordial analogies for these aspects are the sun-facing (yang) and the shady (yin) side of a hill. Two other commonly used representational allegories of yin and yang are water and fire. In the yin–yang theory , detailed attributions are made regarding the yin or yang character of things: The concept of yin and yang is also applicable to the human body; for example,
3410-633: The upper part of the body and the back are assigned to yang, while the lower part of the body is believed to have the yin character. Yin and yang characterization also extends to the various body functions, and – more importantly – to disease symptoms (e.g., cold and heat sensations are assumed to be yin and yang symptoms, respectively). Thus, yin and yang of the body are seen as phenomena whose lack (or over-abundance) comes with characteristic symptom combinations: TCM also identifies drugs believed to treat these specific symptom combinations, i.e., to reinforce yin and yang. Strict rules are identified to apply to
3472-633: Was defined by a domination or remission of yang in terms of yin. These two distinctions are imperative when analyzing the history of traditional Chinese medical science. A majority of Chinese medical history written after the classical canons comes in the form of primary source case studies where academic physicians record the illness of a particular person and the healing techniques used, as well as their effectiveness. Historians have noted that Chinese scholars wrote these studies instead of "books of prescriptions or advice manuals;" in their historical and environmental understanding, no two illnesses were alike so
3534-572: Was established for similar reasons and also provided both Western and Chinese medical care. By 1935, English-language newspapers in Colonial Singapore already used the term "Traditional Chinese Medicine" to label Chinese ethnic medical practices. In 1950, Chinese Communist Party (CCP) chairman Mao Zedong announced support of traditional Chinese medicine; this was despite the fact that Mao did not personally believe in and did not use TCM, according to his personal physician Li Zhisui . In 1952,
3596-512: Was great interest in the West for what is now called traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). TCM is said to be based on such texts as Huangdi Neijing (The Inner Canon of the Yellow Emperor), and Compendium of Materia Medica , a sixteenth-century encyclopedic work, and includes various forms of herbal medicine , acupuncture , cupping therapy , gua sha , massage (tui na) , bonesetter (die-da) , exercise (qigong) , and dietary therapy. TCM
3658-435: Was later absorbed by Daoism . Philosophical texts influenced TCM, mostly by being grounded in the same theories of qi , yin-yang and wuxing and microcosm-macrocosm analogies. Yin and yang are ancient Chinese deductive reasoning concepts used within Chinese medical diagnosis which can be traced back to the Shang dynasty (1600–1100 BCE). They represent two abstract and complementary aspects that every phenomenon in
3720-612: Was not regulated. The establishment in 1870 of the Tung Wah Hospital was the first use of Chinese medicine for the treatment in Chinese hospitals providing free medical services. As the promotion of Western medicine by the British government started from 1940, Western medicine started being popular among Hong Kong population. In 1959, Hong Kong had researched the use of traditional Chinese medicine to replace Western medicine. Historians have noted two key aspects of Chinese medical history: understanding conceptual differences when translating
3782-437: Was not yet popular, and Western medicine doctors were mostly foreigners; local residents mostly relied on Chinese medicine practitioners. In 1841, the British government of Hong Kong issued an announcement pledging to govern Hong Kong residents in accordance with all the original rituals, customs and private legal property rights. As traditional Chinese medicine had always been used in China, the use of traditional Chinese medicine
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#17328594658273844-478: Was re-created in response to Western medicine. In 1968, the CCP supported a new system of health care delivery for rural areas. Villages were assigned a barefoot doctor (a medical staff with basic medical skills and knowledge to deal with minor illnesses) responsible for basic medical care. The medical staff combined the values of traditional China with modern methods to provide health and medical care to poor farmers in remote rural areas. The barefoot doctors became
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