The History of Traditional Chinese Medicine, An Introduction

The history of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is long and rich, and TCM is the third oldest form of medicine compared to the Egyptian and Babylonian medicine. The fact that TCM has existed for thousands of years, and TCM is still being used today is a testimonial to its value as a form of healthcare.

The isolation of China by the world in directly limits the development of TCM in other parts world. However, with the opening of China in 1972, TCM has been spreading like wild fire to many Western and European countries. TCM's practice has been shaped over time by the many factors such as culture, philosophy, politics, religion, and science and many much more ...

Today, we have China as one united country, but this is only recently. Throughout history, China was made up of many states, many rulers, that were often at war with each other and they repeatedly united and divided. These states were ruled by dynasties and they were often living in feudalistic societies.

In the development of TCM over the years, there was no sequential build up of knowledge based on the previous dynasty's contributions. How each individual practiced TCM was influenced largely by his teacher's views. Even in today context, we will see these differences. For example, different TCM practitioners may prescribe a person with the same symptoms different herbal remedies, but each herbal remedy will cure the symptoms even though they have different ingredients. The success of the treatment is measured through the experience of the TCM practitioners, observation and how the patient feels.

TCM plays a very important role in today's medicine. It is important to understand TCM through history and this will gives further insight to this ancient form of medicine and establishes its validity as a healthcare system.TCM plays a very important part in the history of medicine. Understanding TCM through a historical context gives an insight to this ancient form of medicine and establishes its validity as a healthcare system.