Excerpt
Traditional Chinese medicine goes back over 3,000 years. It was not developed by any particular individual; rather, it grew out of the necessity of maintaining good health among the Chinese people. The ancient Chinese, like all of us, had to struggle against diseases in order to stay in good health. In the process, they came to see the benefits of consuming herbs (known as Chinese herbology today), inserting needles in the body (known as Chinese acupuncture today), eating the right foods (known as Chinese food cures today), massaging the body (knows as Chinese manipulative therapy today) and exercising the body (known as qi-gong and tai-ji).
Today, traditional Chinese medicine is practiced in China side by side with modern Western medicine. There are as many hospitals of traditional Chinese medicine as modern hospitals of Western medicine. From the Chinese point of view, traditional Chinese medicine is on an equal footing with Western medicine.
You may ask why we need traditional Chinese medicine when modern, scientific medicine is available to all of us. The reason is that many diseases and ailments that cannot be cured by Western medicine can be treated by traditional Chinese medicine successfully. It is a fact that many patients experience instant relief of pain when treated with Chinese acupuncture, which cannot be achieved by Western medicine. In addition, traditional Chinese medicine has proven superior to Western medicine in the treatment of skin, liver and kidneys diseases, as well as many other diseases.
Excerpted from Chinese Natural Cures by Henry C. Lu Copyright (c)1994. Reprinted with permission by BD&L Publishers