Editing History of medicine (section)

=== Ancient Chinese medicine ===
{{Main|Traditional Chinese medicine}}
[[File:Chinese woodcut, Famous medical figures; Zhang Zhongjing Wellcome L0039319.jpg|thumb|[[Zhang Zhongjing]] – a Chinese pharmacologist, physician, inventor, and writer of the [[Eastern Han]] dynasty |left]]
Medical and healing practices in early Chinese dynasties were heavily shaped by the practice of [[traditional Chinese medicine]] (TCM).<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Eigenschink |first1=Michael |last2=Dearing |first2=Lukas |last3=Dablander |first3=Tom E. |last4=Maier |first4=Julian |last5=Sitte |first5=Harald H. |title=A critical examination of the main premises of Traditional Chinese Medicine |journal=Wiener klinische Wochenschrift |date=May 2020 |volume=132 |issue=9–10 |pages=260–273 |doi=10.1007/s00508-020-01625-w |pmid=32198544 |pmc=7253514 }}</ref> Starting around the [[Zhou dynasty]], parts of this system were being developed and are demonstrated in early writings on herbs in ''Classic of Changes'' (''Yi Jing'') and ''Classic of Poetry'' (''Shi Jing'').<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Gu S, Pei J | title = Innovating Chinese Herbal Medicine: From Traditional Health Practice to Scientific Drug Discovery | journal = Frontiers in Pharmacology | volume = 8 | pages = 381 | date = 2017 | pmid = 28670279 | pmc = 5472722 | doi = 10.3389/fphar.2017.00381 | doi-access = free }}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |date=1997-07-01 |title=The Shambhala Guide to Traditional Chinese Medicine. Daniel Reid, 1996. U.S. $12.00, Canada $16.95, ISBN 1-57062-141-1. Available from Shambhala Publications, Inc., Horticultural Hall, 300 Massachusetts Avenue, Boston, MA 02115 |journal=Complementary Health Practice Review |volume=3 |issue=2 |pages=147 |doi=10.1177/153321019700300253 |s2cid=208272511 }}</ref>

China also developed a large body of traditional medicine. Much of the philosophy of [[traditional Chinese medicine]] derived from empirical observations of disease and illness by [[Taoist]] physicians and reflects the classical Chinese belief that individual human experiences express causative principles effective in the environment at all scales. These causative principles, whether material, essential, or mystical, correlate as the expression of the natural order of the [[universe]].

The foundational text of Chinese medicine is the ''[[Huangdi Neijing]]'', (or ''Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon''), written 5th century to 3rd century BCE.<ref>{{cite book | vauthors = Unschuld PU | title = Huang Di Nei Jing Su Wen: nature, knowledge, imagery in an ancient Chinese medical text, with an appendix, the doctrine of the five periods and six qi in the Huang Di Nei Jing Su Wen |date=2003 |publisher=University of California Press |location=Berkeley |isbn=978-0-520-92849-7}}</ref> Near the end of the 2nd century CE, during the Han dynasty, [[Zhang Zhongjing]], wrote a ''[[Shang Han Lun|Treatise on Cold Damage]]'', which contains the earliest known reference to the ''[[Neijing Suwen]]''. The [[Jin Dynasty (265–420)|Jin dynasty]] practitioner and advocate of [[acupuncture]] and [[moxibustion]], [[Huangfu Mi]] (215–282), also quotes the [[Yellow Emperor]] in his ''Jiayi jing'', c. 265. During the [[Tang dynasty]], the ''Suwen'' was expanded and revised and is now the best extant representation of the foundational roots of traditional Chinese medicine. [[Traditional Chinese medicine]] that is based on the use of herbal medicine, acupuncture, massage and other forms of therapy has been practiced in China for thousands of years.

Critics say that TCM theory and practice have no basis in [[scientific knowledge|modern science]], and TCM practitioners do not agree on what diagnosis and treatments should be used for any given person.<ref name="Quackwatch">{{Cite web |url=http://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/acu.html | vauthors = Barrett S |author-link=Stephen Barrett |title=Be Wary of Acupuncture, Qigong, and 'Chinese Medicine' | date = 12 January 2011 |access-date=11 December 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180602104856/https://www.quackwatch.org/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/acu.html |archive-date=2 June 2018 |url-status=live}}</ref> A 2007 editorial in the journal ''[[Nature (journal)|Nature]]'' wrote that TCM "remains poorly researched and supported, and most of its treatments have no logical [[mechanism of action]]."<ref name="swallow">{{cite journal | vauthors =  | title = Hard to swallow | journal = Nature | volume = 448 | issue = 7150 | pages = 105–6 | date = July 2007 | pmid = 17625521 | doi = 10.1038/448106a | quote = Constructive approaches to divining the potential usefulness of traditional therapies are to be welcomed. But it seems problematic to apply a brand new technique, largely untested in the clinic, to test the veracity of traditional Chinese medicine, when the field is so fraught with pseudoscience. In the meantime, claims made on behalf of an uncharted body of knowledge should be treated with the customary skepticism that is the bedrock of both science and medicine. | doi-access = free | bibcode = 2007Natur.448S.105. }}</ref> It also described TCM as "fraught with [[pseudoscience]]".<ref name="swallow" />  A review of the literature in 2008 found that scientists are "still unable to find a shred of evidence" according to standards of [[science-based medicine]] for traditional Chinese concepts such as ''qi'', meridians, and acupuncture points,<ref name="bIPgX">{{harvnb|Singh & Ernst|2008|page = 72}}</ref> and that the traditional principles of acupuncture are deeply flawed.<ref name="FJS08">{{harvnb|Singh & Ernst|2008|page = 107}}</ref> There are concerns over a number of potentially toxic plants, animal parts, and mineral Chinese compounds,<ref name="Shaw-2012">{{cite journal | vauthors = Shaw D | title = Toxicological risks of Chinese herbs | journal = Planta Medica | volume = 76 | issue = 17 | pages = 2012–8 | date = December 2010 | pmid = 21077025 | doi = 10.1055/s-0030-1250533 | doi-access = free }}</ref> as well as the facilitation of disease. Trafficked and farm-raised animals used in TCM are a source of several fatal [[Zoonosis|zoonotic diseases]].<ref name="ZVvJo">{{cite journal|vauthors=Liu Q, Cao L, Zhu XQ|date=August 2014|title=Major emerging and re-emerging zoonoses in China: a matter of global health and socioeconomic development for 1.3 billion|journal=International Journal of Infectious Diseases|volume=25|pages=65–72|doi=10.1016/j.ijid.2014.04.003|pmc=7110807|pmid=24858904|doi-access=free}}</ref> There are additional concerns over the illegal trade and transport of endangered species including rhinoceroses and tigers, and the welfare of specially farmed animals, including bears.<ref name="pHc8M">{{cite encyclopedia|title=Traditional Chinese Medicine and Endangered Animals|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Britannica|url=http://advocacy.britannica.com/blog/advocacy/2007/10/traditional-chinese-medicine-and-endangered-animals/|access-date=1 October 2016|date=22 October 2007|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131005052622/http://advocacy.britannica.com/blog/advocacy/2007/10/traditional-chinese-medicine-and-endangered-animals/|archive-date=5 October 2013|url-status=live}}</ref>