Wu Jing-Nuan. An illustrated Chinese materia medica

New York: Oxford University Press, 2005. — iv; 706 p. — ISBN: 139780195140170Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) uses many therapeutic modalities, the major one being Chinese herbal medicine. Its development has been a historical process flowing and flowering with Chinese culture for more than four thousand years. Its practice follows theories of holistic and integrative principles. Therapy is based on understanding relations between part and whole, distinguishing symptom and appearance from true cause, and treating each individual case as unique. The foundation for this medical practice is the Chinese materia medica. More than 6,000 substances have been used and their effects documented and researched in the past four millenia. Clinical practice and empirical results from millions of medical cases have created a data bank on individual substances as well as prescriptions of complex compounds. This literature is unparalleled and unsurpassed in the world’s medical knowledge.