III Basic characteristics of the theoretical system of TCM

The theoretical system of traditional Chinese medicine is gradually formedon the basis of long-term clinical practice under the influence and guidance of the ancient materialism and dialectic thoughts. It comes from practice and also guides practice.This theoretical system has two basic characteristics:one is holism;the other is syndrome differentiation and treatment.

1.Holism

Holism is the understanding of traditional Chinese medicine on the unity of the human body itself and the unity between human beings and the natural and social environment. It is mainly reflected in two aspects:First, the human body being an organic whole;Second, the unity between human beings and the environment.

Holism regards the human body as an organic whole. All the zang-fu organs, body constituent and orifices of sense organs are inseparable from each other in structure, coordinated with each other and utilized by each other in functions, and mutually influenced in pathology.Human beings live in the natural and social environment, the body's physiological functions and pathological changes are certainly influenced by the natural and social environment, which requires medical practitioners to focus on the unity of the human body itself and the unity between human beings and the natural and social environment in medical practice.Holism is used in all the aspects of traditional Chinese medicine such as physiology, pathology, diagnosis, syndrome differentiation, health maintenance, prevention and treatment.

1.1　The human body as an organic whole

1.1.1　The wholeness of the physiological functions

The wholeness of the physiological functions is mainly reflected in two aspects:First, the various components of a human body form a whole in the structure and functions, that is, the holism of five zang-organs;Second, the human body and the spirit are interdependent and indivisible, that is, the holism between body and spirit.

Traditional Chinese medicine believes that the human body is an organicwhole which is dominated by the heart and regards the five zang-organs as the center. The human body is constituted by the five zang-organs including the heart, liver, spleen, lung and kidney, the six fu-organs including the gallbladder, stomach, large intestine, small intestine, urinary bladder and triple energizers, the body constitution including skin, vessels, flesh, sinews and bones and the orifices of sense organs including eyes, tongue, mouth, nose, ears, external genitalia and anus.A zang-organ, a fu-organ, a body constituent part and an orifice of sense organ can form a system.Heart, small intestine, vessels and tongue form the heart system;lung, large intestine, skin and nose form the lung system;spleen, stomach, muscles and mouth form the spleen system;liver, gallbladder, tendons and eyes form the liver system;kidney, bladder, bones, ears and the two lower orifices form the kidney system.Heart, liver, spleen, lung and kidney are the centers of the systems respectively.The heart is the highest commander of the five zang-organs.Therefore, the human body is a heart-dominated and five zang-organs-centered orderly whole.

Essence, qi, blood and body fluid are the refined substances to build up the human body and maintain the life activities of the human body. They distribute, store and circulate in the five systems to perform the various psychological functions of the human body jointly.At the same time, the normal functional activities of the zang-fu organs can promote and maintain the formation and circulation of essence, qi, blood and body fluid, and thus they can enrich the body constituent and support the functional activities of the five systems.

This viewpoint about the unity of the structure and functions with the five zang-organs as the center is known as"the holism of five zang-organs". It is unique to traditional Chinese medicine, and it is significant for traditional Chinese medicine to understand the body's physiological activities and pathological changes, to guide the clinical diagnosis and treatment and the health maintenance.

The holism between body and spirit refers to the combination and unity between the human body and spirit. In the process of human life, there are psychological and physiological functions, that is, the body and the spirit are the two elements of life.There is the relationship of interdependence, mutual promotion and mutual restriction between them.So, the ancients emphasized"the unity between body and spirit"and believed that the normal life activitiesare based on the integration of the psychological and physiological functions.Form and spirit are interdependent and inseparable.The form is where the spirit is stored, and the spirit is life manifestation of the form.The spirit can not exist alone without the form and the healthy form can ensure the vigorous spirit.Once the spirit exists, it can dominate the form.The unity between form and spirit is the guarantee of the existence of life.

