Dr. Yat Tung LI
Dr. Yan Kazakov
Dr. Zijing Hu
Gan Ye-na
Dr. Friedrich Wallner
Section Collection Information
Dear Colleagues,
Traditional Chinese medicine, or simply Chinese medicine, is one of the major branches in the field of traditional medicine. It is a commonly used treatment option or complementary remedy in Asia especially in the Chinese community.
Although Chinese medicine is always viewed as a ‘traditional’ remedy, it is persistently flourished with new ideas, principles or doctrines such that it remains ‘modernized’ at different time in Chinese medical history.
It is a distinctive feature that Chinese medical theory is founded with certain oriental philosophies. It emphasizes the regular patterns of nature, the mutual interconnection and affections between nature and individuals, the interrelations and influences among soft tissues, organs, systems and mental health. It is a holistic concept as to the world itself and an individual himself. Moreover, concept of yin and yang, and concept of five elements are sometimes used for explaining the phenomenon of the world including health and illness of a person.
The ancient medical practitioners summarized and analyzed their observations on the healthy status of a life, the cause and pathogenic mechanisms of diseases, and the practical experiences in managing the illnesses. They made tremendous written records, which eventually became Chinese medical classics mesmerized by the descendant fellows.
Everything has a norm. If it is deviated from the norm, it could be either in excessive or deficient states. Both of them can lead to the production of pathogenic products such as liquid or phlegm accumulation, qi stagnation, and blood stasis, which in turns exacerbate the illnesses.
To identify various regular patterns of illnesses, theories of syndrome differentiation were developed, such as syndrome differentiations by eight principles, by organs, by qi, blood and fluid, by triple jiao, by six meridians, and by four aspects (defense, qi, nutrients and blood). They are highly valuable in directing Chinese medicine practitioners on how to recognize the unhealthy status of a person.
Nowadays, Chinese medicine remains playing a crucial and indispensable role in protecting people’s lives by fighting against from localized illnesses to systemic diseases. Chinese medical theories may provide new treatment directions in managing current diseases while concurrently understanding current diseases may also help generate new principles, doctrines or even theories for Chinese medicine. This is the reason why Chinese medicine with its profound historical and cultural heritages can prevail in modern era.
Scholars and researchers, who are interested in doing research on the innovation of the abovementioned Chinese medical theories, the qualitative or quantitative analysis of Chinese medical theories, the applications of Chinese medical theories on various illnesses or diseases, and other wide aspects, are welcome to submit their original research manuscripts and review articles.
