Collected Medical Papers of Pei Zhengxue, Volume 1

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Collected Medical Papers of Pei Zhengxue, Volume 1 Paper 26: All Prior to the Township

Collected Medical Papers of Pei Zhengxue, Volume 1 Pei studied new medicine in Gansu Province in 1976. August 1st year, 12th day Collected Medical Papers of Pei Zhengxue, Volume 1

Author: Ying Ying, 194.523 Table of Contents for Collected Medical Papers of Pei Zhengxue (Volume 1)

[①、 A Discussion on the Integration of Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine (Journal of Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine, 1981.1)]

[② Discussing Zang-Fu Syndrome Differentiation (New Journal of Medicine, 1977.3)]

[③ An Exploration of Fever Syndrome Differentiation (Compendium of Materials on Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine, 1979.1)]

[Heart Tonifying, Root Nourishing, and Immunity Enhancement (Compendium of Materials on Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine, 1978.2)]

[5. Case of Wind-Cold Cough and Spleen-Deficiency Cough (Zhejiang Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 1978.2)]

[6. "Revised Taoren Chengqi Decoction": Experience in Treating Acute-Onset Diseases (New Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 1973.4)]

[⑦ Case of Complete Cure of Acute Monocytic Leukemia (Shaanxi New Journal of Medicine, 1979.9)]

[8. Old TCM Physician Pei Shen's Experience in Treating Leukemia (Guangxi Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 1981.4)]

[9. How to Formulate Prescriptions Based on Clinical Practice (Journal of Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine, 1981.1)]

[10. Case of Chronic Pancreatitis Complicated by Cholelithiasis (Shaanxi Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 1981.2)]

[11. Kang Rongchuan's "On Blood Disorders" (Zhejiang Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 1977.4)]

[12. One Case of Complete Cure of Acute Leukemia (Compendium of Materials on Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine, 1978.2)]

[13. Medical Case of Mao Youfeng (Compendium of Materials on Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine, 1980.1)]

[14. Theory and Practice of Activating Blood Circulation and Removing Stasis (Introduction to the Overview of Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine, 1980.4)]

[15. Experience in Treating Leukemia (Compendium of Materials on Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine, 1978.2)]

[16. Formulating Prescriptions Based on the Perspective of Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine (Journal of Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine, 1981.2)]

[17. Introduction to Selected Clinical Formulas Using Two Winter Herbs (Guangxi Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 1981.1)]

[18. Reflections After Reading "Selected Comments on Medical Literature" (Journal of Zhejiang College of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 1981.6)]

[19. Also Discussing the Integration of Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine (Shanxi Journal of Medicine, 1978.4)]

[20. A Discussion on the Modernization of Traditional Chinese Medicine (Gansu Journal of Medicine, 1983.2)]

[21. On the Method of Strengthening the Spleen and Nourishing the Kidneys (Gansu Journal of Medicine, 1983.3)]

[22. Viewing "Treating Different Diseases with the Same Method" from the Perspective of Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine (Journal of Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine, 1983.2)]

[23. Experiences in Treating Chronic Nephritis with Traditional Chinese Medicine (Gansu Journal of Medicine, 1982. Supplement)]

[24. Experiences in Treating Chronic Pancreatitis with Traditional Chinese Medicine (Gansu Journal of Medicine, 1982. Supplement)]

[25. Introduction to Old TCM Physician Pei Zhen's Experience in Treating Aplastic Anemia (Zhejiang Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 1983.4)]

[26. Two Cases of Successful Treatment of Chronic Pancreatitis (TCM Journal, 1983.2)]

A Discussion on the Integration of Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine Pei Zhengxue, Gansu Institute of New Medicine The proposal of the issue of "integration of traditional Chinese and western medicine" carries extremely important practical significance; it not only concerns the development and improvement of our national medical science, but also relates to the development and improvement of world medicine. The completion of this major mission will elevate our country's medical standards to a new height and make a tremendous contribution to the cause of human health. Exploring and researching this issue is a glorious yet arduous task before us. Below are a few personal views on the integration of traditional Chinese and western medicine; any shortcomings are welcome to be criticized and corrected by comrades. I. Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine Emerged in Different Historical Contexts