1.1.2　The wholeness of the pathological responses

Traditional Chinese medicine explores the laws of the life activities of human beings from the overall. In the analysis of the causes and pathogenesis of the diseases, it focuses on both the whole and the overall pathological responses caused by the local pathological changes.A part of the body and the whole body is the unity of opposites, because the local pathological changes often imply the systemic information about qi, blood, yin and yang of the zang-fu organs.Therefore, Chinese medicine pathology usually unifies the local pathological changes and the overall pathological response, attaches importance to the association between the local pathological changes and the related zang or fu-organ, and emphasizes the interaction between the local pathological changes and other zang-fu organs.The holism of pathology is mainly reflected in the mutual influence and the transmission of the pathological changes.The pathological changes caused by the dysfunctions of the zang-fu organs can be reflected on the body surface through the meridians;the pathological changes of the tissues and organs on the body surface can also affect the zang-fu organs through the meridians.And the different zang-organs, zang and fu-organs, different fu-organs can also influence each other through the meridians, and thus the transmission of the diseases occur.For example, the disorder of the liver's soothing function not only causes the pathological changes of the liver itself, but also often affects the spleen's transporting and transforming functions and so that there are the symptoms such as abdominal distention and fullness, no appetite, abdominal pain and diarrhea embolism, may also affect the lung's dispersing, purifying and down-sending functions to cause cough and asthma, can also affect the heart spirit and so cause irritability or depression, and affects the circulation of heart blood and thus results in chest pain.For the five zang-organs, a diseased zang-organ canaffect other zang-organs, and the pathological changes of other zang-organs also affect this zang-organ.Therefore, in analyzing the pathogenesis of the disease of a zang-organ, it is necessary to take into account not only the impact of this diseased zang-organ on other zang-organs but also the impact of the pathological changes of other zang-organs on this zang-organ.

The human body is the unity between form and spirit, so the form and spirit are mutually influenced in the pathology. The pathological changes of the form, including those of essence, qi, blood and body fluid can cause the mental disorders, and the mental disorders can also damage the body resulting in the pathological changes of the zang-fu organs, meridians and collaterals, essence, qi, blood and body fluid.

1.1.3　The wholeness of the diagnosis and treatment

All the zang-fu organs, tissues and sense organs are interrelated and mutually influenced in physiology and pathology, so the external abnormal manifestations of the five sense organs, body constituent, complexion and pulse can be used to infer and determine the pathological changes of the internal organs so as to make a correct diagnosis and give appropriate treatment.

In diagnosing diseases, the main theoretical basis of traditional Chinese medicine is"all the internal pathological changes are certainly reflected on the external part of the body"according to Mencius·Second Part of Gaocius（Meng Zi·Gao Zi Xia）and"the condition of the internal organs can be understood from the external manifestations so as to determine the disease"according to Miraculous Pivot·On Internal Organs（Ling Shu·Ben Zang）. For example, the tongue is directly or indirectly connected with the five zang-organs through the meridians and collaterals, so the actual situation of the zang-fu organs, qi, blood and body fluid, and the condition of the disease can be reflected on the tongue, and thus the pathological state of the zang-fu organs can be determined through tongue observation.This is also why other diagnostic methods such as inspection of complexion and taking the pulse can be used to determine whether the pathological changes are caused by cold or heat, deficiency or excess.

The holism also runs throughout the clinical treatment. Traditional Chinese medicine does not treat the symptoms of the local pathological changes, butdetermines the appropriate treating principles and methods on the basis of analyzing the inner relationship between the local pathological changes and the overall pathological changes.It treats the local pathological changes on the overall level to recover the normal condition.For example, the clinical treatment of eye disorders often begins from regulating liver;purging the heart fire can be used to treat tongue erosion;for hair loss and tinnitus, tonifying the kidney and enriching essence can be used.Plain Questions·On Yin and Yang Corresponding with Natural Phenomena（Su Wen·Yin Yang Ying Xiang Da Lun）said"to treat yin in order to relieve the pathological changes with yang nature, and to treat yang in order to relieve the pathological changes with yin nature;to choose the acupoints on the right part of the body to treat the diseases of the left part, and vice versa".Miraculous Pivot·Beginning and Ending（Ling Shu·Zhong Shi）said"if the disease attacks the upper part of the body, the acupoints of lower part can be chosen;on the contrary, if it attacks the lower part of the body, the acupoints of upper part can be chosen".All such kind of treating principles are determined under the guidance of holism.

