Traditional Chinese medicine, known in Mandarin as zhōngyī (中医), is present in China past clinical treatment. It also affects choices about what to eat and structures of the very language itself used to describe physical states. Moreover, it appear in supermarkets or restaurants besides pharmacies. Whether you hear about it through travel or through studying with some online Chinese teacher or just learn Mandarin online, understanding TCM will be something beneficial to you online and locally, if you perhaps decide to spend some time in China.
TCM is not really a single therapy. It is more a system of health theory and practice with roughly two thousand years of documented history. Its foundational text is the Huangdi Neijing or Yellow Emperor's Classic of Medicine, which was compiled during the Han dynasty. That text established a theoretical framework which is still referenced in TCM practice today. Now, the framework is built around several core concepts with no direct equivalent in Western biomedical theory. Qi (气) refers to vital energy understood to circulate through the body along pathways called meridians. Yin and yang, meanwhile, describe complementary and opposing qualities whose balance is considered essential to health. The five elements — wood, fire, earth, metal and water — form a classificatory system associating organs with emotions, seasons and physical symptoms.
Of TCM's main therapeutic modalities, acupuncture has received the most rigorous scientific investigation. The evidence suggests it produces measurable effects past placebo for a limited range of conditions. These include chronic pain, certain types of headache and chemotherapy-induced nausea. The underlying mechanisms, nevertheless, remain debated. Proposals range from stimulation of endogenous opioid release to modulation of the autonomic nervous system. What the evidence does not support, however, is the claim that acupuncture works by regulating qi through meridians. As a result, the clinical effects appear separable from the theoretical framework used to explain them.
Moreover, herbal medicine is the largest and most complex area of TCM practice. It encompasses thousands of substances used in combinations adjusted to each patient's presentation. As a result, some of these substances have produced significant pharmaceutical discoveries. Artemisinin, derived from the herb qinghao, is now a frontline treatment for malaria and earned Tu Youyou the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2015. Despite this, serious evidence gaps exist across much of the herbal pharmacopoeia. Furthermore, some preparations contain compounds with documented toxicity, while others interact adversely with pharmaceutical drugs. Quality control in manufacturing, therefore, remains an unresolved concern in parts of the industry.
The Chinese government has, in addition, actively promoted TCM domestically and internationally. During COVID-19, for example, TCM preparations were incorporated into official treatment protocols, a decision that generated significant scientific controversy. TCM is therefore not a marginal practice in China. On the contrary, it is a formally recognized component of the national healthcare architecture with its own universities, hospitals and regulatory bodies.
The vocabulary of TCM also appears in ordinary Chinese conversation. Concepts like shàng huǒ (excess internal heat), xū (deficiency) and bǔ (tonifying) appear in speech and on product labels. For this reason, some teaching institutions like GoEast Mandarin in Shanghai will treat TCM concepts as part of the cultural knowledge taught along the lessons.
