Hong Kong: Advancing the Chinese-Herb Industry by Chinese-Herb Theory
Hong Kong Baptist University School of Chinese Medicine · Dr. Liang Rongneng
China Association of TCM (visiting scholar at HKBU) · Prof. Li Zhizhong
As world medicine develops, more and more countries and regions are showing keen interest and close attention to our Chinese medicine and Chinese herbs. Under the pressure of the world needs TCM; TCM must go to the world, the Hong Kong government in 1998 set the goal of building Hong Kong into an International TCM Center. We have done much work over the past few years to advance the Chinese-herb industry. Below I share several views for discussion.
I. The distinction between Chinese herbs and Western drugs
A Chinese herb is "a sliced preparation or proprietary medicine, made from raw herbal materials in accordance with the principles and metrics of the four qi and five flavors, ascending/descending/floating/sinking, efficacy, and channel-entry, under the guidance of TCM theory on jingluo and zàng-xiàng, etiology and mechanism, diagnostics and treatment principles — for clinical use in TCM biàn zhèng lùn zhì."
On this explanation (or definition), three points to stress:
First, the theory of Chinese herbs is of one lineage with TCM's foundational theory. It derives from the doctrines of jingluo and zàng-xiàng, etiology-and-mechanism, and diagnostics-and-treatment — not from anatomy, biophysics, or biochemistry. That is, Chinese herbs are drugs used under TCM's guidance for TCM biàn zhèng lùn zhì.
Second, the theory of Chinese herbs' four qi — cold, hot, warm, cool — and five flavors — sour, bitter, sweet, pungent, salty — together with channel-entry, evaluates drugs by the correct-the-imbalance-with-imbalance principle of oppositional regulation. Clearly different from Western drugs' physical-chemical standards, this is the professional standard of TCM — the lifting of practice to theory in keeping with TCM's foundational doctrine.
Third, Chinese herbs come in two main clinical dosage forms: sliced preparations and proprietary medicines. Sliced preparations are intermediate preparations processed and prepared from raw herbal materials for decoctions or other forms. Proprietary medicines are pills, powders, pastes, dan, and other ready-to-use forms further made from the slices for direct clinical use. These forms serve TCM biàn zhèng lùn zhì in the clinic — incomparable with Western chemical-extraction or synthetic preparations.
II. On Chinese-herb modernization
The modernization of Chinese medicine and Chinese herbs is on everyone's mind. We should see that modernization expresses society's urgent wish to see Chinese medicine and herbs develop — and it is a concrete issue in their own development. But Chinese medicine is an essential part of the fine traditional culture of the Chinese nation, an entirely different scientific system from Western medicine. So on TCM modernization, we must not simply equate tradition with the historical past tense. To think that because TCM was born in history it is outdated and backward is to slight its scientific character. As for development: for any discipline, development is of the time, and also of history; development is the historical progress internal to tradition. Which is to say: TCM modernization cannot depart from TCM's own theory and principles.
In the 20th century, mid-East-Asian development of TCM took some detours. Looking back, and looking forward, we should see two things clearly. The work of clarifying TCM herbal theory and practice, science and technology — back to the source — is a foundation of modernization not to be ignored. Only so will technical improvement not depart from TCM's scientific principles. In the latter half of the 20th century, some places, in the name of technology first, produced "Kampo granules," "single-herb granules," and the like, which depart from TCM's scientific theory; practice has fully shown that their effects are not great. The fact has eloquently shown: emphasizing only production-side (and packaging) technology while neglecting TCM's scientific principles and use-features will not work.
Second, draw a clear line between Western drugs and Chinese herbs; prevent the spread of displaced-role and mistaken-identity phenomena. More and more people have come to see: using the methods of Western drug-physics and drug-chemistry, by Western physiological and pathological principles, to extract from Chinese herbal raw materials …
(Source text appears truncated here in the original on cuiyueli.com.)