Kendall Donald. Dao of Chinese Medicine

Oxford University Press, 2002. — 366 p. — ISBN: 0195921046.Dao of Chinese Medicine is the first Western text to shed light on the reality of the ancient healing arts of China, revealing that Chinese medical theories are based on important physiological findings. This is in contrast to the Western interpretation, popularized since the 1940s and 50s that Chinese medicine and acupuncture involve undefined energy and blood circulating through imaginary meridians. Unfortunately, the energy-meridian idea condemned Chinese medicine to be viewed in terms of metaphysical beliefs, limiting its acceptance into mainstream health care. It also led to a growing frustration to reinvent acupuncture in Western terms before understanding the true way (dao) of Chinese medicine. Dao of Chinese Medicine sets the record straight, explaining how ancient Chinese physicians developed a physiologically based medicine with the theories supported by human dissection studies and how Chinese medical theories are consistent with 21st century explanations about how acupuncture works.