Chinese traditional medicine is a complete medical system over 2000 years old. It attributes illness to imbalances in yin and yang rather than germs. The body has organs that perform functions to ensure health. When functions break down for various reasons, disease occurs. Yin and yang classify the body and nature into complementary opposite aspects. Health represents harmony between yin and yang aspects while disease stems from imbalances. Traditional Chinese medicine uses several plants like ginseng and citrus to help restore balance.

1. Prepared by
Mrs. Pooja khanpara
Asst. Professor
APIP
Jamnagar
CHINESE TRADITIONAL MEDICINE
SYSTEM

2. CHINESE TRADITIONAL MEDICINE
SYSTEM
Dept of Pharmacognosy 2

5. CHINESE MEDICINAL SYSTEM
•Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is a unique, complete
medical system, that spans at least 2,000 years.
•In the earliest times, the Chinese, as most human
communities, often attributed major illness to evil spirits or
angry ancestors (family).
•As Chinese medicine began to take shape, the idea grew that
the body was composed of different organs, that each organ
performed different functions to ensure our health, and that
disease was a breakdown of these functions for a variety of
reasons.
•In Chinese medicine system, description of human
physiological and pathological processes differs markedly from
that of biomedicine. Dept of Pharmacognosy 5

6. Furthermore, pre-modern Chinese physicians never
understood the role of bacteria and viruses as a cause
of disease. They attributed certain diseases to
environ- mental conditions, such as - wind, heat, cold,
and damp-ness(humidity), but they never developed the
technology to observe the microorganisms.
Dept of Pharmacognosy 6

7. •The doctrines of yīn - yáng and the five phases make sense
of the universe by identifying correspondences between
Dept of Pharmacognosy 7
different things. They are the product of “correlative
thinking,” that is, a kind of thinking that spots similarities
and connections between the many different aspects of our
world.
•“Yīn” and “yáng” originally referred to topographical
inclines. “Yīn” was defined as the north face of a mountain.
Similarly, “Yáng”
mountain.
was defined as the south face of a
Doctrine of Yīn and Yáng

8. Yīn and Yáng theory expresses a universal standard of quality
Dept of Pharmacognosy 19
that describes two complementary,opposite aspects of an
describe function andindivisible whole. It is used to
relationship of these aspects as part of a continuous process of
transformation and change in the universe. Applied to
medicine, yin yang theory is used to compare and contrast,
and thus differentiate, physiological and pathological
phenomena.

9. •Yīn and yáng are applied to medicine in numerous ways. For
Dept of Pharmacognosy 9
example, they classify partsof the
body.
yáng, while the lower body is yīn.
The upper body is
•When a person is healthy, these yīn and yáng aspects of
the body are “in harmony”. (syncronization)
•Disease is attributed to many different causes, but is
almost invariably linked to a disturbance of the body’s
normal yīn- yáng relationship. This may take different forms,
depending on the nature and location of the disease.

10. Taiji diagram - The classic yin and yang
diagram.
Dept of Pharmacognosy 20

11. Dept of Pharmacognosy 11
Yīn and Yáng in Nature
Yīn (lower) Yáng (upper)
Night Day
Dark Light
Cold Heat
Earth Heaven

12. Yīn and Yáng in Body
Dept of Pharmacognosy 12
Yīn Yáng
Lower body Upper body
Chest & abdomen Shoulders & back
Interior Exterior
Viscera (internal organ) Bowels (intestine)
Fluids Qì (Gas)

29. Dept of Pharmacognosy
Coptis chinensis
It is a bitter digestive,
sedative properties.
having
Lonicera japonica
Anti-pyretic
nature.
& detoxifier in
Some Medicinal Plants Used in Chinese Medicine
System
29

30. Rheum palmatum
Used as natural purgative.
Alisma plantago aquatica
Used as natural diuretic.
Prunus persica
A natural circulatory stimulant.
Dept of Pharmacognosy 30

31. Amomum
cardomum
An anti-emetic,
digestive stimulant,
expectorant used in
Chinese medicinal
system.
Chaenomeles sinensis
A natural
spasmolytic.
Dept of Pharmacognosy 31

32. Citrus tangerina
It is used as carminative.
Panax ginseng
It is used as sedative.
Dept of Pharmacognosy 32

33. Reference
Dept of Pharmacognosy 33
• Skinner P., Tibetan medicine. In: Gale T, editor. The
Gale Encyclopaedia of Alternative Medicine. 2nd edition. Detroit, Mich,
USA: Longe,2005.
• Sandanov D.V., Medicinal Plants in Tibetan Medicine pdf,
Hostos Community College,5th Nov, 2012.
• Badmaev
treatment
V., Medicine tested by Science: an effective botanical
for circulatory deficiency due to atherosclerosis.
Nutri-Cosme-Ceutici, 6.8.2.2002, Rome, Italy, 2002.
•Mills S.Y.,
Chinese Herbs in
the
West, Pharmacognosy, 14th edition, 505-510.
Trease and Evans’
• Wiseman N., Introduction to Chinese Medicine, Revised edition, Chang
Gung University, 2005.

34. Dept of Pharmacognosy 29