Using original sources, this significant text looks at the transformation of Chinese medicine from a marginal, side-lined medical practice of the early twentieth century, to an essential and high-profile part of the national health-care system under the Chinese Communist Party. The political, economic and social motives which drove this promotion are analyzed and the extraordinary role that Chinese medicine was meant to play in Mao Zedong's revolution is fully explored for the first time, making a major contribution to the history of Chinese medicine.
Kim Taylor looks at the transformation of Chinese medicine from a marginal, sidelined medical practice of the early 20th century, to an essential and high profile part of the national health-care system under the Chinese Communist Party.
“Rich insights into how one country has dealt with perhaps the most central issue for any human society: the health and wellbeing of its citizens.” —The Lancet This volume examines important aspects of China’s century-long search to provide appropriate and effective health care for its people. Four subjects—disease and healing, encounters and accommodations, institutions and professions, and people’s health—organize discussions across case studies of schistosomiasis, tuberculosis, mental health, and tobacco and health. Among the book’s significant conclusions are the importance of barefoot doctors in disseminating western medicine; the improvements in medical health and services during the long Sino-Japanese war; and the important role of the Chinese consumer. This is a thought-provoking read for health practitioners, historians, and others interested in the history of medicine and health in China.
In covering the subject of Chinese medicine, this book addresses topics such as oracle bones, the treatment of women, fertility and childbirth, nutrition, acupuncture, and Qi as well as examining Chinese medicine as practiced globally in places such as Africa, Australia, Vietnam, Korea, and the United States.
Medical care in nineteenth-century China was spectacularly pluralistic: herbalists, shamans, bone-setters, midwives, priests, and a few medical missionaries from the West all competed for patients. This book examines the dichotomy between "Western" and "Chinese" medicine, showing how it has been greatly exaggerated. As missionaries went to lengths to make their medicine more acceptable to Chinese patients, modernizers of Chinese medicine worked to become more "scientific" by eradicating superstition and creating modern institutions. Andrews challenges the supposed superiority of Western medicine in China while showing how "traditional" Chinese medicine was deliberately created in the image of a modern scientific practice.
The best of Eastern and Western medicine in an integrative healing system for the mind, body, and spirit. Now, for the first time, a Western physician and a doctor of Oriental medicine combine the unparalleled technological advances of the West with the unmatched wisdom and healing touch Chinese herbal medicine provides for many diseases and conditions that elude modern medicine. Ancient Herbs, Modern Medicine demonstrates the many important, highly effective ways Chinese medicine and Western medicine can complement each other in treating everything from allergies and insomnia to mental illness and cancer. This accessible, comprehensive guide offers many informative and enlightening case studies and up-to-the-minute information on: • How integrative medicine combines the best of Western pharmacology and Eastern herbology • How integrative medicine helps fight the diseases and illnesses of our time, including allergies, asthma, and chronic fatigue syndrome, and eases and even reverses symptoms of arthritis, diabetes, depression, osteoporosis, AIDS, heart disease, and cancer--often without side effects • How Chinese medicine can help you recognize signs before an illness becomes a crisis • The importance of Western techniques in diagnosing serious diseases • Why Chinese medicine offers the most effective treatment for many chronic/recurrent illnesses • Restoring essential balance to the Five Energetic Systems--the Heart, Lung, Spleen, Liver, and Kidney Energies • The Eight Strategies of Herbal Therapy--how herbs work in your body Plus illuminating discussions of the basic principles of Chinese medicine, as well as food remedy recipes, diagrams, glossaries of medical terms and herbs, resource listings, and much more to help you tailor an integrative health regimen that is right for you.
