寻医问药-武医堂

Traditonal Chinese Medicine in the eyes of Westerners

‘High-tech’ Western Medicine (WM) and modern medical treatment are on one side and acupuncture, moxibustion, Tuina and herbal medicine on the other. These two approaches to health care have led to many heated discussions regarding the efficiency of TCM and the difference between the two.

Western countries have increasingly accepted TCM, putting emphasis on Chinese herbal research, in particular the preparation of medical herbs, as well as the more conventional acupuncture and massage, which have gained popularity among westerners in recent years. In contrast, growing numbers of Chinese people prefer going to hospitals offering western medical treatment. Many of them choose to take a western pill instead of herbal medicine because they cannot tolerate the smell of cooking herbal medicines and they believe that the cure is too slow.

There is a fundamental difference between WM and TCM. WM concentrates on treating the area where symptoms occur, whereas TCM focuses on the concept of balancing the entire body to regain and maintain good health. The fundamental theory of TCM is based on the principle of “Yin-Yang” balance. According to this theory, everything holds two opposite but mutually complementary aspects. "Yin" is associated with being dark, female, relatively static (negative) and "Yang" being bright, male, active (positive). The balanced body achieves harmony, which in turn gives strength to fight against diseases.

When treating diseases, TCM first takes into account the set of presenting symptoms to differentiate the syndrome related to the disease and then a treatment plan can be established. Generally speaking, TCM mainly focuses on chronic diseases and disease prevention, so herbs, nutrition, life style suggestions, acupuncture and Tuina are the main treatment tools of TCM. In contrast, Western Internal Medicine may look for pathogens (bacteria, viruses, and fungi) to eliminate whose strength is the intervention of acute and emergent diseases.

The language used in TCM is adopted from that of ancient Chinese philosophy and daily life. The functions of herbs and formulas are also described in these terms. TCM syndrome differentiation is based on the Eight Principles in order to determine the root cause and to analyze the condition of an illness. Moreover, The Five Elements theory and Zangfu-Organs theory are more abstract and philosophical. They provide an interesting perspective on the relationships and development of diseases.

The main diagnostic tools of TCM are as follows:

1. The Eight Principles: These principles permeate and underlie all diagnoses
     Exterior/ Interior          ·   Heat/ Cold
     Excess/ Deficiency      ·   Yin/ Yang

2. Six Evils or External Pathogenic Factors
    · Wind · Heat · Cold · Dampness · Dryness · Summer-heat

3. Methods Used to Gather the Clues for Diagnosing a Disease
   · Inspection - Observing
   · Listening and Smelling – Such as differentiating sounds (types of coughs, quality and power of the voice, etc) and scent.
   · Questioning –Getting disease’s condition, history and other useful facts from the patient.
    · Palpating – Feeling pulses and touching areas of the body.

4. The Collected Information is Analyzed According to:
   · The conflict between healthy Qi and evil Qi
   · Which organ in the Zangfu organ system is involved
   · Nature and strength of the pathogen and the condition of healthy Qi.
   · Severity or course of the disease

The difference between TCM and WM is nicely summarized by a foreign expert, and The following part is the comment on the difference of WM and TCM in his eyes.

“Ever seen that drawing of two silhouettes looking at each other? One moment you see two faces, the next moment, it’s a vase. Obviously it is just a matter of your perception or the way your brain links together visual clues.”

That's the difference between WM and TCM. Diagnosing the same patient with a breast lump, the western doctor will see either a cyst, lesion, fibroid or cancer, whereas the doctor of TCM will see a stagnation of Qi, Blood, or Phlegm. The western doctor will seek to prove the diagnosis with a biopsy of the hardened tissue. The TCM doctor will feel the pulse at the radial artery, which may feel ‘wiry’ or ‘kind of hard’, like a guitar string bouncing up and down beneath your fingers (as opposed to a normal pulse that feels softer and more flowing), observe the color and shape of the tongue (looking for purple in particular) with possibly a thick yellow coating. In addition, the TCM doctor will also look for other symptoms, which may appear unrelated to the diagnosis for a western doctor, such as a stuffy sensation in the chest, abdominal distention, irritability and frequent headache at the top or the sides of the head. These symptoms will allow the TCM doctor to establish and confirm the diagnosis of ‘Qi, Blood or Phlegm stagnation’. Consequently TCM and WC organize the information in very different way when facing the same patient with the same symptoms and signs.

One concept, central to the understanding of TCM in which the scientific world continues to find hard accepting is an internal substance that the Chinese call ‘Qi’ (pronounced ‘chee’, sometimes spelled "Chi"). A parallel concept for ‘Qi’ in the West, however, could be described as bio-electric energy. You cannot look at it under a microscope or detect it with any scientific instruments, nor can you isolate it from a substrate. One of the underlying philosophies of TCM is that everything in the universe can be described in terms of Yin or Yang. The Chinese characters for Yin and Yang literally means the sunny side of the hill and the shady side of the hill. Yin represents the feminine qualities in the universe, while Yang is the masculine qualities. When this concept is applied to generally comparing TCM and WM, WM is viewed as acting on the Yin of the body, that is, the actual cells and chemical substances that make up the body. In contrast, TCM works more on the energy that animates those cells.

Although WM and TCM are based on different theoretical systems, growing numbers of foreigners accept TCM and are interested in learning the art of practicing TCM. They believe acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicines are effective for some disorders, although not as broadly as claimed by its practitioners. There are, however, foreigners who do not believe and even reject TCM. Their criticisms can be summarized to three key issues: an archaic nonscientific language, research lacking double-blinded, placebo-controlled studies and a lack of modern scientific explanation of how it works.