In short, according to traditional Chinese medicine, the human body has the inter-related form and structure, the same material basis, that is, the endless circulation of essence, qi, blood and body fluid in the whole body, the coordinated functional activities, and the mutually influenced pathological changes. Therefore, the basic viewpoint that the human body is an organic whole runs through the process of understanding and explaining the human physiological functions and pathological changes, and the diagnosis and treatment of diseases.

1.2　The correspondence between human and nature

Human beings live in the nature, and the nature has the necessary conditions for human survival. Therefore, the changes of the natural environment can directly or indirectly affect human life activities.Such understanding of the close relationship between nature and human is the holism between nature and human.The correspondence between nature and human is mainly reflected in the following aspects:

1.2.1　The impact of the natural environment on human physiology

The four seasons in a year can obviously influence the physiological functions of the living beings. Physiological functions of the human body also adjust themselves to adapt to the seasonal climate changes.For example, in warm spring and hot summer, yang qi moves upward and outward and the qi and blood are easy to be distributed to the surface, so the interstices are loose and thus body fluid go outward and there are much sweating and decreased urine;while in cool autumn and cold winter, yang qi moves downward and inward and the qi and blood are easy to be distributed to the internal part of body, so the skin contracts and the interstices are closed and thus body fluid go downward and so there are increased urine.It is the same to the changes of pulse.Plain Questions·On Pulse Diagnosis（Su Wen·Mai Yao Jing Wei Lun）describes the pulse conditions of human body as"floating pulse like a swimming fish in spring, full pulse like dashing waves in summer, sinking pulse like the leaving dormant insects in autumn, sunken pulse like sleeping dormant insects in winter".This shows that in spring and summer, the pulse is usually floating and full, while in autumn and winter, the pulse is usually sunken and fine.The follow-up observations on the pulse conditions of certain groups of people with the modern pulse apparatus through the four seasons in a year also found that the pulse conditions changed with the changing seasons.These fully explain the fact that the human physiological activities are influenced by the climate changes of the four seasons.

The climate changes of the four seasons have impact on the human body, the alternation of day and night also have some impact on the human body. Miraculous Pivot·Regarding a Day as Four Seasons（Ling Shu·Shun Qi Yi Ri Fen Wei Si Shi）said that"if a day is regarded as four seasons, the morning is spring, the noon summer, the evening autumn, and the midnight winter".The qi and blood of human body also have the changes of the growth and decline of yin and yang accordingly.Plain Questions·On Relationship between Healthy qi and Nature（Su Wen·Sheng Qi Tong Tian Lun）said that"yang qi is distributed to the body surface in the day.It begins to arise in the morning, becomes sufficient at noon, and becomes deficient in the evening because the qi gate is closed".Yang qi moves to surface and is very active in the day, while it moves inward and is relatively static at night, so the functional activities of the human body keep a normal condition.

Different geographical environments have different effects on the human body because of different climates and properties of soil and water. For example, people living in south China usually have loose interstices, a lean physique and a constitution of deficiency heat because of the hot and humid climate.The nearer the sea is, the more people with a constitution of phlegm-dampness there are.In the north China, the climate is usually dry and cold, so people usually have dense interstices, a strong physique and a constitution of cold excess.Once moving to a new place, many people will feel uncomfortable, and some will be sick, and this is customarily referred to as"non-acclimatization".But after some time, most people are able to adapt to the new environment.So people's adaptation to the living environment is not negative or passive, but active.

