What is Ethnic Medicine?

Ethnic medicine is the traditional medicine of China's ethnic minorities.

The Constitution of the People's Republic of China*** and the People's Republic of China stipulates, "The State shall develop medical and health care, modern medicine and traditional medicine in China." The traditional medicine referred to here, as I understand it, should include three components: Chinese medicine, ethnic medicine and folk medicine.

Traditional Chinese medicine is the mainstream medicine in ancient Chinese society with the background of Han culture, and it has an undisputed academic and social status so far, and it is the representative of Chinese traditional medicine of course.

Ethnic medicine is the traditional medicine of China's ethnic minorities. It includes Tibetan medicine, Mongolian medicine, Uyghur medicine, Dai medicine, Zhuang medicine, Miao medicine, Yao medicine, Yi medicine, Dong medicine, Tujia medicine, Huihui medicine, Korean medicine and so on. Medicine is an innate need of human beings, and each ethnic group has its own medical creation and medical accumulation in history. Among the 55 ethnic minorities, there are more than 30 ethnic groups that have organized traditional medicine information. Due to different historical conditions and cultural backgrounds, the development of traditional medicine of each ethnic group has been uneven, and the subsequent inheritance and development have varied. Some have established a fairly complete medical system. Some are in the process of summarizing and organizing, sorting out and refining their systematic theories. In some cases, there are only some sporadic prescriptions and medical experiences left. But on the whole, each ethnic medicine is not a certain branch of Chinese medicine, but a sister of Chinese medicine. As for the concept of national medicine itself, is not a newly created, unified medical system, but a variety of national medicine components aggregated together in an academic general term and working definition, from its ethnicity, history, inheritance, they have similar philosophical thinking, medical characteristics, medication experience and historical destiny, and belong to China's traditional medicine.

Folk medicine, on the other hand, is embedded in the folk health practices, single prescription, herbal medicine and medical expertise, they are not necessarily guided by the theories of Chinese medicine, and it is difficult to be attributed to a certain national medicine, and is generally referred to as "folk herbal medicine", "medicine", "medicine", "medicine", "medicine", "medicine", "medicine", "medicine", "medicine", "medicine", "medicine", "medicine", "medicine", and "medicine". The people generally referred to as "folk herbalist", "medicine, a skillful person" or "folk with expertise".

The concept of "ethnomedicine" has been around since at least the 1950s. The concepts of "ethnomedicine" and "ethnopharmacy" became common in official documents in the 1980s. As a matter of fact, the concept of ethnomedicine can be divided into two broad and narrow definitions. The broad concept refers to the traditional medicine of the Chinese nation, just like the term national industry, national enterprise and national economy. The nation here refers to the Chinese national family, with the meaning of national, indigenous and non-foreign. The narrower concept is the traditional medicine of China's ethnic minorities. Since the word "ethnic" is customarily used as a short form of "minority" in China at this stage, the above concept of "ethnic medicine" will not give rise to ambiguity, and it is not possible to include Chinese medicine in it. The term "ethnic" is customarily used as a shorthand for "minority".

In summary, Chinese medicine, ethnic medicine and folk medicine are all important parts of traditional Chinese medicine. The Regulations of the People's Republic of China on Traditional Chinese Medicine stipulate in the "Supplementary Provisions" that "the management of ethnic medicine shall be implemented with reference to these Regulations". This indicates that ethnic medicine has its own independent academic status and enjoys the same policies as Chinese medicine. On the premise of not violating the Regulations on Chinese Medicine, ethnic medicine may be given special treatment. Especially in ethnic areas, within the scope of the National Autonomy Law and the National Autonomy Regulations, it is permitted to formulate certain corresponding specific measures for the protection, inheritance and development in accordance with local conditions.

At the same time, China's traditional medicine, including ethnic medicine and folk medicine, is also part of the world's traditional medicine. The World Health Organization put traditional medicine on its work agenda in 1976. In the World Health Organization Strategy for Traditional Medicine 2002-2005, adopted in 2002, a precise definition of traditional medicine was given, pointing out that "traditional medicine is a collective term for traditional medicine systems such as traditional Chinese medicine, Indian medicine and Arab medicine, as well as various forms of folk therapy. Traditional medicine therapies include both pharmacological therapies (e.g. the use of herbs, animal organs and/or minerals) and non-pharmacological therapies (e.g. those practiced largely without the use of medicines, such as acupuncture, manipulative therapies, and spiritual therapies). In countries where the main health-care system is based on allopathic medicine or where traditional medicine has not been integrated into the national health-care system, traditional medicine is often referred to as "complementary", "alternative" or "non-conventional" medicine. "non-conventional medicine". Obviously, China's ethnomedicine is not only an important part of China's traditional medicine, but should also be an important part of the world's traditional medicine in terms of the completeness of its academic system, the perfection of its inheritance and preservation, and the breadth of its modern applications. (Reprinted from the website of Ethnomedicine)