clacke: inhibited exhausted pixie dream boy πΈπͺππ°ππPeople in China vaccinated against smallpox in the 16th century. Vaccination is part of "medicine as practiced in traditional China". Ancient people were smart, figured things out and did things that seemed to work. The things that stood the test of time have been retained within modern medicine.
"Traditional Chinese Medicineβ’" was constructed in the 1950s from random bits of lore to create national cohesion and provide low-cost healtcare that felt more caring than being told to wait and see.
When you see people in "historical" dramas taking people's pulse to diagnose illnesses, pregnancy, etc, or acupuncture and cupping being used as miracle medicine, that's not drawn from ancient sources, that's modern myth-making. Those magical powers came from wuxia (kung fu fiction) and from government promotion.
Practitioners used these techniques to understand the body, but they didn't claim the fantastic powers some people today ascribe to "TCM". Cupping was a form of bloodletting, just like Europeans used to do not so long ago.
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