The Essential Characteristics of Chinese Medicine

Chinese medicine pays much more attention
to the unity and integrity of the body, and the interrelation between
the human body and the outside world. The human body, as an organic whole,
is composed of a number of visceral organs and tissues,
which have their own respective functions. Every function, however, is a component
of the body's overall activity. Meanwhile, man lives in nature, and nature provides conditions
indispensable to man's survival. As a result, the human body is
bound to be affected directly or indirectly by the changes in
nature to which it is subjected. In the field of Chinese medicine,
there is a saying, physicians have to know
the laws of nature and geographical conditions when
diagnosing and treating diseases. That is why Chinese
medicine not only stresses the unity of the human body itself,
but also attaches great importance to the interrelationship
between the body and nature in diagnosis and
treatment of a disease.