What are the main classifications of Chinese medicine?

Although there are many classification methods of traditional Chinese medicine, the traditional classification methods can be divided into two systems: medicinal classification and natural classification. Classification of medicinal properties is a method of classification according to the characteristics of medicinal properties and efficacy of traditional Chinese medicine. Because it helps doctors to master the nature of drugs, doctors have used them all through the ages. Performance is the biggest feature that distinguishes drugs from other substances, so most herbal books are classified by it. This is why most herbal books classified by natural attributes still retain the three classifications. The classification of medicinal properties originated from Shennong's Classic of Materia Medica is based on the principle of "taking medicine as the monarch and recuperating life to meet daily needs, which is non-toxic and won't hurt people after taking it for a long time", "taking medicine as the minister and recuperating people, which is non-toxic and toxic" and "taking medicine as the supplement and recuperating treatment to meet local needs, which is toxic and can't be used. Although the classification is simple, it has certain guiding significance for clinic. In the Classic of Materia Medica, the classification of the three categories pioneered the classification of drugs, so it has a far-reaching impact on future generations. Although Tao Hongjing of Liang Dynasty established the method of classification according to natural attributes, until the Tang, Song, Jin and Yuan Dynasties revised Materia Medica, three types of attributes were still retained as the basis of classification. Even though Li Shizhen's Compendium of Materia Medica completely broke the classification method of the three categories, it still annotated the three categories of drugs in Benjing and Bielu under the names of drugs. However, with the increasing number of drugs and the deepening understanding of drugs, the limitations of this classification method are increasingly exposed, and the three-product classification alone can no longer meet the objective needs. Later generations of medical scientists, combined with clinical practice, constantly summed up a more practical classification method. For example, in the Tang Dynasty, Chen Zangqi initiated the classification of "Ten Doses", which were divided into ten categories according to the efficacy of drugs, namely, "Xuan, Tong, Bu, Xie, light, heavy, astringent, slippery, dry and wet". Its classification theory is as follows: "Publicity can eliminate suffocation, … communication can eliminate stagnation, … reinforcement can eliminate weakness, … venting can eliminate closure, … lightness can eliminate reality, and … heaviness can eliminate timidity. ... can remove astringency, ... slippery can be removed, ... dry can be removed from wet, ... wet can be removed from dry. " This has a good guiding role in clinical medication. In Li Dongyuan during the Jin and Yuan Dynasties, more than 100 kinds of traditional Chinese medicines commonly used in clinic were divided into five categories according to the theory of ups and downs. "Fu of Medicinal Nature" is signed, actually entrusted by later generations, and classified according to the four characteristics of drugs (cold, hot, warm and slippery). Especially since the Ming and Qing Dynasties, physicians have summarized many clinical and practical efficacy classification methods. For example, in the Compendium of Materia Medica written by Wang Lun in the Ming Dynasty, drugs were classified into 12 categories for treating "qi, cold, blood, heat, phlegm, dampness, wind, dryness, sores, poison, women and children" according to their efficacy. Each door is divided into several sub-categories. For example, therapeutic valves are divided into four categories: "drugs for invigorating qi and clearing temperature, drugs for promoting qi and lowering adverse flow, drugs for warming middle warmer and benefiting qi, drugs for promoting qi and clearing heat, drugs for breaking qi and resolving stagnation". This classification is more specific and detailed, which is undoubtedly a great progress. Combined with his long-term clinical practice, Li Shizhen summed up the "Specimen Mode of Deficiency of Zang-fu Organs" in Compendium of Materia Medica, and comprehensively classified the efficacy of drugs with pathological zang-fu organs, cold and heat, and excess and deficiency. Huang Gongxiu's Materia Medica Seeking Truth in Qing Dynasty made the greatest contribution to the classification of drug efficacy. He first divided drugs into seven categories: tonic, astringent, dispersing, diarrhea, blood, miscellaneous and food. Under each category, it is divided into several subcategories. For example, tonic medicine can be divided into "warming middle warmer, tonifying flat, tonifying fire, nourishing water and warming kidney"; Blood preparations