GEC1044/GEH1070

Chinese Medicine :
Theory & Practice
Lecture 1:
Introduction

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The Team:
Lecturer/Course Convener-
Dr. Charles WONG

DPhil, Asian & Middle Eastern Studies(Oxon)

M.A., Chinese Studies (NUS)
M.A., Comparative and Public History (Chinese University, HK)
B.A., English and History (NUS)

Department of Chinese Studies, AS8, 05-45.

chscwkh@nus.edu.sg

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Teaching Assistants:

Mr. GOH Song Wei (course coordinator)- M.A. and B.A.(Hons) in

Chinese Studies with NUS. His research interest lies in the Chinese
entertainment and cultural history in Singapore, and any topics in
the history of overseas Chinese in general.

Ms. CHAN Xiao Qing- currently pursuing a M.A. (Research) in

Chinese Studies. B.A. in history at National Taiwan University. Her
research interest is Southeast Asia Chinese Communities. My
research focuses on the interaction and connection between
Chinese communities and the local societies.

Mr. HUANG Yizhen- M.A. (Research) student working on intellectual

and social history in Late Imperial China. B.A. in the Chinese
language and literature in Central South University in China. He
enjoys swimming, watching TV dramas, and playing video games.

Ms. HUNG Wai Yu- PhD Student . B.A. and MPhil., The Chinese
University of Hong Kong, Department of Chinese Language and
Literature. Her research interests are Contemporary Malaysian
Chinese literature and Hong Kong Children’s Literature.

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Ms. LI Fanghua, Flora- PhD student with research interest in poetry
and song lyrics of the late Qing Dynasty to the modern era. She is
fascinated by the intricate interplay between tradition and
modernity, as well as the profound socio-cultural shifts that are
reflected through the art of poetry in this period. Aspiring writer and
poet.

Ms. WANG Xinran- PhD student researching on the intersection of

food with contemporary Chinese literature and film, especially
emphasizing gender perspectives.

Mr XIA Peigen- PhD student. Undergraduate study in Taiwan and MA

from NUS. Research interests in Chinese regional history and
overseas Chinese.

Mr. ZENG Zhichao- PhD student. Research on Chinese historical

linguistics and dialectology. M.A. in Linguistics & Applied Linguistics,
BA in Chinese language & literature, Nankai University, China.

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 Things to take note of…
Course Syllabus and Assessment-
• CANVAS

Lectures-
• will be recorded and available for viewing throughout the semester

Tutorials-
• Beginning in Week 4 (even week) and Week 5 (odd week)
• Attendance will be taken
• No presentations
• Your participation will be graded

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 Things to take note of…
Visit to Thong Chai Medical Research Institution (TCMRI)

• Week 8 (9-13 Oct) and Week 9 (16-20 Oct)

• 2 slots per day (AM and PM), 4 days per week (16 slots over 2 weeks)
• Registration via CANVAS
• The visit will replace Tutorial 3.
• Indemnity forms will be given out and collected before the visits.
• Please make your own transport arrangements.

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 Things to take note of…
100% Continuous Assessment

1) Tutorial Participation 20%: raising and responding to questions, active

participation in discussion, with special attention paid to the depth and quality of
the student’s response.

2) Lecture Reflection 10%: You will write a reflection of the lectures 1 to 6 in

CANVAS.

3) Field Trip Report 25%:

Each student will write a report (not exceeding 2000 words) on the field trip. The
report should include your experience of the visit and how it relates to what you

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have learnt from the course.
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Things to take note of…
4) Individual Assignment: 35% (not exceeding 3000 words):
How to improve your physical and mental health as a university student?
Each student will prepare herbal food recipe that address study-related physical
issues (fatigue, stress, headache, you name it!). Document the process of
preparation/cooking, explain the reasons for choosing those ingredients by
analysing the properties of the various herbal ingredients according to traditional
Chinese medical theories.
Each assignment will be assessed for: knowledge and understanding of the herb
properties, TCM theories and body conditions; logic and coherence of the
paper; style of expression.
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 Questions, concepts,
ideas of the course.

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 Humans are biologically
identical across cultures.
Why not medicine?
Why do you visit a western medical clinic, or a TCM
clinic, when you’re sick?

Essentially, we trust in the medical interpretation of

our illness.

Many prefer western doctors because they trust in the

western medical interpretation of their illness.

What lies behind this “trust”?

How did some of us arrived at this level of
trust/confidence?

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 Science?
“Sagacity of medical doctors”? (Foucault’s Birth
of the Clinic (1963))

Is Chinese Medicine less ‘trust-worthy’ because

it is less scientific?

How did we arrive at such assumptions or

conclusions?

Our choices pre-determined by our culture?

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Culture and Chinese Medicine

Culture and civilisation provide both an intrinsic and extrinsic source of motivation,
driving the development of Chinese medicine throughout history.

Western medicine- general culture of Europe and the whole of Western society since
the Renaissance — especially the arrival of experimental medicine.

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Is Chinese medicine philosophy or science?