1.2.2　The impact of the natural environment on human pathology

The four seasons have different characteristics. In addition to common diseases, there are seasonal frequently-occurring diseases or seasonal epidemics with the different seasons.Plain Questions·The Essential Theories（Su Wen·Jin Gui Zhen Yan Lun）said that"in spring, nasal obstruction, nasal discharge and nasal bleeding often occur;in summer, there are often the pathological changes of chest and hypochondrium;in late summer, diarrhoea caused by interior cold often occur;in autumn, malaria caused by the pathogenic wind often occurs;in winter, joint pain, numbness and reversal cold of hands and feet often occur".It can be seen that different diseases occur in different seasons.In addition, certain chronic diseases, such as bi syndrome ad asthma, often attack people or become severer because of abrupt climate changes or seasonal variation.

Within a day, the growth and decline of yin and yang with the alternation of day and night also influence the development of the diseases in a certain extent because of the correspondence between nature and human. The diseases are mostly mild during the day and severe at night.Just as Miraculous Pivot·Regarding a Day as Four Seasons（Ling Shu·Shun Qi Yi Ri Fen Wei Si Shi）said:"most diseases become mild in the morning, stable during the day, severe in the evening and severer at midnight.In the morning, the healthy qi begins to increase while the pathogenic qi decline, so the diseases become mild in the morning;at noon, the increased healthy qi defeats the declined pathogenic qi, sothe diseases become stable during the day;in the evening, the healthy qi begins to decline while the pathogenic qi begins to increase, so the diseases become severe in the evening;at midnight, the healthy qi stores in the zang-organs while the pathogenic qi functions alone in the body, so the diseases become severer at midnight."Because the yang qi of human body experiences the forming, increasing, decreasing and storing periods in the morning, at noon, in the evening and at midnight respectively, the diseases also have the changes of becoming mild, stable, severe and severer accordingly.

The occurrence of certain endemic diseases is closely related to its geographical environment and the living habits. Plain Questions·On Different Treating Methods in Different geographical environments（Su Wen·Yi Fa Fang Yi Lun）points out that people living near the sea in east China are easy to be attacked by abscesses and ulcers, while those living in the hot and humid south China by stiffness and numbness.Different diseases attack people living in different geographical environments.In Sui dynasty, Chao Yuanfang pointed out that the occurrence of goiter was related to drinking the sandy water in Treatise on the Pathogenesis and Manifestations of All Diseases·On Goiter（Zhu Bing YuanHou Lun·Ying Hou）,and this shows that the close relationship between goiter and the regional water quality has been recognized at that time.

1.2.3　The impact of the natural environment on the prevention and treatment of diseases

The changes of natural environment affect human physiology and pathology, so great attention must be paid to the relationship between human and nature for preventing and treating diseases. For example,"to enriching yang in spring and summer, to enriching yin in autumn and winter"is a principle of preventing diseases in Plain Questions·On Relationship between Healthy qi and Nature（Su Wen·Sheng Qi Tong Tian Lun）.Treating diseases should follow the principles such as"taking the climate, seasons and solar terms into account and conforming to the laws of nature"according to Plain Questions·On the Normal Five Circuits（Su Wen·Wu Chang Zheng Da Lun）and"not using herbs of cold nature in cold weather, not using herbs of cool nature in cool weather, not using herbs of warm nature in warm weather, not using herbs of hot nature in hot weather"according to PlainQuestions·On Six Qi within Sixty Years（Su Wen·Liu Yuan Zheng Ji Da Lun）.Based on the theory that qi and blood in human body grow and decline with the changes of yin and yang in the nature and circulate regularly in different seasons within the meridians and collaterals, the ancient physicians founded the midnight-midday ebb flow acupuncture, choosing different acupoints at the most effective needling time to regulating qi and blood more effectively and coordinate yin and yang in order to prevent and treat the diseases.

1.3　The correspondence between human and society

Traditional Chinese medicine believes that a person is a part of the society, and the social changes are bound to affect people, especially the degree of social progress, the social stability and chaos, and the change of personal social status all can greatly affect the people's spiritual life, material life and the rhythm of life.

