Before Western medicine came to China, traditional Chinese medicine, a unique Chinese system of medicine, had been the major guarantee for people's health in the country for several thousand years. In modern times it is still a major means of health care for Chinese, and its advantage is especially shown in its solutions to some serious odd diseases which modern medicine fails to solve. Traditional Chinese medicine has its own concepts, means of diagnosis and treatment, and composition of drugs and preions, which are quite different from those of modem Western medicine. Its basic theory and practices were established as early as in the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods. Its philosophical basis is the principle of integration of man and nature. It regards the human body as a whole and man and nature as a whole, and believes any disorder of the human body reflects discord between man and nature, or the patient and the outside world.

 In the theory of traditional Chinese medicine, the human body contains five organs of zang (heart, liver, spleen, lungs, and kidneys) and six viscera of fu (gallbladder, stomach, small intestine, large intestine, san jiao, and bladder -san jiao refers to the three combinations: heart and lungs; spleen and stomach; and liver, kidneys, bladder, small intestine and large intestine). Each of the zang and fu has its own s, and also controls a certain aspect of the normal operations of the human body. The jing luo (meridian) system connects various parts of the human body, and allows qi (a vital substance that flows throughout the body), blood and fluids to circulate. Unlike the nervous system in Western medicine, the jing luo system is invisible, yet the mysterious channels and collaterals quite effectively in transmitting the vital substances. In traditional Chinese medicine, the various systems of the human body are closely and complexly related in a comprehensive life system, which s as a whole. This is the basis of the physiology and pathology of traditional Chinese medicine.

In diagnosis, traditional Chinese medicine relies on four methods: listening and smelling, inquiring, observing, and pulse-feeling. Listening and smelling: listen to the patient's voice, breathing and coughing, and smell order of the body and excretion products. Inquiring: ask about the patient's case history. Observing: observe the patient's mental state, facial expression, complexion, color of the tongue, fingers, and nails. Pulse-feeling: the doctor puts his index finger, middle finger and third finger on the wrist of the patient and feels the pulse to ascertain the symptoms and causes of the disorder according to the conditions of pulse: frequency, rhythm, fullness, evenness, and amplitude. Through the years Chinese doctors accumulated rich experience in pulse feeling. According to legend, a most experienced doctor could feel the pulse of a patient through a string.

In feudal times women of royal or noble families could not meet strange men face to face, let alone to be touched by a man. Therefore when such a woman fell ill, a string would be tied to her wrist for a doctor behind a screen to "feel" the pulse on the other end. The theory of yin and yang and the five elements, a complicated system of knowledge and methods, guides the diagnostic practice of traditional Chinese medicine. For instance, the symptoms of fever, extolment, quickened pulse, reddish skin and thirst belong to yang, while the symptoms of coldness in the hand and feet, pale skin, slowed pulse and weakness belong to yin. Yin and yang are interdependent and can also transform to the opposite. The patient's conditions are analyzed and differentiated in accordance with the eight principal syndromes: yin and yang, deficient and excessive, exterior and interior, and cold and heat. With the symptoms decided, medications are correspondingly prescribed to achieve best treatment. The five elements are wood, fire, l, water and earth. They are inter-promoting: wood promotes fire, fire promotes earth, earth promotes l, l promote water, and water in turn promotes wood. The five organs of zang and six viscera of fu are also classified by the five elements, and they are believed to influence each other.

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