Traditional Chinese Medicine is a type of holistic, natural health care system that dates back at least 2,000 years to the year 200 B.C. TCM is "holistic" and "natural" because it stimulates the body's own healing mechanisms and takes into account all aspects of a patient's life, rather than just several obvious signs or symptoms. TCM practitioners view the body as a complex network of interconnected parts, rather than separate systems or organs.

In Western medicine, doctor looks for specific causes of diseases, and focuses on particular body components to treat. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) doesn't work in this way. There are fundamental differences in principles, diagnosis and treatment approaches between Western medicine and Chinese medicine.

Ancient Chinese believed that everything is interdependent and mutually interactive in the universe. Man is part of the holistic entity, and should be analyzed or interpreted with reference to the whole. TCM holistic concept includes integrity of the body and its relationship with the outer world.

The body's systems are one integrated and balanced whole

The body is an organic whole, all the component parts are interconnected, they dependent and restrict each other physiologically, influence each other pathologically. The five organs act as the core functional units, and through the linking of the meridian system, a complex set of interrelationships is formed within the body. Every part of the body has special relationships with the five organs, and the five organs themselves are interrelated too.

Furthermore, qi (vital energy), blood and body fluids are the material basis for various body functions; they flow through the body to facilitate all parts of the body working together and to ensure the unity and harmony inside the body.

The body should be in tune with the external environment

The body communicates with the external environment constantly, factors such as weather, geographic location, working and family environments can all affect our health. External changes cause the body to respond physiologically or pathologically, which reflects the united relationship between human and the outside world. We should live in harmony with nature, other people, and the immediate environment. When changes occur in external environment, and the body fails to adapt to the changes, diseases are likely to occur.