TCM Chat ⁽⁹⁶⁾

Having treated disease for a long time and dealt with many patients, I sometimes cannot help but sigh: the patient is far harder to treat than the disease. It is especially difficult when treating patients who come to Chinese medicine. The biggest hurdle is that…

The decline of traditional Chinese medicine is already irreversible. Many TCM fans think that traditional Chinese medicine is still preserved in Japan, but in fact the once-splendid streets of Japanese kampo medicine have today become pure tourist attractions. Ever since Western medicine entered Japan, Chinese…

There are now many glib talkers in the TCM world who readily use the phrase "cancer was long ago conquered by Chinese medicine" to fool patients and their families, in pursuit of their own ulterior motives. They mislead patients and their families, delay the best…

China is a populous and diverse country, and it is not easy to make yourself heard there; unless you hold an extreme view and shout it from the rooftops, few people will pay attention. After Professor Tu Youyou won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or…

The Shanghan Lun (Treatise on Cold Damage) is one of the TCM classics; its full name is Shanghan Zabing Lun (Treatise on Cold Damage and Miscellaneous Diseases), comprising the Shanghan Lun and the Jinkui Yaolue (Essentials of the Golden Cabinet). Zhang Zhongjing's Shanghan Lun raised…

Today, the most exciting news for Chinese people is that the pharmacologist of Chinese materia medica Tu Youyou has won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. This is the first time a scientist based in China has won a Nobel science prize. The Nobel…

After my son caught a cold, his tonsils and epiglottis suddenly became inflamed and swollen with a fierce onset; swallowing food and water was difficult. This is what TCM calls 'throat moth' (hou e) or 'throat bi' (hou bi). The throat is a critical pass…

Since I began studying medicine on my own, I have read many books; a few statements have left a deep impression. The most important one is something Professor Zhao Shaoqin mentioned about how his father, Zhao Wenkui—who had been director of the Imperial Medical Academy…

Recent news reports about various "masters" have set me thinking: what is the deep reason for their existence? The exposed masters have almost all been concentrated in traditional Chinese culture—Chinese medicine, qigong, even fortune-telling—areas in which I myself am now quite interested. Taking others as…

I rarely involve myself in the dispute between Chinese and Western medicine, because that dispute, like disputes of faith, is unlikely through all the arguing to produce any result that changes either side's position. In other words, after all the back-and-forth, one finds one has…