批判中医——运用常识正常思考

Criticizing Traditional Chinese Medicine: Thinking Normally with Common Sense

> By Li Xiaolai · 2011-07-09 · [Original (web archive)](https://web.archive.org/web/20110902223406/http://www.lixiaolai.com:80/archives/10664.html) (Chinese)
> Our translation from the Chinese original.

**In criticizing Chinese medicine, I'm not the first, nor will I be the last.** Criticizing Chinese medicine isn't anything fun, but it is something that has to be done—there are always some people (like me) who, for this or that reason, end up feeling that Chinese medicine must be criticized. Why? Only one reason is needed to criticize Chinese medicine: **Chinese medicine often harms people.** When Mr. Lu Xun said "Chinese medicine is nothing but a conscious or unconscious swindler," he was still being very polite, because a swindler is, after all, less hateful and frightening than a killer.

This post is going to be a very long post (predictably there'll be countless comments too)—I'll organize it bit by bit and add to it slowly.

Chinese medicine won't fall because of this one post, and its decline won't be because of a post like this either.

All the explanations and arguments in this post will be based entirely on common sense.

Readers please note: **since a position has already been taken, there may not be any "friendly discussion" here**—I only hope everyone is clear on one point: **cursing people is wrong, and using foul language is stupid.**

[July 9, 2011]

Thanks to fellow student [@ArchNew](http://twitter.com/archnew) for providing [a funny picture](http://twitpic.com/5nt9jw).
[July 10, 2011]

To put it more precisely, this post is a tool. I usually tell friends this: "Don't argue with people about Chinese medicine, because you simply can't persuade them." This post isn't for persuading them; it's to provide other people with a tool, a tool that lets them judge whether the other party can think normally. Show them this post, then just observe their reaction.
[July 10, 2011]

**1. Are Chinese medicine and Western medicine equals?**

Literally, Chinese medicine and Western medicine seem to be two "evenly matched" sides, one Eastern medical art and the other Western medical art. In fact, what we call Western medicine refers to *Modern Medical Technology*, while "Chinese medicine" refers to *Chinese Traditional Medical Treatment*. Throughout the world, every country, every people, every culture has had its own "traditional medical treatments"—it's just that now they've basically all been abandoned and replaced by modern medical technology (science).

So the name "Chinese medicine" is itself misleading. Many people have in fact long since abandoned "traditional medical treatments" themselves, but as soon as they hear criticism of Chinese medicine, they feel as if their culture, their people, their country had been violated, and so naturally they begin resisting on all fronts. In fact, giving up Chinese medicine is nothing shameful—it's just like how, once there was toilet soap, people naturally stopped washing their faces with laundry soap (and once there was facial cleanser, people used soap even less): a perfectly normal thing, nothing more. Conceptual clarity is very important; it has always been the precondition for thinking normally.

**2. Chinese medicine is an important component of Chinese culture and must be protected!**

Whether tradition or culture, not all of it needs protecting or must be protected. Once upon a time foot-binding was still tradition, and men wearing queues and having three wives and four concubines was culture too. Enlightenment, progress, science and democracy can all become, and should become, part of Chinese culture, and all the more should become its main components. Something unscientific being treated as part of a culture is simply a disgrace to that culture.

**3. Without Chinese medicine your ancestors would have died out long ago; would it be your turn to shout wildly here?**

In the ages without modern medical technology, people's tenacious reproduction did not depend entirely on the backward medical technology of the time. In fact, before Li Shizhen, humans and the Chinese alike had long had a history longer than the later civilization—may I ask, how did people survive then? The answer is simple: however high the death rate, it couldn't stop humans from reproducing tenaciously. Whether a species can reproduce down to today has almost nothing to do with whether it has medical treatments (how long a particular person can live, though, obviously has a direct connection with the medical technology of the time)—may I ask, is it because crocodiles have traditional medical treatments, or modern medical treatments, that they've survived so well over hundreds of millions of years? What about ants? Spiders?!

**4. If Chinese medicine has been passed down for thousands of years, there must be some reason in it, right?**

Being passed down for thousands of years doesn't in itself show that it has reason. The saying "getting a haircut in the first lunar month kills your maternal uncle" has also been passed down for who knows how many generations, right? Does it have reason?

Going further, "having some reason in it" and "being reasonable" are still a hundred and eight thousand li apart. Take out the doctrines of any cult at random and you can find a few "golden sayings," which may even be universally valid; unfortunately, those few correct golden sayings can't change the nature of the cult as a whole. By the same token, what swindler can succeed with a mouth full of nonsense?—swindlers all rely on "mixing one false sentence into nine true ones out of ten." You can always find some places in the theory of Chinese medicine that make sense, but this doesn't in the least prevent the theory of Chinese medicine as a whole, seen from today, from being backward, decayed, useless and even harmful—hindering, even obstructing people from using better things already constitutes evil.

