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Chinese medicine
中医 〔中醫〕 zhōng yī
Also traditional Chinese medicine; TCM. Any healing practice that has emerged and developed in China, notably including medicinal therapy and
Chinese medicine
was traditionally known in China 医 yī or 医学. It was only with the introduction of Western medicine in the 1800s and its rise to dominance that the term 中医 zhōng yī (meaning 中国医学 zhōng guó yī xué).
The validity of the term traditional Chinese medicine
is questionable, since what is taught and practiced in and outside China is mostly the modern rationalized and systematized form. Given that Chinese medicine
refers to all the healing arts that emerged and developed in Chinese, it is useful to distinguish between traditional and modern practices. Traditional Chinese medicine
referring to modern practices is a misnomer.
Centuries ago, Chinese medicine spread to Japan, Korea, and and Vietnam. These countries developed their own traditions; hence the terms
(including Kampo,
the Japanese pronunciation of 汉方 hàn fāng, which denotes Japanese medicinal therapy),
and
which with Chinese medicine can be referred to collectively as
(东方医学 dōng fāng yī xué), sometimes evocatively referred to as Oriental medicine.