When we hear about Traditional Chinese Medicine from our all-Italian or Western cultural stronghold , we imagine something archaic, folkloric , and based on principles bordering on superstition, or in any case unscientific, such as qi or vital energy.

By traveling a little and getting out of this narrow perspective , we will discover that traditional Chinese medicine is not as backward as it is usually portrayed, and that it is not about Western medicine as alchemy is to modern chemistry.

The ancient principles of Traditional Chinese Medicine

The basics of traditional Chinese medicine, yes, they are very ancient. The concepts of qi , meridians ( jing-luo ), yin and yang, and all related therapies such as acupuncture, tui na massage , qi gong and vast herbal knowledge, have their roots in ancient and dated systems of medicine. at least 3000 years.

For millennia, traditional Chinese medicine experts have checked the quality of the flow of body fluids and the flow of qi in the various organs and meridians to understand how to rebalance the patient’s health .

In fact, for traditional Chinese medicine, as well as for Taoist philosophy, everything is a question of balance of forces, both in the individual and in the cosmos.

The traditional Chinese doctor in general , depending on his specialization, was able to rebalance the energies and stimulate the body’s ability to heal itself through gentle techniques and through diet management.

In fact, every food brings a particular type of qi to a specific organ , and behind this there is a whole science.

An important and interesting detail is also the ethical system of remuneration of the traditional Chinese doctor . For millennia, each family relied on a single doctor, responsible for family health.

He was paid as long as everyone was healthy and stopped receiving wages if a family member fell ill.

This system meant that the doctor’s interest (including economic) was the health of patients, which is the opposite of what is practiced in the West, where pharmaceutical companies have an interest in ensuring that individuals are sick because they earn on illness and not on health.

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The integration of the two systems: traditional medicine and western medicine

So it has been for millennia and this bucolic vision of traditional Chinese medicine has remained etched in our imagination, also due to the oppressive attitude with which science often labels this system of medicine as an “alternative”.

But alternative doesn’t mean super-cute . If it is true that for centuries traditional Chinese medicine was the official state medicine, it must also be said that today China has perfectly integrated the orthodox medicine system , creating a functional synthesis with the ancient traditional Chinese medicine system.

There are still universities where traditional Chinese medicine is taught and learned and its systems are very effective for some health problems, especially preventive ones.

The control of the diet , the use of herbal teas and infusions, moxotherapy, the art of massages and the daily practice of gentle exercises of taiqi and qi gong are in fact practices dictated by an ancient practical knowledge and continued by common sense.

Medicine in China today

Not only. The use of these practices and some similar ones, such as yoga, are spreading more and more all over the world , even in the preventive medical field.

The benefits of yoga and taiqi and their influence on life span are studied in many medical universities.

Even the science behind Chinese herbal infusions, although based on an archaic and unscientific methodology and language, on balance is effective at a preventive level, even if opposed by a currently prevailing philosophy of drugs that instead likes to focus on the battle against symptoms in so you can continue to sell your products.

Today, in China as in other parts of the world, we can find methodologies derived from traditional Chinese medicine both in conventional hospitals and in their neighborhood. The ancient knowledge renew their hazy language changing into more understandable medical jargon with lots of references to molecules and active ingredients.