**5. What's bad is quack doctors, not Chinese medicine, right?**

In the past, in the countryside there were no well-trained doctors, so people had no choice but to go to "spirit dancers" (跳大神) when sick. In fact spirit dancers weren't completely without learning or skill either; they too induced, organized and summed up their own and their predecessors' experience. Some of them could cure some illnesses too. But we can't say "what's bad is those who don't dance the spirit dance well, not spirit dancing itself...," can we?

As a kind of medical treatment, whatever today cannot pass the test of a "[double-blind test](http://www.lixiaolai.com/archives/7058)" we regard as "unreliable, at least still dangerous for the time being." Unfortunately, **not one of the theories of Chinese medicine (yes, it's that absolute, not a single one) can pass this simple and effective test.** Some people, to muddle through, falsify data and claim they've passed a "double-blind test"—this shows that many so-called practitioners of Chinese medicine today are no longer the "conscious or unconscious swindlers" of Lu Xun's era; today they're nothing but "bastards harboring ill intent."

Those who don't know what a "double-blind test" is, and don't understand why it's so important, please catch up on your own—this isn't some specialist knowledge; today, in the twenty-first century, it's merely common sense that every educated person should know.

**6. Yes, Chinese medicine is to be negated wholesale.**

People always say, "Surely you can't negate Chinese medicine wholesale?"—my view is that it really is to be negated wholesale. "There are always some benefits" doesn't mean it can't be negated wholesale. Negating wholesale isn't anything strange either. It's just like how in history feudal society replaced slave society and capitalist society replaced feudal society, not because "slave society had no benefits at all" or "feudal society had no benefits at all," but because "even if they had some benefits, those weren't worth keeping," and "what replaced them not only has more benefits, but also has the benefits they originally had."

Don't lose a third of your nerve as soon as you hear "negate wholesale." So many countries and peoples on Earth have wholesale abandoned traditional medical treatments; has collective extinction happened? No. Why? Because **on the whole**, the conditions traditional medical treatments can treat, modern medical treatments can all cure, and conversely, many illnesses traditional medical treatments can't cure, modern medical treatments can cure too (**opponents please read carefully, don't quote out of context, don't leave out a single word. I know you have read-but-don't-read syndrome—a brain condition that even modern medical treatments have no way to cure**).

"Chinese medicine cured an illness Western medicine couldn't!"—for some people this is a reason to support Chinese medicine. But for me, this is precisely one of the fundamental reasons Chinese medicine must be negated wholesale: in fact, there is no illness that Western medicine can't cure and that, conversely, only Chinese medicine can cure; there are only illnesses "Chinese medicine claims it can cure." For example, Chinese medicine claims it can treat diabetes, and who knows how many people it has cheated; Chinese medicine claims it can treat hepatitis, and who knows how many people it has cheated; Chinese medicine claims it can do something to treat late-stage cancer, and who knows how many people it has cheated; Chinese medicine claimed it could treat SARS, and who knows how many people it has cheated (who knows how many children it blinded); Chinese medicine claims it can "treat" obesity, and who knows how many people it has cheated... In fact, Chinese medicine always claims it can cure any illness. Even if some practitioners of Chinese medicine are "more rigorous" and "only claim they can treat certain conditions," when you add up all practitioners of Chinese medicine you'll find they're "capable of anything," only it's all "claimed"; not one can use a "double-blind test" to prove his treatment really works.

Can Chinese medicine cure a cold? No. In the theory of Chinese medicine there's simply nothing about how to deal with viruses and bacteria. But Chinese medicine won't die, and Chinese medicine won't stay quiet, so a monster appeared: "Chinese patent medicines," claiming that "combining Chinese and Western medicine works better"—this is naked deception. The Chinese-medicine ingredients in all cold granules have no effect whatsoever on viruses; what suppresses cold symptoms has always been the Western-drug ingredients.

Heart disease, diabetes, hepatitis, pneumonia, athlete's foot... If you list the common conditions you know of (by common sense alone), you'll see for yourself that not one of these conditions is "one only Chinese medicine can cure"—quite the opposite: the conditions just listed are all ones Chinese medicine certainly can't cure and that can only be handled by Western medicine. If necessary, opponents please provide evidence proving that some disease can only be cured by Chinese medicine and absolutely not by Western medicine—if such a condition really exists, then negating Chinese medicine wholesale can't fully stand.

Fang Zhouzi (perhaps under pressure) once published an article clarifying ["I don't intend to negate Chinese medicine wholesale"](http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=%E6%96%B9%E8%88%9F%E5%AD%90%EF%BC%9A%E6%88%91%E4%B8%8D%E6%98%AF%E8%A6%81%E5%85%A8%E7%9B%98%E5%90%A6%E5%AE%9A%E4%B8%AD%E5%8C%BB). But I can't see in what respect Chinese medicine is truly good (don't miss the word "truly")—good to the point of being completely irreplaceable. Nor do I feel any pressure in advocating negating Chinese medicine wholesale—on the contrary, I feel that besides having common sense to support my view, I also have a minimum of freedom of speech. Chinese medicine won't collapse because I alone advocate negating it wholesale—although I believe it will collapse sooner or later.

