Tang Xudong

01 · Lineage & Regional School

Tang Xudong, Male, Han, from China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, is a sixth-batch national representative bearer of TCM Cognition of Life and Disease (Ⅸ-1). The tradition is documented in China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences. Within the regional tradition and school record of TCM Cognition of Life and Disease in China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences: The knowledge of life and disease in Chinese medicine originated in the legendary era of the Yellow Emperor and Qibo in remote antiquity; the formation of the Chinese medicine system of knowledge about life and disease, marked by the Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon, has a history of more than two thousand years.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

The bearer record for Tang Xudong is anchored in the documented technical standards of TCM Cognition of Life and Disease in China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences. Within the documented technical tradition of TCM Cognition of Life and Disease in China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences: The Chinese medicine understanding of life and disease is a body of medical knowledge, based on the traditional culture of the Chinese nation, for comprehending human life phenomena and the laws of disease. Chinese medicine knowledge of life and disease mainly includes yin and yang, the five phases, visceral manifestation, channels and collaterals, disease and syndromes, etiology and pathogenesis, pattern differentiation, principles and methods of treatment, and the five movements and six qi. Chinese medicine uses the concept of the opposition and unity of yin and yang to expound human life activities and the interdependent relationship between human beings and the external environment such as nature and society. The balance of yin and yang is the foundation for maintaining and ensuring human life activities; disharmony of yin and yang leads to the occurrence and change of disease. Chinese medicine uses the doctrine of the five phases to expound the connections between the human body and nature and among the parts of the human body, as well as the mechanism of the occurrence and development of disease, and uses it to guide the treatment of disease. Visceral manifestation is an important life phenomenon of the human body, mainly including the physiological functions and pathological changes of the five zang organs, the six fu organs, the extraordinary fu organs, and the essence, qi, blood, and body fluids. Channels and collaterals are the passages through which qi and blood move in the human body, serving to connect the whole body. The channel system includes the twelve regular channels, the eight extraordinary channels, and the collaterals; it is the foundation for Chinese medicine diagnosis and treatment, and also an important theoretical basis for therapies such as acupuncture and tuina. Pattern differentiation and treatment is the method of examining disease by inspection, listening and smelling, inquiry, and palpation, analyzing and synthesizing the results of examination to draw a conclusion, and establishing the principle of treatment. Principles and methods of treatment are the basic principles and methods that must be followed in treating disease; they are the laws of treatment summarized by Chinese medicine in long-term clinical practice, mainly including regulating yin and yang, supporting the healthy and dispelling the pathogenic, addressing the root and the branch according to urgency, and adapting to the individual, the season, and the locality. Chinese medicine has unique theories and methods for understanding disease and syndromes. Chinese medicine holds that the occurrence of disease is the waxing and waning of the healthy and the pathogenic. The Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon put forward the view of disease that "when the healthy qi remains within, the pathogenic qi cannot attack" and "wherever the pathogenic qi gathers, the qi must be deficient". Early literature such as the Treatise on Cold Damage and Miscellaneous Diseases records a great deal of understanding of disease; the Treatise on the Origins and Symptoms of Diseases of the Sui dynasty records 1,720 diseases and syndromes in 67 categories. The understanding of life and disease in Chinese medicine constitutes the core of Chinese medicine knowledge and plays a guiding role in all links of Chinese medicine health preservation, diagnostic methods, therapies, prescriptions, Chinese materia medica, acupuncture, and clinical practice. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "The four examinations combined": Looking, listening, asking and palpating are run together so that scattered signs are corrected against one another into a single judgement. "Tracing disharmony of yin and yang": Reading illness through the waxing and waning of yin and yang, linking inner imbalance to season and place. "Computing the five movements and six qi": Astronomical, meteorological and phenological cycles are converted into a forecast of susceptibility and disease tendency. "Configuring a formula by rank": Drugs are assigned roles — chief, minister, assistant, envoy — so the formula has a clear purpose and predictable limits.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

In 2025, Tang Xudong was announced in the sixth batch of national representative bearers for TCM Cognition of Life and Disease, with China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences as the declared area. Within the documented safeguarding record of TCM Cognition of Life and Disease in China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences: The project was inscribed in the national inventory in 2006 (batch 1), with China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences as its declared area, and Zhongguozhongyike College Zhongguoyishiwenxian Research Institute as its safeguarding unit. Since the project was inscribed in the national inventory, its declared area and safeguarding unit have carried out documentation, transmission and presentation within the national safeguarding framework. Together, the inventory record and the project archive form the public documentary basis for the bearer’s transmission practice.

04 · Associated Heritage Item Dossier

05 · Fellow National Bearers Lineage

National representative bearers recorded under the same item code, ordered from the first to the sixth batch. Batch order is not a teacher–student relationship.

06 · Archival Sources & Bibliography

1. Tangxudong (China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences) · China ICH Official Project Archive
2. Tangxudong · China ICH Official Archive