1 Suwen, a book of simple questions
2 Lingshu, a book on acupuncture and moxibustion.
Written in the form of a discourse between Huangdi and his ministers on
the nature of health, it contains a wealth of knowledge, including aetiology,
physiology, diagnosis, therapy and prevention of disease, as well as an in-depth
investigation of such diverse subjects as ethics, psychology and cosmology.^3 It
is likely that the book was developed by others over the centuries until a defin-
itive version appeared in the first century BC, but it is, none the less, usually
ascribed to Huangdi. The theories of medicine expounded in Neijing remain
to this day the most authoritative guide to TCM.
Another significant influence on the development of Chinese medicine was
produced in the first or second century AD. EntitledThe Classic of Difficult
Issues, it discusses the origins of the nature of illness, describes an innovative
approach to diagnosis and outlines a system of therapeutic needling.
The origins of what might be called modern TCM can be traced back to
Zhang Ji, who practised in the Qing Chang mountains close to Chengdu,
Szechuan province, in the early years of the third century AD, although it was
known to have existed in various forms for more than 1000 years before this
date.^4 Ji was described as the sage of medicine and probably used traditional
methods of healing that were originally linked to Indian practices but were
subsequently modified according to Chinese Taoist spiritual philosophy.
Another of the famous masters of Chinese medicine active in the third
century ADwas Hua Tuo, a surgeon and practitioner of a range of therapies.
In the western world TCM, especially acupuncture and CHM, experi-
enced its main expansion during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries as
populations moved with developing means of transport. It diffused from
immigrant families into host communities and was promoted by subsequent
media exposure. The UK’s 100-year involvement in Hong Kong led to immi-
gration from the colony and returning merchants, both spawning an interest
in all things oriental.
In 1849 the Gold Rush in California brought a large influx of Chinese
people to the western USA. They brought their traditional medicine with
them and it proved to be popular among the prospectors and their families,
particularly as western medicine was largely unavailable in these remote
areas. The steady expansion of interest in TCM in the past 30 years in the
USA has been attributed to media interest during President Nixon’s visit to
the People’s Republic of China in the early 1970s (see Acupuncture below).
Principles of TCM
TCM is necessarily embedded in a complex theoretical framework that
provides conceptual and therapeutic directions.^5 Unlike the earliest Chinese
120 | Traditional medicine