1.3.1　The impact of social environment on human physiology and pathology

Different social environments result in people's different physical and mental conditions and constitutions. In general, a good social environment and harmonious personal relationships can help people to lift the spirits and forge ahead, and this is beneficial for people's physical and mental health, while an unfavorable social environment is depressing, unnerving or even frightening, thus affecting people's physical and mental functions and damaging people's physical and mental health.

The political and economic status can greatly affect human physical and psychological functions. The dramatic changes of social status and economic situation and the unexpected events can often lead to the psychological and emotional instability, thus affecting the functions of the essence and qi of zang-fu organs.This can lead to the occurrence of certain physical and mental illnesses and also the deterioration of some primary diseases and even death.In a stable society, people can live a regular life and have strong resistance to various diseases, so they are not often attacked by diseases, especially by severe diseases, and thus they can enjoy a longer life span;in an unstable society, people can notlive a regular life and have lower resistance to various diseases, so they are often attacked by diseases, especially by severe diseases, and the death rate is also high.

1.3.2　The relationship between social environment and disease prevention and treatment.

The changes of the social environment have an impact on the human body mainly by influencing human psychology and emotions, so for preventing and treating diseases, the impact of social factors on human physical and psychological functions must be fully taken into account. To create a harmonious social atmosphere is helpful to maintain physical and mental health, and so to promote the favorable transformation of the diseases.

2.Syndrome differentiation and treatment

Syndrome differentiation and treatment is the basic principle of understanding and treating diseases and also a special way of analyzing and dealing with diseases in traditional Chinese medicine, so it is one of the basic characteristics of traditional Chinese medicine. Syndrome differentiation and treatment mainly focuses on analyzing and identifying the symptoms and signs to discuss and determine the treating principles and methods, so it is a concrete manifestation of the materialistic and dialectical concept of traditional Chinese medicine in clinical practice.

2.1　The concept of syndrome, symptom and disease

Syndrome is the conclusion of the pathological changes at a certain stage of a disease or the conclusion of a certain type of pathological changes of the human body, and it also marks the overall response of the human body to the pathological factors. It summarizes the location, cause, and nature of the disease, the trend of development of the disease, the relationship between healthy qi and pathogenic factors and the resistance of human body, so it can reflect the nature of the pathological changes of the affected individuals at a certain stage in the development of the disease.Syndrome is more comprehensive, more profoundand more correct to reveal the nature of the diseases than the symptoms and signs.

Symptom, a general term for symptoms and signs, refers to the individual and isolated phenomenon arising from and accompanying a disease. It can be the patient's abnormal subjective feelings or behaviors, such as aversion to cold, fever, nausea, vomiting, irritability, etc（called symptoms）,can also be the abnormal indications of the patient observed by the physician, such as tongue coating, pulse condition, etc（called signs）.The occurrence and development of any disease is always manifested through certain signs and symptoms, so traditional Chinese medicine believes that symptoms and signs are the basic elements of the clinical manifestations of a disease and a component reflecting the disease or syndrome.

Disease refers to a complete process with specific cause, form of onset, pathogenesis, developing law and outcome. It is manifested as a number of specific symptoms, signs, and the corresponding syndromes at certain stages of a disease, such as influenza, dysentery, malaria, measles, asthma and stroke.

2.2　The relationship among syndrome, symptom and disease

There are both connections and differences among syndrome, symptom and disease;all of them are united in the pathological basis. The symptoms are only the individual appearance of the disease, while the syndrome is able to reflect the change of pathological nature at a stage of the disease and it can relate the symptoms and disease, and thus reveal some of the intrinsic links between the symptoms and disease.This is beneficial for understanding the process of the disease deeply.

