Traditional Chinese Medicine

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) “holds that the body’s vital energy(chi or qi) circulates through channels, called meridians, that have branches connected to bodily organs and functions.” Its view of the human body is only marginally concerned with anatomical structures, but focuses primarily on the body’s functions (such as digestion, breathing, temperature maintenance, etc.):

These functions are aggregated and then associated with a primary functional entity – for instance, nourishment of the tissues and maintenance of their moisture are seen as connected functions, and the entity postulated to be responsible for these functions is xuě (blood). These functional entities thus constitute concepts rather than something with biochemical or anatomical properties.

The primary functional entities used by traditional Chinese medicine are qì, xuě, the five zàng organs, the six fǔ organs, and the meridians which extend through the organ systems. These are all theoretically interconnected: each zàng organ is paired with a fǔ organ, which are nourished by the blood and concentrate qi for a particular function, with meridians being extensions of those functional systems throughout the body.