The unique ointment prepared by senior doctor of TCM Cui Koushi treats tumors, effectively enabling many late-period patients to live longer.

Preparing a dosage of herbal medicine.

Cupping is a TCM therapy applied to cure illnesses in an external way. More than 1,500 years ago, the Chinese discovered the phenomenon of “expanding with heat and contracting with cold,” and began the application of cupping as a therapy.

Overseas doctors come to learn TCM therapeutic skills at the Yuncheng TCM Hospital.

This jar used to refine Baijiangdan pellets is formed of soil from Yangcheng County, Shanxi Province. It can withstand temperatures as high as 1,000 degrees centigrade.

It is commonly held that in the Chinese language the term Zhongyi literally means “traditional Chinese medicine” (TCM), or “Chinese doctors,” and that the word Zhong means “Chinese,” differentiating from the word “Western.” But there are other explanations for the term. Doctors of TCM believe in the principle of maintaining a harmonious and balanced qi (life force), so as to stay healthy – neither dry in yang (vital energy) nor lacking in yin (vital essence of organs). Thus, some in the field purport that the real meaning of the word Zhong in respect to Chinese medicine is “balanced” and “neutral.”

A 5,000-year-old civilization, the Chinese nation is also one of the first places on Earth where medicine and relative culture originated and integrated. TCM as a school of learning was initiated, passed down, and now advances against the backdrop of traditional Chinese culture, and the practice and science is infused with culture. Before Western medicine was introduced in China, the nation relied on TCM, and the application was closely correlated with quality of life and the prosperity of the nation.

The application for TCM to be designated as a world intangible heritage has become part of the government’s work in China. This will represent the respect and protection of diversity in human culture, conforming to the need of its sustainable development, and will also allow the world to better understand TCM.

The richness of TCM and its cultural connotations have spread far and wide. Thousands of doctors practicing TCM are therapists mastering special curative skills and possessing secret formulas. Providing quality medical services to patients, some have become influential medical experts in treating osteomyelitis, malignancy, and difficult-to-treat tuberculosis.

Yang Wenshui, a TCM doctor specializing in osteomyelitis therapy, is strongly representative of modern Chinese medicine practitioners. On the basis of TCM surgery, he uses the “three divine pellets,” a remedy he personally prepares, to cure osteomyelitis, having overcome a complicated issue in the medical world. In 1970, he founded the first TCM osteomyelitis hospital in China. Over the decades, the hospital has accepted 160,000 patients from home and abroad, and has helped 32,000 patients who may have otherwise had limbs amputated. To date, no single case of amputation has occurred in the hospital.

TCM bee therapy enjoys a long history. Cases and interesting folk legends of this therapy are recorded in ancient books. In short, bee therapy makes use of the sting of bred bees to apply to corresponding acupuncture points, taking advantage of the poison of the bee to activate the function of corresponding organs and regulating the balance of human physiological system. This natural therapy, based on the theory of “poison versus poison,” has proved to have miraculous curing effects in the treatment of diseases in immunity, bone junctures and ailments of the nervous system. As a special tool in TCM, bee therapy has become a unique branch of learning applied to clinical medicine. Doctor Hao Kuanrong, with the TCM Hospital of Yuncheng City, has successfully applied this therapy in the treatment of diabetes and syndrome, tumors and cerebral-cardiovascular disease.

Ointments known in ancient China as “thin bandages” are applied externally to cure disease. First grinding the prescribed remedy into paste, and then applying it to the affected part or just to the skin. They cure various diseases by stimulating the circulation of blood, eradicating silts, enhancing muscles to relieve pain, restoring menstrual flow, expelling wind and cold, and medicinally reaching straight and deep to the bone. Cui Koushi, a doctor of TCM, has prepared a special ointment with miraculous qualities of pain-relief, and it now replaces Meperidina to help relieve the pain of late-period tumor patients, extending life expectancy and improving the quality of life.

Powder, one of the four great inventions of ancient China, was invented during alchemists’ elixir refining process. Originated in the 3rd Century B.C., the immortality pill initiated the process through heating and subliming pharmaceuticals, and that served as the beginning of the modern chemistry. TCM doctor Li Chengbao, from a family of traditional Chinese medicine and an inheritor of traditional medicine-making methods, established Yuncheng City Baohua TCM Special Hospital for Mammary Gland Diseases in 2004. He has applied the series of remedies he prepared to approximately 10,000 patients, recording a reliable curative effect.

In terms of pediatrics, massage is a time-honored yet innovative therapy. Based on the basic theory of TCM, it is an external therapy for commonly and frequently encountered diseases. Easy to learn and to handle, with no suffering and side effects, this therapy is suited to treating and preventing illness for children under the age of five, having especially good effects towards cold, eczema and diarrheal. Infants who are low in immune capacity can thus avoid contacting hormone and antibiotic medicines too early. Children’s massage became popular during the Ming and Qing Dynasties (1368-1911). It has the characteristics of being light, fast, gentle and firm. The Yuncheng Child Massage School, founded by Sun Deren in 1992, is the only of its kind in the world. So far, the institution has trained more than 4,000 massage therapists, including those from France, Germany, Portugal, Brazil and other countries.

Today, there are a dozen state-owned and private TCM medical institutions in Yuncheng City, Shanxi Province, and some of them have become well-known for their unique therapeutic abilities. Now the municipal government has attached more importance to the development of TCM and its culture, and a series of local regulations and measures in favor of the sound and accelerated development of TCM have been formulated. The sustainable growth of TCM is also considered as part of the strategic blueprint for the harmonious development of the society.