TCM Diagnostic and Therapeutic Methods

Ⅸ-2Traditional MedicineShijiazhuang, HebeiBatch 4 (2014)Extension Item

01 · Historical Records

In the Han dynasty, Zhang Zhongjing's Treatise on Cold Damage and Miscellaneous Diseases first proposed the concept of "mailuo" (the vessel-collaterals) and the pathogenesis of collateral disease, discussed various collateral lesions in dedicated chapters, and opened the precedent for formulas that free the collaterals. The Qing dynasty physician Ye Tianshi proposed the doctrines of "prolonged disease enters the collaterals" and "prolonged pain enters the collaterals", forming three milestones in the history of the Chinese medical method for diagnosing and treating collateral disease. In the 1980s, the Chinese medicine cardiovascular disease expert and academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering Wu Yiling, on the basis of inheriting the doctrines of collateral disease diagnosis and treatment from the Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon, Zhang Zhongjing, and Ye Tianshi, and nearly 130 years of family-transmitted experience in diagnosing and treating collateral disease, systematically constructed the "collateral disease pattern-treatment" system and the "vessel-collateral doctrine" theory; proposed the main framework of the Chinese medical method for diagnosing and treating collateral disease — the "three-dimensional network system" — including the pathological characteristics of collateral disease, eight categories of pathological change, and the eight essentials of pattern differentiation for collateral disease; established the treatment principle that "the collaterals function by being freed"; reclassified the drugs used to treat collateral disease throughout history according to function; constructed the "collateral disease pattern-treatment" system; and divided the collaterals into channel (qi) collaterals and vessel (blood) collaterals, forming the "method of diagnosing and treating vessel collaterals" and the "method of diagnosing and treating qi collaterals".

02 · Core Techniques & Process

The Chinese medical method for diagnosing and treating collateral disease is a Chinese medical therapeutic method encompassing the physiological functions of the body's collaterals, the pathogenesis of disease, clinical manifestations, pattern differentiation and treatment of collateral disease, and distinctive therapies such as examining the collaterals to diagnose disease, pricking the collaterals to let blood, and freeing the collaterals with herbal fumigation and washing. In modern times it has circulated in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei region; it has now formed a situation of radiating outward from Shijiazhuang, Hebei, as the center to more than 20 provinces across the country and overseas. The Chinese medical method for diagnosing and treating collateral disease has a long history: the Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon first proposed the concepts of collaterals and collateral disease, initially expounding the physiological functions, pathological changes, clinical manifestations, and treatment principles of the collaterals. However, due to the phenomenon of emphasizing the channels while neglecting the collaterals in the history of Chinese medicine and the limitations of scientific and technological conditions, this method did not form a systematic body. Applying this method to guide the prevention and treatment of major clinical refractory diseases such as cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases, diabetes, tumors, flaccidity syndrome, and bi syndrome has also achieved therapeutic effects, and its influence extends at home and abroad.

Examining the collaterals

Reading the superficial signs of the collaterals to place disease in a particular network and depth.

Eight requirements in collateral pattern differentiation

Eight fixed points of pattern differentiation, matched to the mechanism categories, giving a repeatable format for reading collateral disease.

Prickling to release blood

Vessels are pricked where they surface, letting out stagnant blood alongside internal medication.

Warming and moxibustion to free the channels

Heat applied from outside warms and opens the collaterals, complementing the draining action of pricking.

The principle that collaterals must flow

Drugs used for collateral disease were reclassified by whether they open or tonify, replacing symptom-matching prescription.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

In modern times, the collateral disease diagnostic and treatment method was practiced in the Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei area; Wu Yiling's family accumulation and the clinical practice in Hebei constituted its starting point. Today it spreads outward from Shijiazhuang as the center, having reached more than twenty provinces, with overseas Chinese medical practitioners joining in. Transmission relies mainly on three channels: colleges and universities, affiliated hospitals, and advanced training. The academic system is transmitted through monographs, the details of diagnostic methods are passed on in mentorship, and concrete practices such as examining the collaterals to diagnose disease, pricking the collaterals to let blood, and warming and freeing the collaterals with moxibustion must be demonstrated on the spot to be established.

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

The Chinese medical method for diagnosing and treating collateral disease draws on the traditional Chinese philosophy of "qi–yin-yang–five phases" and proposes the core theory of collateral disease — the principle of the constructive and defensive qi, inheritance, restraint, regulation, and equilibrium (yingwei chengzhi tiaoping) — systematically studying the patterns of onset, basic pathogenesis, clinical patterns, and pattern-based treatment of vascular lesions and neuromuscular diseases, and forming distinctive therapies such as examining the collaterals to diagnose disease, pricking the collaterals to let blood, and warming and freeing the collaterals with moxibustion. The Chinese medical method for diagnosing and treating collateral disease is the crystallization of the wisdom and creativity of Chinese medicine practitioners throughout history, embodies traditional Chinese philosophical thought and the Confucian cultural idea of "valuing harmony", is an organic component of Chinese medicine culture, plays an active role in the prevention and treatment of major diseases, and possesses clinical application value and historical-cultural value. Wu Yiling (record of the associated inheritor's official archive): Male, Han ethnicity, born in October 1949, native of Hengshui, Hebei Province. Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and doctoral supervisor. Inheriting family learning from childhood, he reclassified the drugs used to treat collateral disease throughout history and systematically constructed the "collateral disease pattern-treatment" system. He proposed the core content of the vessel-collateral doctrine — the constructive-defensive (yingwei) theory — and established a systematic theory for the prevention and treatment of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular lesions, making major breakthroughs in the treatment of conditions such as acute cerebral infarction, arrhythmias, and chronic heart failure. He proposed the core theory of the qi-collateral doctrine — inheritance, restraint, regulation, and equilibrium (chengzhi tiaoping) — and established a systematic theory for the prevention and treatment of neuro-endocrine-immune diseases, making important progress in the prevention and treatment of neuromuscular diseases and malignant tumors. He has led more than twenty national-level and provincial-ministerial research projects and published monographs such as Collateral Disease Studies and Treatise on the Vessel Collaterals. He is a representative inheritor of the fifth batch of national-level intangible cultural heritage project "Chinese Medical Therapy (Chinese Medical Method for Diagnosing and Treating Collateral Disease)". Through supervising doctoral and master's graduate students, master-apprentice mentorship, and training students, he has trained a large number of inheritors.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗

This static English edition is rendered at the edge for search engines, AI crawlers and readers without JavaScript; it mirrors the bilingual dossier. 阅读中文版，或返回英文名录。