Like other sciences, medicine must arise and develop on a certain socio-economic foundation. The superstructure that develops on different economic foundations often has different forms and contents. When the economic foundation changes, "the entire massive superstructure undergoes transformation, either slowly or quickly"①. Traditional Chinese and Western medicine grew up on different economic foundations, which inevitably leads to their stark differences in form and content. Traditional Chinese medicine as a medical science roughly took shape around the 4th to 5th centuries BC, when China was undergoing a transition from slave society to feudal society. In line with the reform of the means of production, medicine broke free from the shackles of divine authority and the idea of heavenly mandate, finally separating completely from witchcraft. The famous physician Bian Que was a representative figure of this period of change; the ideas and viewpoints of China's earliest medical theoretical work, "The Yellow Emperor's Classic of Internal Medicine," were also initially formed during this time. Over the following two thousand-plus years, China remained in a long feudal society (after the Opium War in 1840, it became a semi-feudal, semi-colonial society), with an economic base primarily composed of individual agriculture and scattered handicrafts. Such an economic foundation could neither provide modern research equipment for the development of medicine nor fully supply modern theoretical bases in biochemistry, pathology, and other fields. Therefore, when conducting clinical research in traditional Chinese medicine, people could only rely on patients' subjective sensations and the external manifestations of diseases; apart from that, if there was anything else to rely on, it was the medical workers' own thinking and analytical abilities. The development of Western medicine, on the other hand, took place under completely different social conditions from those of traditional Chinese medicine. Starting in the 16th century, with the development of industries such as mining and the emergence of capitalist sprouts in Europe, various new machines and tools appeared one after another, especially the invention of telescopes and microscopes, which opened the door to the mysteries of nature for humanity and provided unprecedented favorable conditions. This enabled natural science to break free from the cage of scholastic philosophy, relying on abundant empirical materials and experimental research to achieve extensive and systematic development. In the field of medicine, thanks to the widespread use of microscopes, humans began to explore the microscopic world; the discovery of cells and the understanding of blood circulation both emerged on this basis. In the mid-18th century, modern large-scale industry powered by steam engines arose, further providing many necessary instruments and facilities for the development of medicine and promoting the emergence of a series of important theories and achievements in biochemistry, pathology, and other areas. Thus, Western medicine formed a complete academic system from theory to practice at an unprecedented speed. From the above situation, we can see that the development of Western medicine is based on capitalist industry. Before the rise of capitalism, the form and content of Western medicine were broadly similar to those of traditional Chinese medicine, but its completeness of content and precision of syndrome differentiation were still far inferior to those of traditional Chinese medicine. The Milesian School in ancient Greece proposed that all things can be divided into opposing contradictions, such as dryness and wetness, cold and heat, etc., and that the elements constituting all objects are wind, fire, water, and earth. This idea is completely identical to the Yin-Yang and Five Elements theory of traditional Chinese medicine and belongs to naive materialism and spontaneous dialectics in philosophy.

II. Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine Have Different Forms and Contents Because the economic foundations supporting the development of traditional Chinese and Western medicine are different, this determines that the two have different forms and contents. Let's take bacterial dysentery as an example to illustrate the different characteristics they show in disease recognition and treatment. [Western medicine, through]{.underline}

experimental research in etiology, first recognized that this disease is caused by dysentery bacilli (Shigella sonnei, Shigella flexneri, Shigella dysenteriae, Shigella boydii, etc.). Then, through epidemiological experimental research, it was recognized that these bacteria enter the human body through water, hands, flies, and other routes. Further, through pathological experimental research, it was discovered that inflammatory changes (congestion, edema, inflammatory exudation, ulcers) form on the lower colon and rectal mucosa. These inflammatory changes cause a set of systemic poisoning symptoms—fever, coma, convulsions, respiratory failure, circulatory failure—and local irritation symptoms—tenesmus, diarrhea, mucus, pus, and blood in the stool. In terms of treatment, using antibiotics to inhibit the pathogen is considered the key to treating this disease, combined with correcting fluid and electrolyte balance, as well as addressing respiratory and circulatory failure. It can be seen that Western medicine's understanding of this disease adopts an experimental research approach, with a progression from cause to syndrome, and its treatment focuses more on directly controlling the pathogen. Traditional Chinese medicine, on the other hand, first analyzes dysentery based on the most important symptom—pus and blood in the stool.{.underline} (Zhang Jiebin said: "Anyone suffering from dysentery must have pus and blood; if there is no pus and blood, how can it be called dysentery?"②. Pus is slippery and greasy, indicating dampness; blood is bright red, indicating heat; when pus and blood mix together, it represents a combination of dampness and heat. In addition, (1) dysentery often occurs at the intersection of long summer (dampness) and summer (heat), (2) the tongue coating of dysentery is often yellow (heat) and greasy (dampness), (3) the pulse of dysentery is often slippery (dampness) and rapid (heat). These three observations also support the above view, reflecting both the relationship between humans and nature and the overall relationship among various parts of the human body. Dampness and heat combined easily obstruct the flow of qi; when qi flow is blocked, pain arises, leading to tenesmus. Therefore, traditional Chinese medicine believes that the combination of dampness and heat is the root of dysentery, while tenesmus is the manifestation of dysentery. In treatment, clearing heat and drying dampness addresses the root, while regulating qi and relieving pain targets the manifestation.

