Chinese Medicine and the Problem of Tradition (original) (raw)
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Chinese Medicine and the Enticement of Heritage Status
, UNESCO included "Acupuncture and moxibustion as part of Chinese traditional medicine" on its Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. This article will consider the challenges of this "patrimonialisation" of Chinese medicine by going over the discipline's recent history. Chinese medicine (中醫zhongyi) finds itself in a paradoxical situation, compared in practical terms with biomedicine, in perpetual reclassification, and held up for good or for bad reasons. Its inclusion in the cultural heritage list highlights several problematic issues. The "invention" of "Traditional Chinese Medicine" (TCM) has been underway for more than 50 years. But the ambivalent nature of teaching has affected its transmission from expert to apprentice, and questions are constantly raised regarding its scientific credentials as well as its clinical and therapeutic practices. At a time when acupuncture and Chinese pharmacopoeia are increasingly spreading in Europe, the Americas, and Africa, and thus form part of the circulation of knowledge and medical know-how, their acquisition of heritage status marks a new stage in their ceaseless reconfiguration at both national and international levels. Many questions arise as to the definition of this medicine, its social and cultural construction, and its complex status in China and abroad. This article's main point will be an analysis of texts offered in the national list of masterpieces and submissions made to UNESCO for inclusion on its list. Chinese medicine's recent history, progress, and debates Chinese medicine as found in China now is the fruit of a long history, diverse political decisions, and a theoretical and practical reconstruction. (1) After having had an ambiguous status in communist China until Mao Zedong's death, it began to enjoy special attention and support from the Ministry of Health from 1980 onwards. Professionalisation of traditional China p erspe ctiv es Sp ecial feature
A Dialogue on Traditional Medicine: East Meets West
China Media Research, 2016
This dialogue, between Adam David Roth (an international historian and theorist of rhetoric and Western medicine) and Hongxia Zhang (a Chinese scholar who works on traditional Chinese medicine), reveals striking parallels between Traditional Western Medicine (TWM) rooted in ancient Greece and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). Commonalities and differences between traditional Eastern and Western philosophies of the body and approaches to healing are discussed in this dialogue. The discussion includes how, and in what ways, traditional healing practices and their attendant philosophies of health have changed over the centuries. As the dialogue unfolds and the questions emerge, readers will discover that the connections between Eastern and Western medicines may be greater than you might imagine them to be. [Adam Roth & Hongxia Zhang. A Dialogue on Traditional Medicine: East Meets West. China Media Research 2016; 12(4): 85-92]. 10
This article reproduces an exchange between academics and practitioners at the Sixth International Congress on Traditional Asian Medicine (ICTAM VI) meeting in Austin about how the history of Chinese medicine could be more meaningful, interesting, and valuable to clinicians. It provides a brief history of exchanges, the panel proposal, the abstracts of the panelists, an edited transcript of the conversation, and some concluding remarks from the participants. As more and more practitioners of Chinese medicine outside of China spend time in China, learn Chinese, become culturally and linguistically bilingual or multilingual, they seek more knowledge about what they practise than they can get in current publications in English or other European languages. The panel and this article are intended to encourage further exchange, conversations, and cooperation that will lead to new histories of Chinese medicine relevant for practitioners as much as for other academics.
Academia Letters, 2021
African initiatives have for a long time been downplayed by the west because of the belief in their superiority or Eurocentrism. It was because of this that the west for a very long time did not believe that Africa and Africans have something to contribute to human development except their land, mineral and human resources that can be exploited. As a result of this, African religion, health system and other values were simply despised. It is against this background that this paper investigates the attempt made by believers in western medicines and their practitioners to eradicate traditional medical practices in the Pinyin society. The analysis in this paper is based mostly on first-hand information the author had from his informants in this area and related secondary sources from across Africa. It was realised that traditional health practices and medicines which at one moment were almost extinct due to western influences is regaining significant popularity among the local population of Pinyin.