a crash course in Traditional Chinese Medicine

Who knew that the color or shape or coating of one's tongue are all important indicators in diagnosing illness? Or that there are 28 different kinds of pulses? I certainly didn't.

The first four weeks of my studies here have been devoted to Chinese language, of course, but also to what is called Traditional Chinese Medicine, emphasis on traditional. TCM is a collection of practices, traditions, that date back thousands of years.

The basic theories of TCM center on the relationship between yin and yang and the presence of qi in the body. Yin, which translates to "cloudy" relates to things that are cold, dim, static, internal, and downward; Yang, which translates to "sun" relates to things that are warm, bright, active, external and upward. All things in the universe can be classified as one or the other.

Yin and yang are in a constant state of ebb and flow, as one waxes, the other wanes. As long as there is a balance in the body between these two elements, a person experiences good health.

A disease that is associated with excess heat (either too much yang or too little yin) is treated with herbs that will either decrease yang or increase yin. Simple, right?


Except that from these simple suppositions come a series of convoluted of explanations for every phenomena in the body. And even after explanations from doctors who have studied this discipline for years, I still can't wrap my head around the claim that blood originates in the spleen and not in bone marrow.

Now, I know I don't have the medical knowledge to prove that blood is, in fact, produced in bone marrow, but having been indoctrinated into Western Medicine, that's just what I've always been taught.

I have yet to resolve this in my own mind. The class is nearing the end, and we've only just scratched the surface. Is TCM fact or fiction? Or perhaps something in between? I can't answer that. Neither could, I imagine, the TCM doctors that have been my teachers for the past three weeks. They believe in TCM just as much as Western doctors believe in modern medicine.

When I began learning about Traditional Chinese Medicine, I dismissed it as merely a collection of wives tales, a pseudo-science that justified bizarre remedies for everything from the common cold to anorexia. What is considered an alternative form of medicine in the United States is widely accepted as mainstream in China and throughout East Asia. It is certainly challenging to resist the urge to classify a practice that is so ancient -outdated, even- as inferior.

However, I do know this for sure. Traditional Chinese Medicine is a tradition-there's that word again- that the Chinese people are extremely proud of. It has a rich culture and history that has its beginnings nearly 3,000 years ago. There has to be a reason it has stayed relevant. 1.3 billion people can't be wrong, right?