IV　Oral Practice

Situational Dialogues

Work in teams and make up dialogues based on the following situations.

Situation 1

Lucy heard that TCM has a history of over 5000 years，and she has always been interested in TCM.One day，when she was visiting the museum，she was attracted by Bianshi— the stone for treatment in TCM.It made her surprised that ancient Chinese people could use stone to dispel disease.You play the role of a guide working in the museum and tell her more about Bianshi in TCM.

Situation 2

You are a guide and you are now showing a group of American tourists around in a TCM museum.On the walls，there are many pictures of famous TCM doctors in ancient China，as well as some doctors who made great contributions in the fight against COVID-19，such as Zhong Nanshan，Zhang Boli and Chen Wei.You are introducing those doctors to the tourists.

Situation 3

During the fight against the pandemic（coronavirus），TCM proved to have effective curing function，thus attracting the attention from all over the world.You are invited to make a speech on the future of TCM in a foreign university.

Story-retelling

Cue Words

（1）杏树 apricot trees

（2）重病 serious disease

（3）小病 minor illness

（4）粮仓 barn

（5）谷物 grain

（6）取之于民，用之于民 take from people and use it for people

（7）盘缠 travelling expense

（8）神仙 immortal

（9）救死扶伤 heal the wounded and rescue the dying

杏 林

三国时期，吴国有个很有名气的民间医师叫董奉。此人具有高明的医术、高尚的医德，乐做善事，施恩从不图回报。他在庐山南麓定居后，守着大片山地不种田，而是给人治病，且不收分文。病人及亲属想表达感激之情，董奉就提出，如果病治好了，患者就在山地栽杏树：病重治愈者，种五棵；病轻治愈者，种一棵。如此多年，共栽下杏树十万多株，成了一片郁郁葱葱的大杏林。每年杏子成熟季节，硕果累累。为处理这些杏子，董奉就在杏林中建了一个粮仓。他告诉人们，如果有想买杏子的，不必告诉他，可以谷物换杏，只要把带来的谷子倒入粮仓，自己取回相当数量杏子即可。董医师每年用杏子换来许多谷子，他坚持取之于民，用之于民，把谷子用来救济周围的贫苦百姓，接济来庐山旅行而断了盘缠的人。据说，每年经他救济的人在两万以上。知道这些神奇事情的人认定董奉是上天派下凡的神仙，是专门来救死扶伤、解危济困的。从此，“杏林”一词也就流传衍变为中医药的代名词了。

Group Task

Task 1

Talk about the phenomenon of “Bare-foot Doctors”existed in 1960s and 1970s in China.Please search for information about this special phenomenon in China and hold a discussion with your teammates.Write a report to summarize your team discussion.

Task 2

Work with your teammates，searching for information about famous doctors of Chinese medicine in the local area.Each group will assign a representative to report what will be found.

Reading and Question Answering

TCM：Chinese Medicine with a Long History

Traditional Chinese Medicine（TCM）has a history of over 5000 years，it can be traced back to remote antiquity.In a long course of struggling against diseases，TCM evolved into a unique and integrated theoretical system of TCM.Besides，it is regarded as a unique traditional Chinese culture.

More than 2，000 years ago，The Huangdi's Internal Classic（Huang Di Nei Jing）came into being.The medical classicis made up of two parts— Plain Conversation（Su Wen）and Spiritual Pivot（Ling Shu），each comprising nine volumes，and nine chapters，totaling up to 162 chapters.The author of the book is unknown，and scholars believed that the book summarized the medical ideas before Western Han Dynasty.The book is believed to be the foundation of traditional medical system because it contains complete medical system of Chinese medicine，including yin-yang theory，five elements，life cultivation，syndrome differentiation，visceral manifestation，channels and clinical experience.

Following Yellow Emperor's Classic of Internal Medicine，another classic of medicine called Classic on Difficult Medical Problems（Nan Jing），was given birth to the world before the Eastern Han Dynasty.The book deals mainly with the basic theory of TCM，such as physiology，pathology，diagnosis and treatment of diseases and so on.It supplemented what the Huangdi's Internal Classiclacked.

From then on，many medical schools and various classics on medicine were brought into being in succession，each having its own strong points.

Shennong's Classic of Materia Medica（Shennong Ben Cao Jing），also known as Classic of Materia Medica（Ben Cao Jing）or Materia Medica（Ben Cao），is the earliest book on materia medica in China，which appeared in the Qin-Han period with its author ship unknown.Not only does it list 365 medicinal items，among which 252 are herbs，67 are animal medicines，and 46 are mineral medicines.In the book all the medicines are divided into three grades according to their different properties and effects.The book also gives a brief account of pharmacological theories— monarch（jun），minister（chen），assistant（zuo）and guide（shi）；harmony in seven emotions（qi qing he he），four properties of medicinal herbs（si qi）and five flavors of medicinal herbs（wu wei）.