From the above argument, we can see that traditional Chinese medicine's understanding of dysentery uses a method completely different from Western medicine's experimental research approach—namely, logical reasoning. Its process of understanding goes from symptom to cause (diagnosing the cause), and its treatment focuses on adjusting the body's reactivity to reduce or eliminate the pathogen.

Comparison Table of Disease Recognition Between Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine

| > Recognition Method | > Recognition Process | > Treatment Focus | > Method | > Sequence |

Chinese | > Medicine | > Logical Reasoning | > From Symptom to Cause | By Adjusting the Body's Reactivity to Inhibit the Pathogen | | | > Cause | | | | > (Diagnosing the Cause) | Western | > Medicine | > Experimental Research | > From Cause to Symptom | > Directly Inhibiting the Pathogen [Given the above differences in how traditional Chinese and Western medicine recognize diseases, each]{.underline} self [inevitably forms certain biases and shortcomings. Western medicine's exper]{.underline} [imental research method,]{.underline} with a progression from cause[to symptom, focusing on directly inhibiting the pathogen, often results in varying degrees of emphasis on]{.underline}

the local manifestations of the disease, while easily overlooking the body's overall condition and its own anti]{.underline}pathogenic functions. Traditional Chinese medicine's logical reasoning approach, with a progression from symptom to cause (diagnosing the cause), inhibits the pathogen by adjusting the body's reactivity, often resulting in a focus on the body's overall condition while easily overlooking the specific characteristics of the local lesion. Let's take pleurisy as an example to illustrate this issue. Western medicine's understanding of this disease focuses on inspection, palpation, percussion, and auscultation of the chest, combined with radiographic and laboratory diagnostics to determine the nature of pleural effusion as the key to diagnosing the disease. Traditional Chinese medicine, on the other hand, focuses on systemic symptoms such as alternating chills and fever, fullness and pain in the chest and flanks, irritability, nausea, and loss of appetite, then combines pulse diagnosis and tongue color to determine that the pathogenic factor resides in Shaoyang as the key to diagnosing this syndrome. In diagnosing this disease, Western medicine only emphasizes the local manifestations of pleurisy while ignoring the systemic response symptoms; Traditional Chinese medicine, however, emphasizes the systemic response symptoms while ignoring the local manifestations of pleurisy. Due to this difference in perspective, different tendencies emerge in treatment. Western medicine adopts the method of thoracentesis to drain pleural effusion, alleviating local symptoms caused by pleural effusion accumulation while simultaneously administering antibiotic therapy against the pathogen; Traditional Chinese medicine, on the other hand, uses Xiaochaihu Tang combined with Xiaoxianxiong Tang, adjusted according to the patient's condition, mainly treating systemic symptoms, essentially focusing on regulating the body's reactivity. Given this, when pleurisy patients still experience chest pain and bitter taste in the mouth due to residual pleural reactions after pleural effusion absorption, Western medicine often achieves very little effect; for patients with excessive pleural effusion, purely Traditional Chinese medicine treatment also finds it difficult to achieve complete efficacy. Engels said in his book "Dialectics of Nature": "In the Greeks—precisely because they had not yet progressed to anatomical and analytical study of nature—the natural world was still regarded as a whole and observed from a general perspective. The overall connections among natural phenomena had not yet been proven in detail; for the Greeks, these connections were a direct intuitive result. Here lies the flaw of Greek philosophy—it would later have to yield to another viewpoint. However, here also lies its advantage over all subsequent metaphysical opponents. If metaphysics is more accurate than the Greeks in details, then overall the Greeks are more accurate than metaphysics." Although this passage refers to ancient Greek philosophy and modern metaphysics, it appropriately evaluates the pros and cons of viewing things solely from a holistic perspective versus a purely local perspective. This can inspire a deeper understanding of traditional Chinese and Western medicine. Of course, modern Western medicine is by no means equivalent to metaphysics; nor is Traditional Chinese medicine entirely the same as ancient Greek philosophy—this needs to be clarified.