Is it wrong for me to say that Chinese medicine is unscientific?

Let me start with my conclusion. Strictly speaking, it is right that TCM is unscientific. But whether TCM is unscientific is not the criterion of its value. Just like psychology, it is a mixed discipline of social science and philosophy, but it also helps us solve some of our problems, so it has the value of existence.

Traditional Chinese medicine is not a science, but an empirical study. What is science? Science is an orderly knowledge system based on testable explanation and prediction of the form and organization of objective things.

And Chinese medicine? Look at the Chinese medicine textbooks that Chinese medicine students have studied. The theories of Yin and Yang, Five Elements, Vitality and Meridian can be regarded as the basic knowledge of philosophy, but they are all compulsory courses for Chinese medicine students. In ancient China, medical treatment and technical means were backward, so it was impossible for doctors to study the material basis of diseases as they are now, unlike doctors who could dissect, operate and look at visceral vessels and nerves. Then it has to follow a so-called black box theory, try to observe various disease phenomena, then administer drugs, then observe the patient's physical reaction, and infer the cause of the disease and the effect of drugs. It has established a suspended theoretical system, namely, yin and yang, five elements, cold, heat and cold, ups and downs, looking at four qi and five flavors, viscera and meridians and so on. It doesn't need this theory to explain the material basis of disease at all, only needs this theory to justify itself and proceed from phenomenon to theory within its framework. So you can say what traditional medicine is, it is a discipline, a theory, a theoretical system and a world outlook methodology, but it has never entered the scientific category.

Therefore, TCM is not a science, but it does not mean that the rationality and effectiveness of TCM theory and practice cannot be explained by science. Moreover, with the development and progress of technology, the material basis of Chinese medicine treatment will certainly be correctly understood.