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https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compendium_of_Materia_Medica https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compendium_of_Materia_Medica https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shang

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compendium_of_Materia_Medica https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compendium_of_Materia_Medica https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghan_Lun https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shanghan_Lun https://zh.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%B8%A9%E7%96%AB%E8%AE%BA https://zh.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%B8%A9%E7%96%AB%E8%AE%BA What's the reasoning behind this theory that Mao invented Chinese medicine, which has been in existence for more than a thousand years? Are you a fan of Mao, or are you mocking his inability to create modern medicine out of thin air? Or his manipulation of Chinese culture?

SeanLuke 5y ago
I don't think he's saying that Mao invented Chinese herbology. I mean, who would seriously say that? I think he's saying that Mao pushed for the treatment of Traditional Chinese medicine as a unified discipline distinct from western medicine.
catlikesshrimp 5y ago
Why are you angry? Scamming was not invented in China, it comes built in in human nature. There are Shamans in South America, and Witch doctors in Africa.
- justicezyx 5y ago
  Oh sorry! I don't meant to be rude. Hopefully you can understand my English is not native and can have many sharp edges in communication. Chinese medicine is a good thing. Don't need to link it with scamming. And as you said, scamming is universal, but Chinese medicine is not. Making it further an inappropriate analogy.
- jazzyjackson 5y ago
  western pharma sends chemists to talk to shamans and witch doctors in order to discover and isolate new medicines by the way, a large percentage of modern medicine started as or still is a plant extract, no need to diss old herbal medicine.
  - catlikesshrimp 5y ago
    Any treatment should be considered a scam until proven effective. Chinese medicine gets people to drink urine. A Shaman spits alcohol on people. A witch doctor conjures spells. None can be considered effective until proven effective. "Proven effective" means. 1) Follows the reliable method, results are published 2) The experiment can be verified and replicated by anyone anywhere anytime. That is the difference between the scientific method (So called "western medicine") and scams. Summarizing: A fungus can be medicine, when proven effective. The older you state Chinese medicine is, the worse for its cause. So much time to show proof of effectiveness, so little they can prove.
    - justicezyx 5y ago
      > Chinese medicine gets people to drink urine In extreme cases, this happens. And we also know that a lot of high impact cancer research results cannot be reproduced. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-03691-0 https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-03691-0 And Chinese medicine for the most part is a discipline for nurturing human body through natural produces and elements for self healing. https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/wellness-and-prevention/chinese-medicine https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/wellness-and-preventi... It does not have scientific methods. The modern Chinese medicine is adopting scientific methods. https://academic.oup.com/bib/article/15/6/984/180255 https://academic.oup.com/bib/article/15/6/984/180255 Condescending argument are not wrong, they are just logically imprecise. And can easily provoke negative emotions to your readers.
    - jazzyjackson 5y ago
      it’s not my intention to convince you that all traditional medicine is effective, just that some traditional medicine is effective, and testing the methods used by herbalists yields more results than starting from scratch in a chemistry lab (tho of course the chemistry lab comes in handy to isolate and eventually synthesize the molecules that are found to be effective) You say “So little they can prove” but I’m saying they have proven a lot, and non-western medicine just becomes western by virtue of being adaquatelty studied. We may be agreeing more than you think. “Plants, People, and Culture: The Science of Ethnobotany” is an excellent book on the topic.
- pphysch 5y ago
  ...and PillPushers in North America.
seanmcdirmid 5y ago
He invented the term, not the methods. Before, they were just a disparate set of folk medicine cultures spread throughout China. By unifying and standardizing them all under the umbrella of Chinese medicine and claiming that they were just as good as western medicine, they were able to stave off demand for western medicine, doctors, and hospitals that they didn’t have or couldn’t afford. See https://slate.com/technology/2013/10/traditional-chinese-medicine-origins-mao-invented-it-but-didnt-believe-in-it.html https://slate.com/technology/2013/10/traditional-chinese-med...
- powerapple 5y ago
  Before that, the Chinese medicine was called Han Medicine, there are also other medicine. Also the Chinese medicine are collection of books.
  - seanmcdirmid 5y ago
    Chinese medicine includes more than just Han medicine, and also, according to the article at least, had no institution or universities dedicated to them. What the TCM concept did was create a new field on par with other fields of study, including TCM universities and such.

