This book mainly deals with the basic theory of traditional Chinese medicine ( TCM) - It covers a wide range of content, including the theories of yin and yang, five elements, zangxiang (viscera and their manifestations), qi and blood, body fluid, meridians and collaterals, etiology, pathogenesis, prevention of disease and therapeutic principles. In the compilation, traditional terms and expressions are adopted in order to maintain the classical style of TCM while modern Chinese is used to expound the abstruse theory and methods of TCM so as to make it easy to read and understand.
In order to make the content concise, great efforts have been made to polish the contents and avoid repetition. For example, the running areas of the meridians, syndrome differentiation of the viscera, cultivation of health and prevention of disease are not discussed in detail in this book because they are thoroughly described in the other fascicles.
One point should be made clear here is that TCM is a unique medical system different from modem medicine - So the terms used in this book, such as the heart, the liver, the spleen, the lung and the kidney, are quite different from those used in modem medicine.