Definition:
Traditional Chinese medicine is an ancient and still very vital holistic system of health and healing, based on the notion of harmony and balance, and employing the ideas of moderation and prevention.
History of Traditional Chinese Medicine * Chinese medicine is the third oldest form of medicine. The other two oldest are Egyptian and Babylonian. * Chinese medicine is traced back to three legendary emperors: Fu Xi, Shen Nong, and Huang Di. * Fu Xi created the eight trigrams and Yi Jing known as the Book of Changes. * * Shen Nong is known as the “Divine Cultivator” and “Divine Farmer” because he is known as founder of herbal medicine and taught people how to farm. He tested different kinds of plants by ingesting them himself to figure out the effect they would have on the body. There are no written records of Shen Nong’s discoveries, they are said to be passed down verbally from generation to generation. * Huang Di formed the first written documentation on traditional Chinese medicine known as Yellow Emperor’s Cannon of Internal Medicine or Huang Di Nei Jing. The book lays a primary foundation for the theories of Chinese medicine that covers the previous experience of treatment and theories of medicine. * The Zhou dynasty is the time when some of the most specific discoveries of Chinese medicine were made. * Yin and Yang * The five elements * The pathogenic factors of external environment as a
