Abstract:
This thesis is a feasibility study into the combination of (modern) Western Medicine (W.M.) and Traditional Chinese Medicine (T.C.M.). Both are in demand worldwide, and many people have perceived the potential complementarity of the two medicines.
In China, the urge to achieve a combination is so great that it has become a national task. The government, after establishing the People's Republic of China (1949), made 'Uniting T.C.M. with W.M.' one of the four principal policies for all medical professionals. Since then the intensity of research into the combination, both in China and abroad, has increased, but a full-scale combination has never been achieved. This leads some people to pessimistically argue that an achievement of this kind is impossible.
The lack of success is attributed to the 'huge gap' and 'contradiction' between the two medicines. For instance, when a T.C.M. doctor diagnoses a patient as having a problem of liver fire, a W.M. doctor may wonder how the liver can catch fire.
My research focuses on the thinking mode and theory of medicine. The review of the history of W.M. reveals the relationship between pre-modern and modern W.M., while the comparison between W.M. and T.C.M. can illustrate meritorious aspects of pre-modern W.M. which have been lost. Comparative research explains the advantages of each medicine and suggests what should be retained or improved in the new medicine - Syncretistic Medicine. For instance, T.C.M. is to be improved by standardisation, quantification and clarification. Medical equations are provided to ensure both medicines are equal in form. The fundamental theory of T.C.M., especially the syndromes of the five viscera is formally listed to demonstrate a solution to the incompatibility between the two medicines.
Without fundamental alteration to either medicine, the problem is solved by the creation and application of three general laws, by distinguishing the energy and anatomical or somatic systems and by synergically using both linear and nonlinear thinking modes.
This thesis justifies the feasibility of a full-scale combination. This is an endeavour to achieve a historical breakthrough in medical science, and, accordingly, should arouse global interest.