Cash coins in traditional Chinese medicine

Cash coins in traditional Chinese medicine
The Kaiyuan Tongbao (開元通寳), the most desirable cash coin in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM).
Traditional Chinese中國古錢幣的"藥用價值"
Simplified Chinese中国古钱币的"药用价值”
Literal meaning"The "medicinal value" of ancient Chinese coins"
Transcriptions
Standard Mandarin
Hanyu PinyinZhōngguó gǔ qiánbì de "yào yòng jiàzhí"

The usage of cash coins in the pseudoscientific[1][2][3] practice of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) are primarily used in two main medical practices, notably coin rubbing[a] and the preparation of "coin teas". Coin rubbing is practiced by ethnic Han Chinese and others in many parts of Southeast Asia and is primarily used as a treatment for "hot" diseases and is related to the more familiar (to Western people) pseudoscientific practices of cupping therapy and acupuncture.[4]

Cash coins are category of ancient Chinese coinage which are typically round in shape and have a square central hole, these coins were used as the main currency of imperial China between 221 BC and 1912 AD. The use of cash coins in traditional medical treatments in China is well documented and has been described in medical textbooks as early as the Song dynasty period where physicians commonly used the Tang dynasty period Kaiyuan Tongbao cash coins to treat a variety of illnesses and maladies.

Cash coins are typically made of copper-alloys and contain various metals in their alloys such as tin and lead which all have medicinal applications in TCM. The uses of cash coins in TCM vary as they can be ingested, applied to wounds, used as a powder, rubbed against the body to treat supposed "hot" diseases, and made into medicinal teas. A Nature editorial described TCM as "fraught with pseudoscience", and said that the most obvious reason why it has not delivered many cures is that the majority of its treatments have no logical mechanism of action.[3]

The application of cash coins in traditional Chinese medicine exists independently from their usage in feng shui, the use of cash coin and cash coin-like amulets as "lucky charms", or their usage in traditional Chinese fortune telling.

  1. ^ Novella S (25 January 2012). "What Is Traditional Chinese Medicine?". Science-based Medicine. Archived from the original on 15 April 2014. Retrieved 14 April 2014.
  2. ^ Eigenschink, Michael; Dearing, Lukas; Dablander, Tom E.; Maier, Julian; Sitte, Harald H. (May 2020). "A critical examination of the main premises of Traditional Chinese Medicine". Wiener klinische Wochenschrift. 132 (9–10): 260–273. doi:10.1007/s00508-020-01625-w. PMC 7253514. PMID 32198544.
  3. ^ a b "Hard to swallow". Nature. 448 (7150): 105–6. July 2007. Bibcode:2007Natur.448S.105.. doi:10.1038/448106a. PMID 17625521. Constructive approaches to divining the potential usefulness of traditional therapies are to be welcomed. But it seems problematic to apply a brand new technique, largely untested in the clinic, to test the veracity of traditional Chinese medicine, when the field is so fraught with pseudoscience. In the meantime, claims made on behalf of an uncharted body of knowledge should be treated with the customary skepticism that is the bedrock of both science and medicine.
  4. ^ WALTERSPIEL, J. N., AND J. R. ROGERS (1987) Coin Rubbing and Acute Phase Reactants. Australian Paediatric Journal 23:310. Victoria, Australia.


Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).