Chinese medicine has admittedly been founded on philosophy.It has not only baffled the Western scholar,but also many of the learned Chinese.Nevertheless,Chinese medicine is compatible with science in more ways than one.For some forty centuries,Chinese medicine has endured the test of practicability and has caused to cure the sick and saved lives.Those facts have withstood undeniably the test of time.
This effort to translate the unknown to known quantity is not aimed at argumentation or defence.Nor is it to be regarded as an effort to convince the"unbeliever".The mere attempt at compiling only a few selected terms used in Chinese medicine （ which totals more than 4,000 ） is to be taken as an exercise in straightforward defining and explaining of what has been established as the foundation of Chinese thought down the centuries.
The object of this effort has,too,a practical utility value.This condensed version of Chinese medical terms and terminology is,therefore,intended as a tool to advance better understanding of the overall practice of Chinese medicine.