Although from a WM viewpoint TCM has a long way to go before being widely accepted, we have inherited an established system that has benefited many people worldwide. We need to further develop the credibility of TCM so that it can stand up to its critics and continue to evolve and service humanity for another 2000 years!
 

5 ※<WORD AND expression_r>

acupuncture    n./v  针刺疗法
 
moxibustion    n. 艾灸
 
symptom        n. 症状
 
syndrome     n. 症候群, 综合征;（中医）证型
 
chronic     adj. 慢性的
 
acute       adj. [医]急性的; 敏锐的
 
nutrition      n. 营养, 营养学
 
pathogen     n. 病原体
 
fungus         n. 真菌; (复数) fungi or  funguses
 
pathogenic      adj. 致病的, 病原的
 
palpate       vt. 触诊
 
aggravate     vt. 使恶化, 加重
 
pychological    adj. 心理(上)的，心理学的
 
diagnosis      n. 诊断
 
silhouette      n. 侧面影象, 轮廓
 
cyst       n. 囊肿；[生物]包囊, 膀胱
 
lesion      n. 损害, 病变
 
fibroid      adj. 纤维性的, 纤维状的
 
biopsy      n. [医]活组织检查
 
radial        adj. 桡骨的; （ n. radius）
 
artery        n. 动脉
 
pulse         n. 脉搏，脉
 
coating       n. 舌苔
 
trauma       n. [医] 外伤, 损伤
 
acute
  adj. [医]急性的, 剧烈
 
microscope      n. 显微镜
 
substrate      n.  [生]培养基
 
archaic      adj. 古老的, 古代的, 陈旧的
 
placebo     n. 安慰剂
 
Notes:

1. Tuina：中国的推拿，用其拼音表示；但仍有不少人习惯采用massage: 按摩疗法这一词表示推拿。
 
2. herbal medicine: 草药 （herb 指药草），在此指代中药。
 
3. Traditional Chinese Medicine: 中医  （Chinese 在此不能省略，因各国有其传统的疗法，非仅中国有。）
 
4. Yin-Yang: 阴阳。（中医的“阴阳”采用音译法，大小写均可；同时中医中有些很难简短概括的术语也用拼音表示：如气Qi; 脏腑zangfu organs）
 
5. zangfu organs: 脏腑。“脏腑”一般采用音意结合法来翻译，zang-organs and fu-organs 或 zang-viscera and fu-viscera。也有采用意译为“solid and hollow organs”，但从使用频率来看，前者高于后者。
 
5. differentiate the syndrome  辩证

  syndrome 西医中为“综合症”的意思，而同时表示中医的“证”，“证”的常用表示还有：pattern, symptoms and signs, complex, etc.

   辩证论治的表达方法也很多，如常见的：treatment according to syndrome differentiation.
 
6. life style 生活方式
 
7. Eight Principles 八纲
 
8. exterior/ interior: 表里。中医中“表里”多用这一对词，但还有其他的表示方法；如 external/ internal

  excess/ deficiency: 实虚。表示虚实的还有其他方法将出现在后面的文章中。
 
9. six evils 六淫之邪 （另：evil为外国人比较常用的表示邪气的单词，,如six abnormal climatic factors）
 
10. healthy Qi and evil Qi  正气和邪气：(中医中正气与邪气的英文表示法并未统一，常用的除此之外还有：right/ righteous/ antipathogenic Qi or pathogen/ pathogenic Qi, etc)
 
11. stagnation of Qi, Blood, or Phlegm 气滞，血瘀或痰阻
 
12. radial artery    桡动脉
 
13. bio-electric energy  生物电能
 
14. double-blinded, placebo-controlled studies  双盲安慰剂对照研究 ( 若单盲可用single-blinded)

    control: v/n 对照   eg. 对照组 ~ group

 5 <EXERCISES>

Exercises:

I  Translate the following expression_rs and sentences into English.

1．辨证论治

2．八纲辨证

3．治标与治本

4．正邪相争

5．中药、针灸和推拿是中国传统医学的主要组成部分。

6．望闻问切是中医的四大诊断工具。

7．西医是科学，中医既是哲学，又是科学；西医把人看成一台机器；中医把人看成一个有机整体；西医仅仅是治疗；中医是预防和治疗。

II Answer the following questions:

1.       According to the author, what are conventional therapies? Take some for example.

2.       What are the advantages of WM and TCM in treating diseases respectively according to this article?

3.       How do WM and TCM differ from each other?

4.       What is the content of the Eight Principles of TCM?

5.       What are six evils?
 

5

※<FURTHER INFORMATION>

FURTHER INFORMATIONS： Classics of TCM

Huangdi’s canon of medicine or Yellow emperor’s inner classic  黄帝内经

Plain questions  素问   Miraculous pivot  灵枢

Canon of difficult issues  难经

Treatise on exogenous febrile disease and miscellaneous disease  伤寒杂病论

Treatise on exogenous febrile disease  伤寒论

Synopsis of prescriptions of golden chamber  金匮要略

General treatise on the causes and symptoms of diseases  诸病源候论

A-B classic of acupuncture and moxibustion  针灸甲乙经

Prescriptions worth a thousand gold for emergencies  千金要方

A supplement to the essential Prescriptions worth a thousand gold 千金翼方

Compendium of materia medica  本草纲目

Records of traditional Chinese and western medicine in combination  医学衷中参西录

Canon of pulse  脉经