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A Background On Chinese Herbal Therapy

By Enid Hinton


For many centuries now, there have been many physicians from ancient China have made use of certain herbs in order to cure certain ailments. Of course Chinese herbal therapy is still being used until now because it is one of the most effective systems that the world has ever seen. Of course this system has a very rich origin from none other than ancient China which is a land known for its different kinds of herbs.

Now the very first record of its use was by emperor Shen Nong who was actually regarded as one of the very first herbalists of China. This man was emperor of China around 2800 BC and was known to have taught the local farmers and physicians all about herbology and how to use different natural resources. Eventually he wrote a book known as Shen Nong Ben Cao Jing which was like a dictionary for around three hundred plus kinds of herbal medicines.

Now this book was actually a detailed instruction manual on how to use certain herbs. He even classified around three hundred or more herbs into categories based on their strength and their usage. The three classifications are the superior kinds, the tonics that are for regular consumption, and of course the ones that are used for certain ailments only and taken in small amounts.

Sometime during 196 BC, there was yet another very famous physician whose name was Zhang Zhong Jing who authored one of the most famous of all herbal medicine books. This book is named Treatise on Cold Damage Disorders and Miscellaneous Illnesses and was a basis for many physicians during that time. The book contained concepts of the YinYang and the Five Elements along with medicine.

This book would go on to describe how the Five Elements and the balance of the Yin and Yang were related to health. Eventually during the Song Dynasty, this whole book was split into two separate ones known as the Treatise on Cold Damage Disorders and the Essential Prescriptions of the Golden Casket. These were rewrites by succeeding physicians that came after Zhang Zhong Jing.

Eventually these works were then further edited and refined in order to suit the present state at that time. In the Tang Dynasty, all of the books were edited and compiled into one single book known as the Yaoxing Lun. This was a reference for many herbalists as well as many doctors that existed during this time.

In the present time, this type of practice is separate from conventional medicine that most clinics are actually practicing. In fact, Herbal therapy has its own branch of medicine that is known as Traditional Chinese Medicine or as TCM. TCM is a holistic and complete system of herb usage and as well as acupressure and acupuncture.

If one would go to a certain city known as Erie, PA, he would find a lot of clinics of TCM. He would also find a lot of schools that would teach a lot of TCM techniques. One can really see just how far TCM has reached the entire world.




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