can be divided into "warming blood, cooling blood and draining blood". The classification of Li and Huang not only has a good guiding significance for clinicians in syndrome differentiation and treatment, but also has a far-reaching impact on the efficacy classification of modern Chinese medicine. Since the Qing dynasty, drugs have been classified according to meridians, viscera and even pulse conditions in addition to the above classification. According to the classification of meridians, there is Yao Lan's Materia Medica; According to the classification of zang-fu organs, there are Ling Huan's Materia Medica Harmful and Jiang's Brush Flower Medical Mirror. They use viscera first, and then each team is divided into tonic, purging, cooling and warming according to the medicinal properties, and then divided into fierce generals and second generals; According to the classification of pulse conditions, there is Long Bai's "Pulse Medicine" Julian? 6? 1 drug test, etc. Although these classification methods focus on zang-fu organs and meridians, they are still based on medicinal properties, so they still belong to the category of classification of medicinal properties. These methods have their own characteristics. Because of its close combination with clinical practice, it is mostly adopted by clinicians. Natural attribute classification is a method to classify drugs according to their natural attributes. "Zhou Li? 6? 1 The "Five Medicines" in Tiangong, although Zheng Xuan in the Han Dynasty noted "Five Medicines: Grass, Wood, Insect, Stone and Valley". "But there is no specific drug ownership. Therefore, the method of classifying according to natural attributes should be regarded as the initiative of Tao Hongjing. In his Notes on Materia Medica, he divided 730 kinds of drugs in Benjing and Bielu into seven categories: jade, vegetation, insects and beasts, melons and fruits, vegetables, rice food and nominal food. Although this method is relatively simple, it has become the basis for future generations to revise the classification of materia medica. Comprehensive materia medica, such as newly revised materia medica in Tang Dynasty, Kaibao Materia Medica in Song Dynasty, Jiayou Materia Medica and Syndrome Materia Medica, are all expanded and supplemented by classification in the Notes on Materia Medica. It was not until the Ming Dynasty that Li Shizhen's Compendium of Materia Medica was completely changed. He put forward a complete theory of classification. He adopted the method of "analyzing the nation, analyzing the region, vibrating the outline and grading", taking "each column as the department, fire and water as the first, soil as the second, fire and water as the first of all things, and soil as the mother of all things". Followed by grass, grain, vegetables, fruits and wood, from small to large. Followed by service equipment, from vegetation. Followed by insects, scales, vectors, birds and beasts, and finally people, from humble to expensive. " As the basis of his classification theory. The collected 1892 drugs were divided into 16 according to the "Family Analysis Outline", and then divided into 60 categories according to the morphology, habits, ecological environment and economic use of drugs. For example, the grass part is mountain grass, vanilla, horn grass, poisonous grass, creeping weed, water grass, stone grass, moss and weeds; Wood is divided into fragrant wood, trees, shrubs, miscellaneous wood, bract wood, miscellaneous wood and so on. Established the most advanced and relatively complete classification system at that time. After the establishment of the natural classification system of Compendium of Materia Medica, it has become a model of natural attribute classification of traditional Chinese medicine. Later, important herbal works, such as Compendium of Materia Medica, Compendium of Materia Medica, Materia Medica from the New, etc. , basically follow its natural attribute classification method. With the introduction of modern science and technology and the establishment of new disciplines of Chinese medicine, some modern scientific classification methods have also been introduced into the classification of Chinese medicine. Such as efficacy classification, medicinal parts, botany, zoology, mineralogy, chemical composition of traditional Chinese medicine and so on. Textbooks and books edited in recent years mostly adopt different modern scientific classification methods according to their subject nature. For example, modern clinical Chinese medicine adopts the efficacy classification of Chinese medicine; The identification of traditional Chinese medicine adopts the classification of medicinal parts; Comprehensive materia medica such as Xinhua Materia Medica and Chinese Materia Medica adopt botanical classification and zoological classification. Traditional Chinese medicine chemistry adopts chemical composition classification. The application of these classification method improves their scientificity and practicability.