Therapeutic wisdom in traditional Chinese medicine: A perspective from modern science

Extract: Misunderstanding usually stems from ignorance. This is the case for comments directed at each other by western medicine and traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). Modern biomedical scientists insist that herbal remedies need quality control, rigorous clinical trials, and illumination of active ingredients and their action mechanisms. In fact, almost all ever-increasing number of research projects on herbal medicine are being conducted based on this belief. Researchers often disrespect those so-called unique, seemingly inaccessible and ridiculous theories in traditional medicine. While, in the eyes of TCM doctors, most published articles about TCM in Western medicine journals haven't felt TCM's "pulse" yet. They thought that such studies are also ridiculous to focus only on herbal drugs instead of the thinking which guides drug's usage. This is like studying Vincent van Gogh's paintbrush instead of his thoughts about art expression. TCM experts are disgruntled with the demand and rebuke from western medicine. They believe the real efficacy and toxicity of herbal agents will not be adequately demonstrated using the present evaluation paradigm for single chemical compounds, since TCM does not focus solely on the disease defined by specific pathological changes (e.g., the level of blood pressure or sugar, the identifying of tumor cells or microorganisms, etc.) but instead concentrates on the overall functional state of the patient. However, because of TCM's classic naming systems, they can not convey their notions effectively to the field of the mainstream medicine.