[Edward H. Hume's understanding of traditional Chinese medicine]

Edward H. Hume is widely known for his "empathy and understanding" of traditional Chinese medicine because of his autobiography Doctors East, Doctors West, and monograph The Chinese Way of Medicine. It was found that the following multiple factors contributed to his understanding of traditional Chinese medicine by examining the cross-cultural experiences of Hume in India, China, and the United States. Hume's classical education background and his Indian experience constituted his foresight and acceptance of traditional Chinese medicine culture before he came to China. The conflict between traditional Chinese medicine and western medicine in his clinical experience in Changsha drove him to confront and begin to learn traditional Chinese medicine. With the rising of medical history in China and the United States, his interactions with Chinese medical historians pushed forward his research of Chinese medical history and made him disseminate traditional Chinese medicine to the world. His main source of knowledge for his affirmation and appraisal of the historical achievements of traditional Chinese medicine came from some writings by Chinese medical scholars in English, in particular, from the works of Professor K. C. Wong. Another source of Hume's knowledge of understanding traditional Chinese medicine philosophically and culturally came from the growing research of Sinology development in America at that time.