**7. Do you understand Chinese medicine?! All you know is talking nonsense here!**

Maybe I can't cook, but I still know which dish tastes good or not, what can be eaten and what can't; maybe I can't direct films, but I still know which film is good or not; maybe I can't drive, but I still know cars can't be driven onto the sidewalk—**yes, this is the power of common sense.**

Stop trying to attack the other party's non-expert status while ignoring glaring evidence—that's a sign of cowardice. As a citizen I can't govern the country, so I can't express opinions? As a student I can't teach, so I can't have views about the teacher? As a patient I can't treat illness, so I can only let the doctor do whatever he likes with me?

Over the years I've met countless people who criticized me with this reason—but the funniest thing is that the people who criticize me with this reason never seem to have thought that **if this reason really must be followed, then before demanding that I shut up, they too should shut up.**

**8. Can Chinese medicine combine with Western medicine, each making up for the other's shortcomings?**

In recent years, Chinese medicine has always been taking Western medicine's strengths to make up its own shortcomings. Let me reword that, to save anyone from having skipped point 1. As a **traditional medical treatment** that's old but won't die, it has always been flying the banner of "combining Chinese and Western medicine" (as if Western medicine also got some advantage from it) to "rectify its name." We've all seen Chinese-medicine practitioners using stethoscopes or looking at X-rays; when have you ever seen a surgeon doing "looking, listening and smelling, asking, and pulse-taking"?

Unscientific things always have to carry the banner of science; how could scientific things need the assistance of pseudoscience?

**9. I just like seeing Chinese-medicine doctors; what business is it of yours?!**

It's true that nobody has the right to interfere with your freedom. You catch a cold and take Chinese medicine, you get insufficient blood supply to the brain and take Chinese medicine, you get heart disease and see a Chinese-medicine doctor, you get athlete's foot and see a Chinese-medicine doctor... nobody can interfere with any of this. But conversely, our disliking Chinese medicine and criticizing Chinese medicine isn't something you can interfere with either. If you happen to be a Chinese-medicine practitioner and feel it's unfair, then let's reason it out. You can bring out results that you can pass a double-blind test with; if you can't, then forget it, and go do whatever you should be doing.

**10. Don't talk to me about any "double-blind test"; using Western medicine's methods to measure Chinese medicine is unfair!**

Please read point 1 carefully. In the present context, "Chinese" and "Western" aren't equals. **What we're saying is: Chinese medicine is unscientific. And precisely because of this, it must be abandoned.** There's only one method of measuring the medical treatments: science—science isn't divided into "Chinese science" or "Western science." We don't accept what's unscientific. Don't ask me "what is science?"—you should go catch up on your own. Don't angrily denounce us with "you're just a bunch of arrogant, ridiculous believers in the religion of science"—it's no use; we won't get angry, and won't even argue with you.

**11. Nothing you say can persuade me at all!**

We don't say these things to persuade you. We just want to explain the reasoning clearly. As for whether you accept it, or even whether you're capable of understanding it, that's your own business! It's just that we do indeed hope that when you get heart disease you won't go see a Chinese-medicine doctor, that when you catch a cold you won't take Chinese medicine, and that when you get diabetes you absolutely won't believe in any Chinese medicine, Chinese herbs, Chinese patent medicines or anything like that... you know what I mean.

**12. Chinese medicine has therapeutic effects; do you dare deny it?!**

Any traditional medical treatment on Earth has this, that, some degree of therapeutic effect—Chinese traditional medical treatment is of course the same. But why were other cultures so "foolish" as to discard "traditional medical treatments with some degree of therapeutic effect"? The answer is very clear: because the therapeutic effect of modern medical technology is better!

Medicine is a discipline with relative particularity. **To judge whether a medical treatment is effective, you must, at the very least, rule out the placebo effect** (those who've never heard of this concept, or only half understand it, please catch up on your own). So when you want to refute me with reasons like "such-and-such a condition of mine / my relative / my friend / so-and-so I heard of was cured by Chinese medicine!", please first carefully consider the following points:

a) Are you sure the placebo effect has been ruled out?
b) Are you sure the condition can't be treated with modern medical treatments?
c) Are you sure that Chinese-medicine practitioner used only traditional medical treatments? (All Chinese patent medicines are the same: what works is the Western-drug ingredients—the Chinese-medicine practitioners themselves know this)
d) More importantly, are you sure the illness was really cured? (Many Chinese-medicine practitioners claim they can treat diabetes, relying on nothing more than "diverting attention")

**13. Traitor!**

Sigh, say whatever you like.

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