Can Traditional Chinese Medicine Continue to Grow and Evolve?
What prompted me to think about this question were some recent books I have been reading on the grand history of the rise and fall of "Huaxia/Chinese" civilization. Traditional Chinese medicine is a medical system that exists attached to the "Huaxia/Chinese" civilization; its origins and its rise and fall parallel those of "Huaxia/Chinese" civilization. There was a time when, as "Huaxia/China" loomed large in the world, TCM was taken up as an object of study and import by countries everywhere and flowed out across the globe. And when "Huaxia/China" fell behind and was beaten across the world, TCM was dismissed as stale, backward historical trash, and many radicals clamored to sweep it into the dustbin of history.
But, just like "Huaxia/Chinese" civilization, TCM has great resilience; however many setbacks and conquests it endures, it rises from the ashes. And after each rebirth, TCM is renewed, absorbing and taking in a great deal of new knowledge, achieving striking growth and development even as the torch is passed on. The key lies in a spirit, present in "Huaxia/Chinese" civilization from ancient times to today—the spirit Confucius described as "It is the person who broadens the Way, not the Way that broadens the person." This spirit has let Chinese culture remain free of dogmatism, adapting as the times develop, elucidating ancient meanings and fusing new knowledge. So, across the long river of history, TCM absorbed the essence of ancient Indian medicine, which came to China along with Buddhism, and the medical knowledge of the Islamic world, which came along the Silk Road, growing and developing again and again.
Only by not rejecting new blood can a civilization or a science break through itself again and again and achieve growth. Many ideas in TCM can be found echoed in Indian Ayurveda (Sanskrit for "the science of life," i.e., ancient Indian medicine). Many medicinals used in TCM also began flowing into China along the overseas trade routes from antiquity onward, and were then adopted by Chinese physicians—such as frankincense and myrrh from Africa and datura from India. This shows that TCM is an open medical system, constantly absorbing new knowledge from the outside.
But in its development, "Huaxia/Chinese" civilization more than once bred arrogance and closed-mindedness. The sinocentric cultural chauvinism represented especially by Han culture more than once hindered the march of "Huaxia/Chinese" civilization, causing the Chinese nation to be defeated by other peoples several times (as in the Uprising of the Five Barbarians, the Mongol Yuan, and the Manchu Qing), becoming the conquered and missing many fine opportunities for development. In the field of TCM, this narrow-mindedness manifests chiefly in the exclusivism of the "classical-formula TCM" school (also called the Han-Tang classical formula school, known in Japan as the Koho-ha).
Ancient Huaxia culture was limited to a very small region in the Yellow River basin, covering today's Shanxi, Shaanxi, and Henan. Neolithic "China" (if such a concept existed then) was no more than a small state formed from several tribes. Our ancestors continually expanded across the land of China, merging many peoples and even absorbing Middle Eastern and European peoples who migrated along the trade routes, gradually forming the great nation we have today. So China is different from the ethnically nation-states of Europe and from immigrant nations like the United States; China is a multi-ethnic fusion state that has historically expanded outward in ever-widening concentric circles. In the process of forming our people, we continually absorbed new cultural elements; the various elements competed and then fused, generating a new and more vital national culture.
One might say that the greatest strength of "Huaxia/Chinese" civilization is its all-embracing inclusiveness. In China's "all under heaven" worldview, there were originally no national or ethnic boundaries; the Huaxia people were glad to absorb whatever culture was more advanced than their own to promote their growth. Only in a limited few historical periods did we adopt a closed-door policy for political reasons, refusing new things from abroad—and every such attempt, without exception, brought about the decline of our civilization. And only a few sons of Huaxia were unambitious, arrogant, and stubborn. It was precisely under this enterprising spirit that China's metallurgy, textile, pottery, and medical arts advanced again and again, not only being emulated by every state in the Confucian cultural sphere, but also drawing the envy of royalty and nobility in Europe and the Middle East.
If TCM is to grow and develop in the new era, it must likewise uphold this spirit of ceaseless endeavor and all-embracing openness, drawing nourishment from modern science to push ancient Chinese medicine toward a more advanced and more precise direction. The idea in the Book of Rites—"If it is renewed on one day, then renew it day by day, and again renew it on the morrow"—expresses exactly the Chinese willingness to innovate. We in TCM must not cling to the old and refuse progress; as a wise person said, if you are not pursuing progress, then you are pursuing decline.
In a sense, the dream humanity has always pursued is precisely "the renewal of human culture day by day," and the rich humanistic thought of our Huaxia people is fully capable of bearing all kinds of innovation. From the Paleolithic Age to today, with the progress of civilization we are step by step freeing ourselves from the bonds of nature, gaining increasing mastery over our own destiny and health. In this process, medical progress has played an indispensable role; without it, humanity's mastery over its own health would be unimaginable.
So I believe that TCM can still grow and develop, advancing itself in the process of absorbing new knowledge. The various criticisms and censure TCM now suffers, and the resistance and attacks on new knowledge launched by the conservative forces within the TCM establishment—placed in the long river of history—are no more than insignificant ripples. The wheel of history rolls forward, and no one can stop its direction.