Speech for Chinese Medicine

General Purpose: To inform.

Specific Purpose: To inform my audience of an aspect of Chinese culture, which is traditional Chinese medicine.

Thesis: Traditional Chinese medicine is found in nearly all countries today, which I believe would be the result of intercultural communication.

INTRODUCTION

I. Hello! For my presentation, I am going to talk about a certain aspect of Chinese culture, which is traditional Chinese medicine.

• A. TCM, for short, is a practice still used in modern China and most of the United States.
• B. There are two types of TCM treatments commonly used today.

1. Herbs
2. Acupuncture

• C. According to the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine, herbs and acupuncture are the most common; however, other practices include

1. moxibustion
2. cupping
3. Chinese massage
4. mind-body therapy
5.  and dietary therapy

• D. For this presentation, I will mainly talk about herbs and acupuncture, since it is the most commonly used forms of TCM.

II. Herbs and Acupuncture.

A. Both acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine have been used and studied for a wide range of conditions.

1. Acupuncture has been used for conditions such as

• a. back pain
• b. chemotherapy-included nausea
• c. depression
• d. osteoarthritis

2. Chinese herbal medicine has been used for conditions such as

• a. Cancer
• b. Heart disease
• c. Diabetes
• d. HIV/AIDS

III. According to the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (2009), TCM is considered a form of alternative medicine.

• A. Alternative medicine is any healing practice that isn’t conventional medicine.
• B. Alternative medicine may be based on historical or cultural traditions, rather than on scientific evidence.
• C. Alternative medicine varies from country to country. I know that culture, especially Chinese culture may differ from town to town in a region as large as China. The main aspects of Chinese culture include its literature, music, cuisine, martial arts, etc., today I am only going to speak to you about one aspect which is our alternative medicine, but their very own medicine.

BODY I. China is the only country in the world where Western medicine and traditional medicine are . . . [practiced] . . . alongside each other at every level of the healthcare system. ”

• A. 40% of all health care delivered in China is Traditional Chinese Medicine.

II. TCM practitioners use a variety of therapies in an effort to promote health and treat disease. The most commonly used are Chinese herbal medicine and acupuncture.

• A. Chinese herbal medicine

1. The Chinese materia medica (a pharmacological reference books used by TCM practitioners) contains hundreds of medicinal substances- primarily plants, but also some minerals and animal products- classified by their perceived action in the body.
2. Different parts of plants such as the leaves, roots, stems, flowers, and seeds are used.
3.  Usually, herbs are combined in formulas and given as teas, capsules, tinctures, or powders.

B. Acupuncture

1. By stimulating specific points on the body, most often by inserting thin metal needles through the skin, practitioners seek to remove blockages in the flow of qi.
2. moxibustion (burning moxa- a cone or stick of dried herb, usually mugwort- on or near the skin, sometimes in conjunction with acupuncture)
3. cupping (applying a heated cup to the skin to create a slight suction) 4. mind-body therapy (qi gong and tai chi)

III. “In spite of the advent of Western practices, the Chinese have never completely ceased to employ their own art of healing, mainly because it continued to fit into their specific philosophy of life, but also because it appears that infrequent cases it was good medicine”.

• A. Chinese traditional medicine, the Ayurvedic medicine of India, Tibetan medicine, and other Eastern medical systems evolved, for the most part, independently of Western scientific medicine.
• B. “Until the twentieth century the Eastern and Western medical systems were each considered particularly efficacious [which means, successful in producing a desired or intended result; effective, by their own practitioners [ who are people actively engaged in a discipline, or profession, esp. medicine]”.

IV. In an article from the Skeptical Inquirer, Joe Nickell (2012) explains his experience, where he learned about “Chinese healing techniques. ” A. Nickell (2012) explains the origins of traditional Chinese medicine. B. Nickell (2012) learned that TCM is based on the five elements. V. Khalsa (2011) wrote an article titled Ancient Chinese Secrets, which explains the five herbs used in traditional Chinese medicine. A. Ginseng B. Dong Quai C. Schisandra D. Ho Shou wu E. Astragalus

VI. According to a newspaper article titled Chinese herbs that hurt, not heal, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is suffering from modern China’s safety troubles and quality control. A. For centuries, traders bringing their Chinese herbs into this town made sure their first stop was the Medicine King Temple. They prayed to the Han Dynasty medical expert Pei Tong, whom the temple was built to honor, asking for their roots, fungus, and berries to have the potency to cure the world’s ills. The practice has long ceased, especially after the Chinese Communist Party came to power in 1949.

VII. Chinese clamor for herbs to fight the respiratory virus- U. N. Doctors inspect Beijing hospital A. Beijing – – The World Health Organization has no evidence to suggest that traditional Chinese medicine can prevent the spread of SARS, but the people in line at Tong Ren Tang Pharmacy don’t care. There’s a two-hour wait to buy herbs. Ever since the popular Beijing Evening News newspaper ran a recipe Tuesday concocted by two experts in traditional Chinese medicine, thousands of people have rushed to pharmacies to buy the supposedly immunity-boosting elixir to…

Conclusion

I. TCM follows the belief that ancient Chinese followed many years ago, which is the same as the reasoning behind Chinese Universalism.

Their reasoning includes:

1. the Tao
2. the Yin and the Yang
3. and finally, the 5 elements, which are water, fire, wood, metal, and earth.

• A. Chinese traditional thinking conceives of man as composed of the same elements as the universe.

II. The origins of China’s medical history are usually found in legends that come from the tradition of health care over several thousand years.

• A. Where contemporary communities promise further insights into the nature of the human response to illness.
• B. Furthermore, medical historians and medical anthropologists have begun to focus their research on China, where a wealth of written sources permits

Reference

1. Eisenberg, D. (1985).
2. Encounters with qi. New York, NY: W. W. Norton & Company. Hesketh, T., & Zhu, W. X. (1997).
3. Health in China. traditional Chinese medicine: One country, two systems. British Medical Journal 315(7100), 115-117. Abstract retrieved April 5, 2012, from http://www.cbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles National Center for Complementary and Alternatice Medicine. (2009).
4. Traditional Chinese Medicine. Retrieved April 5, 2012, from http://nccam.nih.gov Nickell, J. (2012).
5. Traditional Chinese medicine: Views east and west. Skeptical Inquirer, 36(2), 18-20. Retrieved April 5, 2012, from Readers’ Guide Full Text Mega on-line database (H. W. Wilson) Khalsa, K. P. S. (2011).
6. Ancient Chinese secrets. Amazing Wellness, 3(3), 36-38. Retrieved April 7, 2012, from Readers’ Guide Full Text Mega on-line database (H. W. Wilson)  Risse, G. B. (1973).
7. Modern China and traditional Chinese medicine. Springfield, IL: Charles C Thomas. MacQueen, K. (2001).
8. The best of both worlds. Maclean’s, 114(11), 44-47. Retrieved April 7, 2012, from Readers’ Guide Full Text Mega on-line database (H. W. Wilson) Academic honesty. (n. d. ).
9. Retrieved December 2, 2005, from the University of Saskatchewan website: http://www.usask.ca/honesty Ancient Chinese medicine and mechanistic evidence of acupuncture physiology. Medline Database TCM: Made in China. Medline Database Ginseng, Panax. MedlinePlus.