2.3　The meaning of syndrome differentiation and treatment

Syndrome differentiation is the process of overall analysis of clinical information, symptoms and signs collected through four examinations to determine the cause, nature and location of a disease and the relationship between healthy qi and pathogenic factors and then sum up to determine them as a certain syndrome to explore the nature of the disease. Treatment refers to determine the appropriate treating principles and methods based on thesyndrome differentiation.It can be known that syndrome differentiation is the prerequisite and basis for treatment and treatment is the means and methods to solve the disease.The actual effects of syndrome differentiation and treatment can tell whether the syndrome differentiation and treatment is correct or not.The process of syndrome differentiation and treatment is the process of understanding and dealing with diseases.Syndrome differentiation and treatment is the two indivisible aspects of the process of diagnosing and treating diseases in traditional Chinese medicine, a manifestation of the combination of theory, and the basic principle for guiding the clinical application of the theories, methods, prescriptions and herbs of traditional Chinese medicine.

2.4　The relationship between syndrome differentiation and disease differentiation

Both syndrome differentiation and disease differentiation are the thinking process of understanding the disease. Syndrome differentiation is the analysis of the syndrome, its purpose is to determine the syndrome, then to determine the treating methods based on the syndrome, and finally to treat disease based on the treating methods;disease differentiation is the analysis of the disease, its purpose is to determine the diagnosis of the disease and to provide the basis for treating the disease.Both syndrome differentiation and disease differentiation are based on the patient's clinical manifestations, and their difference is that the former focuses on determining the syndrome while the latter on determining the diagnosis of the disease.Syndrome differentiation and treatment is the basic principle of diagnosing and treating diseases in traditional Chinese medicine, disease identification and treatment also exists.Therefore, syndrome differentiation and disease differentiation exist in traditional Chinese medicine exist at the same time, but syndrome differentiation is the main diagnosing and treating method and disease differentiation is the supplement.To carry forward the characteristic of syndrome differentiation and treatment, to improve the clinical diagnosing and treating level, and to improve the accuracy of syndrome differentiation, we must adhere to the idea of combining syndrome differentiation and disease differentiation.

2.5　Different treatments for the same disease and same treatment for different diseases

Syndrome differentiation and treatment is the basic principle for guiding the clinical diagnosis and treatment of diseases. It can understand the relationship between the disease and the syndrome in a dialectical way, so a disease can include several different syndromes and the different diseases can have the same syndrome in the process of development.Therefore,"different treatments for the same disease"or"same treatment for different diseases"can be adopted to do the clinical treatment under the guidance of the principle of syndrome differentiation and treatment.

2.5.1　Different treatments for the same disease

Different treatments for the same disease refers to applying different treating methods to the same kind of disease with different syndromes because of different time of onset, regions and reactiveness of the patient's body or different stages of development. Take cold for example;there are different treating methods for cold because of the seasonal variations of its occurrence.Cold in summer is mostly caused by the pathogenic summerheat-dampness, so a therapeutic method of using aromatics to resolve turbidity is often applied to remove the summerheat-dampness in order to treat it.This therapeutic method is different from those for treating cold occurring in other seasons, such as using pungent-cool drugs to release exterior or using pungent-warm drugs to release exterior.Take measles for another example, there are also different treating methods for measles at different stages of development.At the early stage, the measles is not through, so the exterior-releasing drugs are used to promote the eruption of the measles;at the middle stage, lung heat is accumulated, so the drugs of clearing lung heat are used;at the late stage, the drugs of tonifying yin and clearing heat are used for the damage of lung and stomach yin due to the incomplete removal of heat.

