Formation and development

Eastern and Western cultural and historical backgrounds are the soil for the formation and development of Chinese and Western medicine. Zhang Zhongjing and Galen, two medical giants from the East and the West in the 2nd century AD, inherited different academic ideas, created completely different medical paradigms, developed and improved different theoretical systems, and made Chinese and Western medicine each move towards two complete paths. Different development paths.

Before the "Treatise on Febrile and Miscellaneous Diseases" written by the Han Dynasty medical scientist Zhang Zhongjing, there were classical medical classics such as "Nei Jing", "Difficult Classic", and "Compendium of Materia Medica". Zhang Zhongjing summarized the medical achievements before the Han Dynasty, inherited basic theories and rich medical knowledge from the "Nei Jing", and combined it with his own clinical practice to write "Treatise on Febrile Diseases and Miscellaneous Diseases". Its contribution lies in establishing the theoretical system of TCM syndrome differentiation and treatment, which laid a solid foundation for the development of TCM clinical medicine in later generations.

In the West, Galen lived during the reign of Antony and his sons in the Roman Empire. At that time, the prosperity of the Roman Empire provided reliable political, economic, technological and cultural guarantees for Galen's medical achievements and the prosperity of Western medicine. Galen inherited the academic thoughts of Hippocrates and wrote more than 200 works. Among the 83 existing works, they cover anatomy, physiology, pathology, hygiene, medicine, research on the "Collection of Hippocrates", philosophy, linguistics, and logic. Science, mathematics, history, law, etc. He advocated evidence-based medicine. His scientific methodology had the characteristics of emphasizing experiments, local localization of diseases, formal logic, and deductive methods. It had a profound influence on the development of Western medicine in later generations.

Under the guidance of the completely contradictory medical paradigms of Zhang Zhongjing and Galen, Chinese and Western medicine began to enter the historical process of diverging. In the context of Chinese culture emphasizing "neutralization", the academic community has a relaxed atmosphere that is "tolerant of all rivers". There have been wonderful presentations of academic schools, such as the dispute between cold and warm diseases of plague, the difference between classics and prescriptions, etc. Traditional Chinese medicine developed vigorously according to Zhang Zhongjing's thinking paradigm. With the advancement of science and the development of society, especially the development of medical practice, the original theory of traditional Chinese medicine can no longer interpret new scientific facts. Therefore, medical theory must be constantly innovated to adapt to social needs. This has prompted traditional Chinese medicine to enter the Han Dynasty. , showing a stage of comprehensive development, which includes four periods:

Historical period

Wei, Jin, Sui and Tang Dynasties

Due to the emphasis on summarizing clinical experience , and continued to organize and develop the theories of classic medical works such as "Huangdi Neijing" and "Treatise on Febrile and Miscellaneous Diseases", and many famous medical masterpieces appeared. For example, Wang Shuhe's "Mai Jing" in the Jin Dynasty and Huang Fumi's "Acupuncture Classics A and B", Chao Yuanfang's "Treatise on the Causes and Symptoms of Diseases" in the Sui Dynasty, and Sun Simiao's "Qian Jin Yao Fang" and "Qian Jin Yifang" in the Tang Dynasty.