| Traditional Chinese medicine | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Chinese name | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 中醫 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 中医 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Literal meaning | 'Chinese medicine' | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Vietnamese name | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Vietnamese alphabet |
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| Hán-Nôm |
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| Korean name | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Hangul | 중의학 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Hanja | 中醫學 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Japanese name | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Hiragana | かんぽう | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Shinjitai | 漢方 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Major cultural forms
Main philosophical traditions: Ritual traditions: Devotional traditions:
 Confucian churches and sects: |
Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) 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.[1][2]
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.[3] TCM as it exists today has been described as a largely 20th century invention.[4] 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).[5] In the 1950s, the Chinese government sought to revive traditional medicine (including legalizing previously banned practices) and sponsored the integration of TCM and Western medicine,[6][7] and in the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s, promoted TCM as inexpensive and popular.[8] The creation of modern TCM was largely spearheaded by Mao Zedong, despite the fact he did not believe in its effectiveness.[4] After the opening of relations between the United States and China after 1972, there was great interest in the West for what is now called traditional Chinese medicine (TCM).[9]
TCM is said to be based on such texts as Huangdi Neijing (The Inner Canon of the Yellow Emperor),[10] 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 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.[11] 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 the humoral theory of ancient Greece and ancient Rome.[12]
The demand for traditional medicines in China was a major generator of illegal wildlife smuggling, linked to the killing and smuggling of endangered animals.[13] However, Chinese authorities have in recent years cracked down on illegal wildlife smuggling, and the industry has increasingly turned to cultivated alternatives.[14][15]
- ^ 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.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
swallowwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Andrews (2013b), pp. 10–17.
- ^ a b "No, Traditional Chinese Medicine Has Not Been Vindicated by Science". Office for Science and Society. Retrieved 28 June 2024.
- ^ Lei (2014), pp. 97–120.
- ^ Taylor (2005), pp. 30–36.
- ^ "The World Health Organization Has a Pseudoscience Problem". Office for Science and Society. Retrieved 28 June 2024.
- ^ "中醫的發明和國族認同有關係？文化大革命對「傳統中醫學」的影響". 故事 StoryStudio. 7 April 2019. Retrieved 30 April 2024.
- ^ Taylor (2005), pp. 138–141.
- ^ Huangdi Neijing: A Synopsis with Commentaries. The Chinese University of Hong Kong Press. 3 November 2010. ISBN 978-962-996-927-1. Archived from the original on 11 November 2023. Retrieved 30 October 2023.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
Quackwatchwas invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ Cite error: The named reference
Novella2012was invoked but never defined (see the help page). - ^ "As China pushes traditional medicine globally, illegal wildlife trade flourishes". Reuters. 28 March 2019. Archived from the original on 20 October 2021. Retrieved 20 October 2021.
- ^ "Campaign cracks down on illegal wildlife trade".
- ^ "Chinese authorities cracked down on nearly 12,000 wildlife crime cases in three months - Wildlife Trade News from TRAFFIC".