SeanLuke 5y ago

I don't think he's saying that Mao invented Chinese herbology. I mean, who would seriously say that? I think he's saying that Mao pushed for the treatment of Traditional Chinese medicine as a unified discipline distinct from western medicine.

catlikesshrimp 5y ago

Why are you angry? Scamming was not invented in China, it comes built in in human nature. There are Shamans in South America, and Witch doctors in Africa.

justicezyx 5y ago
Oh sorry! I don't meant to be rude. Hopefully you can understand my English is not native and can have many sharp edges in communication. Chinese medicine is a good thing. Don't need to link it with scamming. And as you said, scamming is universal, but Chinese medicine is not. Making it further an inappropriate analogy.
jazzyjackson 5y ago
western pharma sends chemists to talk to shamans and witch doctors in order to discover and isolate new medicines by the way, a large percentage of modern medicine started as or still is a plant extract, no need to diss old herbal medicine.
- catlikesshrimp 5y ago
  Any treatment should be considered a scam until proven effective. Chinese medicine gets people to drink urine. A Shaman spits alcohol on people. A witch doctor conjures spells. None can be considered effective until proven effective. "Proven effective" means. 1) Follows the reliable method, results are published 2) The experiment can be verified and replicated by anyone anywhere anytime. That is the difference between the scientific method (So called "western medicine") and scams. Summarizing: A fungus can be medicine, when proven effective. The older you state Chinese medicine is, the worse for its cause. So much time to show proof of effectiveness, so little they can prove.
  - justicezyx 5y ago
    > Chinese medicine gets people to drink urine In extreme cases, this happens. And we also know that a lot of high impact cancer research results cannot be reproduced. https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-03691-0 https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-03691-0 And Chinese medicine for the most part is a discipline for nurturing human body through natural produces and elements for self healing. https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/wellness-and-prevention/chinese-medicine https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/wellness-and-preventi... It does not have scientific methods. The modern Chinese medicine is adopting scientific methods. https://academic.oup.com/bib/article/15/6/984/180255 https://academic.oup.com/bib/article/15/6/984/180255 Condescending argument are not wrong, they are just logically imprecise. And can easily provoke negative emotions to your readers.
  - jazzyjackson 5y ago
    it’s not my intention to convince you that all traditional medicine is effective, just that some traditional medicine is effective, and testing the methods used by herbalists yields more results than starting from scratch in a chemistry lab (tho of course the chemistry lab comes in handy to isolate and eventually synthesize the molecules that are found to be effective) You say “So little they can prove” but I’m saying they have proven a lot, and non-western medicine just becomes western by virtue of being adaquatelty studied. We may be agreeing more than you think. “Plants, People, and Culture: The Science of Ethnobotany” is an excellent book on the topic.
pphysch 5y ago
...and PillPushers in North America.

seanmcdirmid 5y ago

He invented the term, not the methods. Before, they were just a disparate set of folk medicine cultures spread throughout China. By unifying and standardizing them all under the umbrella of Chinese medicine and claiming that they were just as good as western medicine, they were able to stave off demand for western medicine, doctors, and hospitals that they didn’t have or couldn’t afford. See https://slate.com/technology/2013/10/traditional-chinese-medicine-origins-mao-invented-it-but-didnt-believe-in-it.html https://slate.com/technology/2013/10/traditional-chinese-med...

powerapple 5y ago
Before that, the Chinese medicine was called Han Medicine, there are also other medicine. Also the Chinese medicine are collection of books.
- seanmcdirmid 5y ago
  Chinese medicine includes more than just Han medicine, and also, according to the article at least, had no institution or universities dedicated to them. What the TCM concept did was create a new field on par with other fields of study, including TCM universities and such.