Chinese medicine and culture always intertwine, are closely related

as somewhat chaotic, and difficult to divide:
- Natural Science
- Philosophy
- Religious culture
- Political culture

Clarify and understand the relation between Chinese medical

knowledge and Chinese culture.

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It’s good to bear in mind that…

Those active in living traditions of medicine (practitioners or patients) have often

imagined a long empirical tradition.

Historians and anthropologists have too easily identified the essential characteristics of
the medicine of a specific place- even when that place is geographically and culturally
diverse.

It is important to pay attention to the complex dynamics between continuity and

change as traditions constantly reinvent themselves in order to remain relevant,
appropriate, and effective.

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 Origins of Chinese
Medicine

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Shang Dynasty 商 (1600–1050 BC)
Second of the Three Dynasties (Sandai 三代) of China-
preceded by Xia 夏 (2070–1600 BC) and followed by Zhou
周 (1050–221 BC).

• Shang culture was based on agriculture.

• Hierarchical society with nobility and peasants.
• Sovereign power rested in the hands of a king who was
also the high priest.
• World view of the Shang encompassed a community
composed of the living and the dead. Existence of the
dead a certainty to the living.
• Ancestors ruled the world, but they were dependent
upon the living for provisions.
• Di 帝- most powerful of these ancestors.

if the living failed to fulfill these obligations, expressions of

displeasure by the dead ancestors.

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Ancestors’ Displeasures

Divination text-

Question: Will there be an illness?

Question: Will there be no illness?
Tooth illness. Is there a curse? Perhaps from the deceased
father-I?
The king is ill.
Was he perhaps cursed by the deceased grandmother Chi?
Or the grandmother Keng? Will his condition become
serious?
O
Swelling of the abdomen.
Is there a curse? Does the deceased Chin-wu desire
something of the king?

The Shang were familiar with many different forms of

illness (symptoms), but they recognized only a very limited
number of diseases (causes), the most important by far
being the “curse of an ancestor”.

Important!– “disease" and "medicine” are categories that

did not exist for the Shang.
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 Illness in Ancient Chinese language

Pictograph of a “man lying on a bed” ⽧ ji

“Man hurt by arrowhead” 疾 ji

疾 ji or “Illness” by Qin Dynasty’s (221–206 BCE)-

orthographic reform.

Disease (the cause of illness) 疾病 jibing

病 bing also means serious illness.

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Cause of illness identified and the recommended
remedy…

“Severe tooth illness. Should a dog be offered to

the departed father Keng, and a sheep be ritually
slaughtered?”

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However, besides ”curse of the ancestors”, the Shang people
recognized other causes for illness.

“Has the Princess Hao fallen ill because of an evil wind?”

Evil wind, as an illness-causing spirit, may have acted in its own

right, or it may have been considered to be a tool of Di 帝.

“Wind” (⾵ feng)– one of the most important etiological

principles in traditional Chinese medicine.

Wu 巫 (or shamans) took on the role of healers.

The original character for ‘doctor’ 毉 before it transformed into
醫 by the Han dynasty.

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Zhou 周 Dynasty (1050–221 BCE)

• Early Zhou period- adopted the ancestor worship from the

Shang. Ideas about illness largely similar.
• Major difference in terms of cosmological concepts- the
introduction of Tian 天 (Heaven) by the Zhou people.
Replaced Di 帝 of the Shang.
• Demonic Medicine became more important. Illness caused by

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demons (gui 鬼).Demons were more formidable than dead
ancestors as they were harder to placate.

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• Development mirroring the social upheavals of the periods
(Decline of the feudal system after 771 BCE. Spring & Autumn

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to Warring States).

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Origins of Demons (gui ⿁):

Demons were not identified by their family connections to the

living (breakdown of the feudal system of kinship?).

Demons died an unnatural or violent death, bore a grudge

against all of humanity (violence and death of massive scale?).
Expressed this resentment by causing all kinds of malicious
damage

People of the Warring States (475–221 BCE) uses various

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strategies against such demonic adversity (xie 邪)
• an alliance with a powerful deity, such as the sun, the moon,
or the stars.

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• the invocation of particularly powerful spirits who were
known to specialize in devouring lower-ranked demonic
beings.

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Eventually, such “violent” attacks on demons causing
illness led to the development of medicine (poisons) and a
technique where needles were inserted into the body of
the afflicted (genesis of acupuncture).

The concepts of demonic medicine mirror human

experiences during the period of the Warring States–
increasing amorality and continuing uncertainty of
personal and collective existence influenced perspective
of illness and treatment.

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The concept of demonic medicine continued into the
imperial Qin-Han period after the end of Zhou.

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The Medicine of Systematic
Correspondence By the end of the Warring States period…

New paradigms would eventually change the face of Chinese

philosophical thoughts that led to medical theories that we are
familiar with in the present.

Two main philosophical traditions- Confucianism and Daoism.

Chinese medicine integrated several paradigmatic world views that

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are associated with traditional Chinese medicine today:

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(1) Yin Yang 陰陽 and Five Phases 五行 theories
(2) Demonic Medicine (xie 邪)

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(3) Qi 氣