2.5.2　Same treatment for different diseases

Same treatment for different diseases refers to applying the same treatingmethod to patients with different kinds of disease but having the same pathogenesis and the same syndrome at the process of development. For example, proctoptosis due to prolonged dysentery and prolapse of uterus are different diseases, but if they are manifested with the syndrome of sunken middle qi, they can be treated with qi-tonifying drugs with upraising actions.It can be seen that treating diseases in traditional Chinese medicine does not primarily focus on the similarities and differences of the diseases, but on the similarities and differences of the syndromes, and on the differentiation of pathogenesis.Because the syndrome and the pathogenesis are linked with each other, the same therapeutic method can be used to treat the diseases with the same pathogenesis and the same syndrome;different therapeutic methods are applied because of different types of pathogenesis and different syndromes.The saying of"the same treatment for the same syndrome, different treatments for different syndromes"in traditional Chinese medicine is, in essence, based on its understanding that pathogenesis is included in the concept of syndrome.Using different methods to solve the contradictions of different qualities in the process of the development of the disease fully embodies the essence of syndrome differentiation and treatment.

In short, traditional Chinese medicine understands the main contradictions of the human response status through observing the state of the body's reaction to the surrounding environment and exploring the nature of the diseases through clinical manifestations based on the close relationship between human body and the external environment and the human body as an organic whole with the unity of the opposites, and reestablishes the dynamic balance of coordinated yin and yang in the patients'body with various therapeutic methods based on the theory of dynamic equilibrium in order to promote disease healing. This is the essence of the most prominent feature of the theoretical system of traditional Chinese medicine, that is, the holism, the concept of dynamic balance, the dialectical view and the syndrome differentiation and treatment.

Summary

Traditional Chinese medicine is the medicine with rich traditional Chinese culture, unique theoretical system and various diagnosing and treating methods, belonging to the category of traditional oriental medicine. The theoretical system of traditional Chinese medicine is a medical theoretical system greatly influenced by the materialism and dialectics of ancient China, that is, the essential qi theory, yin-yang theory and five-element theory, guided by the holism, based on the physiology and pathology of zang-fu organs and meridians and collaterals, and characterized by the syndrome differentiation and treatment.

The theories of traditional Chinese medicine come from the wisdom of the ancient physicians. The theoretical system was formed in the period from the Warring States to Qin and Han dynasties, and Huangdi's Canon of Medicine（Huang Di Nei Jing）,Classic of Difficult Issues（Nan Jing）,Treatise on Cold Damage and Miscellaneous（Shang Han Za Bing Lun）and Shennong's Classic of Materia Medica（Shen Nong Ben Cao Jing）marked its formation;in the period of Jin, Sui and Tang dynasties, the theories of traditional Chinese medicine came to maturity and began to have different branches;in the period of Song, Jin and Yuan dynasties, there were many famous physicians represented by the four great medical experts in Jin and Yuan dynasties, different schools argued with each other, and the theories were constantly innovated;in the period of Ming and Qing dynasties, the theories of traditional Chinese medicine gained a comprehensive improvement and further development, and there were many inventions and creative viewpoints.The formation and development of the warm disease theory was the innovative breakthrough of traditional Chinese medicine theory in this period.In modern period, traditional Chinese medicine and western medicine began to integrate, and the theories of traditional Chinese medicine were continuously developed;in contemporary period, the theories of traditional Chinese medicine gradually become systematized and rationalized, developing the integration of traditional Chinese medicine and western medicine and the multi-disciplinary researches.

Holism and syndrome differentiation and treatment are the basic characteristics of the theoretical system of traditional Chinese medicine. Holism focuses on the unity and integrity of the human body, between human and nature, between human and society, and it runs through the theoretical system of traditional Chinese medicine.Syndrome differentiation and treatment is the basic principle for diagnosing and treating diseases in traditional Chinese medicine, and it focuses on differentiating syndromes and diseases.The syndrome concludes the cause, location, nature of a disease and the relationship between healthy qiand pathogenic factors at a certain stage in the development of the disease, so it deeply reveals the nature of the pathological changes and is the essence of traditional Chinese clinical medicine.

Questions

1.What marks the formation of the theoretical system of traditional Chinese medicine?

2.What are the main characteristics of the theoretical system of traditional Chinese medicine?

3.What is holism?

4.What is syndrome differentiation and treatment?

5.What are the differences and relationship of disease, syndrome and symptom?

6.What are different treatments for the same disease and same treatment for different diseases?