Traditional Chinese Medicine- part 1

中醫學

A large part of alternative veterinary medicine and much of its philosophical foundations base themselves on a rather loose jumble of historical Chinese theories that concerned themselves with the universe and humanities role in it. Many of these systems had their own unique take on diseases and to how treat them.

If you look at the span of time from ancient to modern day China one notes a fascinating and irregular waxing and waning of effective medical progress. Periods of “endarkenment” intermingled with those of “enlightment” where literally dozens of medical paradigms –like the faddism of today- came and went. That most of these practices represented medicine in the pre-scientific age is often not considered by many of its western proponents.

Many Complementary, Alternative or Integrative Veterinary Medicine (CAIVM) supporters seem to have cherry picked and modified ideas from one or another of these archaic nonmedical/beliefs based systems and gathered them under a broad conceptual umbrella called “Traditional Chinese Medicine” (TCM).

It is interesting to note that modern China is rapidly entering an increasingly scientific era regarding medicine and the country as a whole is experiencing an age of unprecedented growth and modernization transforming itself in the process.

During the recent transnational world congress on Scientific Inquiry and Human Well-Being in Beijing, Ren Fujan, professor at three Chinese universities and executive director of the China Research Institute for Science Popularization noted that “China is now in a great flourish of development in science popularization.” As it struggles with major growth pains, it appears resolute in advancing society with science based methodologies while leaving behind superstition and other archaic belief systems- including those used in medicine.

On the other hand, there are those in the west that pretend to separate medicine instead of considering it of one body. With this in mind, it is important to have a better historical context of Traditional Chinese Medicine. The root of much of the alternative veterinary movement grows from many of these socio-cultural events.

A History Revealed

"How did you get your clothes so clean?...
....Why, it's an ancient Chinese secret!"
Calgon Commercial (circa 1973)

Years ago, a television add parodied the illusion of magic while promoting a cleaning product. Although it was a promotion for a clothes detergent, the skit humorously played on the rediscovered allure the West had for the mysterious orient.

This famous (or infamous) add reflected the remarkable events occurring at the time in the US during the early 1970's. The anti-institutional "Flower Power" decade of the 1960's and its societal effects still reverberated throughout the country. The ongoing Vietnam War served as a backdrop to pacifist protests such as the disastrous Kent State Massacre. The Watergate scandal was just beginning to unfold and would help to push the entire country towards profound levels of disillusionment.

The timing was just right to introduce "other ways of knowing" as the national consciousness yearned for relief and comfort. It is not hard then to imagine, that when President Nixon took his unprecedented trip to the Peoples Republic of China in 1972 the nations interest and attention turned towards things Chinese.

Enter a president eager to demonstrate effectiveness, a naive western media, and a strained "proletariat" communist party keen on representing its uniqueness, stability, and power to the world. Like a perfect storm, these swirling events coalesced into a golden moment capturing the ever fickle US curiosity.

Here the Chinese delegates, knowingly or not, played an ingeniously subtle card capitalizing on China's long history and presented the concept of a unified "Chinese version" of medicine. It was represented as all encompassing, highly effective and based on ancient tradition. The West took the bait hook, line, and sinker!

Hence, was born the seeds of our present day conceptualization of Traditional Chinese Medicine. The smoldering embers of public interest of the unknown were fanned into flame as a new wave of popular fascination took hold of the West. There followed a virtual explosion of thought, theory, publications, seminars, gurus, and wise men that promulgated profound universal concepts that professed salvation based on "ancient Chinese secrets". Traditional Chinese Medicine was the panacea to a perceived cold and impersonal Western style of practicing medicine.

However, fundamental misconceptions of Traditional Chinese Medicine fomented then have, for the last several decades, taken a firm grip on the Western imagination, growing and propagating as allegedly factual.

Some of these alleged facts include the impression that Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is a historically coherent and unified practice, that it is the only or mostly used medical practice in China and that TCM is made up of a large body of well researched "alternative" therapies having similar or equal efficacy to modern Western medicine.

That none of these facts bear out under scrutiny underscores the need to discuss what the actual historical record and evidential data reveal. The next post will touch on the first two points. The efficacy of TCM “alternative” therapies will be considered in due course as this blog posts on specific therapeutic modalities (i.e.; acupuncture, pulse diagnosis, herbal medicine, vitalism).

Traditional Chinese Medicine-part 2