Traditional Chinese medicine and pharmacology embodies a great many valuable ideas and view, which have been proved through practice. One of the most important is that, instead of treating only the symptoms, traditional Chinese medicine takes into consideration every aspect of a patient's condition to form an elements before deciding on its treatment.

Diagnoses are made within a complete observational system in which the nature of a patient's disease is determined by the "four methods of diagnosis" -observing the overall way the patient looks, listening to the voice and observing any odor, asking questions, and feeling the patient's pulse.

The experience of traditional doctors in understanding, observing, analyzing and treating disease has been handed down mainly through medical literature. According to an incomplete count, there are about 8,000 pieces of such literature extant today. The Yellow Emperor's Classic of internal Medicine (Huang Did Neil Jingo), On Typhoid and Other Diseases (Shan Han Zap Bang Lun) and The Herbal Canon of Sheen Nona (Sheen Nona Ben Cao Jing) are three representative medical works written before the third century B.C.

Traditional Chinese medicine and pharmacology incorporates the YiN (negative) and YANG (positive) theory and the theory of the Five Elements (metal, wood, water, fire, and earth), both containing na?ve dialectical ideas of ancient China. The former theory holds that everything has a YiN and a YANG side. The later theory believes that things in the universe are composed of the five indispensable elements of daily life, which move and change constantly to promote and restrain each other.

Another important theory in traditional Chinese medicine is the theory of jing and luo, which is the basis of such therapeutic treatments as acupuncture and moxibustion. According to the theory, the internal organs and the limbs of the human body are related and linked by channels through which blood and qi (vital energy) circulate. The main channels that run longitudinally are called jing while the branches that run latitudinally are called luo. If there is a blockage in jing or luo, the blood and vital energy cannot pass through. In time it affects a person's health. Acupuncture and Moxibustion are two distinct therapeutic approaches to curing a variety of ailments both by promote the circulation of Qi (vital energy) and blood in the channels by stimulating the key points and channels of the body. Acupuncture treats disease by puncturing points of the body with different types of needles. Moxibustion applies heat produced by ignited oxawood over certain points in the body. Acupuncture and moxibusition are frequently used together to treat ailments ranging from internal problems to gynecological and pediatric diseases including ailments of the dyes, lips, nose and tongue. The results are often quick with little or no side effects.

A rich treasure house created by ancient Chinese people in their long years of struggle against disease, traditional Chinese medicine and pharmacology forms an independent school within the healing arts. It has made outstanding achievements over its 2,000-year history during which it has improved continuously to remain widely practiced today.