In the Han Dynasty（3rd century AD），Zhang Zhongjing，an outstanding physician，wrote Treatise on Cold-Attack and Miscellaneous Diseases（Shang Han Za Bing Lun），which is divided into two books by later generations，one is entitled Treatise on Cold Attack（Shang Han Lun），the other Essentials from the Golden Cabinet（Jin Gui Yao Lüe）.The book established the principle of syndrome differentiation，there by laying a foundation for the development of clinical medicine.

In the Western Jin Dynasty，Huangfu Mi，a famous physician，compiled A-B Classic of Acupuncture and Moxibustion（Zhen Jiu Jia Yi Jing）.The book consists of 12 volumes with 128 chapters，including 349 acupoints.It is the earliest extant work dealing exclusively with acupuncture and moxibustion and one of the most influential works in the history of acupuncture and moxibustion.

The Sui and Tang Dynasties came into their own in feudal economy and culture.In 610 AD，Chao Yuanfang etc.compiled Treatise on the Causes and Manifestations of Various Diseases（Zhu Bing Yuan Hou Lun）.The book gave an extensive and minute description of the etiology and symptoms of various diseases.It is the earliest extant classic on etiology and symptoms in China.

In 657 AD，Su Jing together with 20 other scholars，compiled Newly Revised Materia Medica（Xin Xiu Ben Cao），which is the first pharmacopoeia sponsored officially in ancient China，and the earliest pharmacopoeia in the world as well.Sun Simiao（581-682 AD）devoted all his life to writing out two books：Prescriptions Worth a Thousand Gold Pieces for Emergency（Bei Ji qian Jin Yao Fang）and Supplement to ValuablePrescriptions（Qian Jin Yi Fang）.The books deal with general medical theory，materia medica，gynecology and obstetrics，pediatrics，acupuncture and moxibustion，diet，health preservation and prescriptions for various branches of medicine.Sun Simiao was thus honored by later generations as “the king of herbal medicine”.Both books are recognized as representative works of medicine in the Tang Dynasty.

In the Song Dynasty，more attention was paid to the education of TCM.The government set up“the Imperial Medical Bureau” for training and bringing up qualified TCM workers.

In 1057 AD，a special organization named “Bureau for Revising Medical Books” was set up in order to proofread and correct the medical books in the past，and to publish them one after another.The books revised have been handed down till now and are still the important classics for China and other countries to study TCM.

In the Jin and Yuan Dynasties，there appeared four medical schools represented by Liu Wansu（1120-1200 AD），Zhang Congzheng（1156-1228 AD），Li Gao（l180-1251 AD）and Zhu Zhenheng（1281-1358 AD）.Among them，Liu Wansu believed that “fire and heat” were the main causes of a variety of diseases and that the diseases should be treated with drugs cold and cool in nature.So he was known as “the school of cold and cool” by later generations.Zhang Congzheng believed that all diseases were caused by exogenous pathogenic factors invading the body，and advocated that pathogenic factors should be driven out by methods of diaphoresis，emesis and purgation.So he was known as “the school of purgation”.The third school represented by Li Gao，who held that “Internal injuries of the spleen and stomach will bring about various diseases”.Therefore，he emphasized that the most important thing，clinically，should be to warm and invigorate the spleen and stomach because the spleen is attributed to the earth in the five elements.So he was regarded as the founder of “the school of reinforcing the earth”.And the fourth school was known as “the school of nourishing yin” founded by Zhu Zhenheng.He believed that “Yang is usually redundant，while yin is ever deficient”.That is why the body “often has enough yang but not enough yin”.So he usually used the method of nourishing yin and purging fire in clinical practice.

Li Shizhen（1518-1593 AD），a famous physician and pharmacologist in the Ming Dynasty，wrote The Compendium of Materia Medica（Ben Cao Gang Mu）.The book consists of 52 volumes with 1，892 medicinal herbs，including over 10，000 prescriptions and 1，000 illustrations of medicinal items.In addition，his book also deals with botany，zoology，mineralogy，physics，astronomy，meteorology，etc.It is really a monumental work in materia medica and a great contribution to the development of pharmacology both in China and all over the world.

During the same period，acupuncture and moxibustion reached their climax.Many literature concerning acupuncture and moxibustion for the ages were summarized and developed.

Since the founding of New China，our government has paid great attention to inheriting and developing the heritage of TCM and materia medica.A series of policies and measures have been taken for developing TCM.In 1986，the National Administrative of Traditional Chinese Medicine was established.In 2013，the Belt and the Road Initiative has ushered in a new era for the fast development of TCM and it’s spread to neighboring countries.Never before has TCM been so prosperous as it is today.TCM has experienced many vicissitudes of times but always remains evergreen.There is no doubt that TCM will take its place in medical circles of the world as a completely new medicine.

Questions

（1）Why can TCM exist for such a long time？

（2）What kind of new books on TCM do you expect to see？

（3）What new developments in TCM do you expect？

（4）What limits the development of TCM？

（5）How do you predict the future development of TCM？