There is a common saying, “Don’t Reinvent the Wheel”, for medicine, since modern medicine – we call it “Western medicine” – has developed so well, do we need other medicine, such as traditional medicine like Chinese medicine? For medicine, since modern medicine – what we call “Western medicine” has developed so well, do we still need other medicine, such as traditional medicine like Chinese medicine? Of course, if the “wheel” of modern medicine is perfect enough, then we only need to improve on this “wheel”, but is modern Western medicine really perfect? Modern medicine is a practical science based on the metaphysical philosophy of infinite subdivision and gradual analysis. We first analyze the general structure of human beings through anatomy, discover their microstructure through pathological tests, understand the variation of their pathological and physiological indicators through physiological index tests, understand the change of their molecular structure, the change of regulatory structures and functions, and finally understand the change of their genetic material. And so on. This knowledge seems to understand our diseases so profoundly, but in the field of disease prevention and treatment, it does not seem to see much promising results. Although the Human Genome Project gave people the confidence to overcome cancer and many diseases, it discovered that the entire human genome is arranged, but the regulation of transcription and translation of genes is subject to many conditions, and the basic question of why the same sequence sometimes plays a normal role and sometimes plays an abnormal role is not clearly answered by knowing the sequence changes alone). We speculate that this is related to gene regulation. We hypothesized that it was related to gene regulation, so we conducted epigenetic studies and discovered a series of signal transduction pathways that are regulated by upstream and downstream related genes! When we saw the light, the discovery of small RNAs (microRNAs) confused us again. Where do they come from and where do they go? How little do we know? It seems that in medical research, we have entered a strange circle, we have divided human into “A, T, G, C”, but still cannot find the cause of the disease. Therefore, new concepts such as systems theory and integrative medicine have been proposed, using the concept of bioinformatics to study the human body and diseases. These paths are just beginning, and it will take a long time before they can be used in clinical medicine. What has made us lose our way? Medicine is a practical science, and whether we understand it or not, we need to treat patients. Although modern medicine seems to have made great progress, the treatments that are actually used in clinical practice can be summarized in three ways: mechanical removal, artificial counteraction and simple supplementation. First, let’s look at the “mechanical removal” treatment, which is probably the most effective treatment available and is the pride of modern medicine. Take cancer treatment as an example, if the tumor can be completely removed, whether it is colorectal cancer, breast cancer, stomach cancer, etc. with good prognosis or pancreatic cancer, lung cancer, liver cancer, etc. with bad prognosis, the treatment effect is good, but if it cannot be completely removed by surgery, the treatment effect will be very poor; another example is the treatment of coronary heart disease, the most effective means to solve coronary artery stenosis is to perform coronary artery bypass or use mechanical means such as coronary stent. The most effective means to solve coronary artery stenosis is to perform coronary artery bypass or use mechanical means such as coronary stent, but there does not seem to be a good method other than that. Other diseases, such as diabetes, hypertension, obesity, etc., which cannot be treated by removing the source of the disease, cannot be treated well. Next, let’s look at what is considered “allopathic”. Since the application of antibiotics made infectious diseases a great success, the use of “allopathic” has become a trend, a philosophy, but this “allopathic” in the treatment of other diseases played a very limited role. For example, many antiviral drugs have very limited effects, even the most effective drugs for HBV such as “lamivudine” have a very high relapse rate; for example, anti-tumor therapy, anti-tumor chemotherapy drugs are not able to improve the long-term survival rate of patients, and most clinical studies have only shown that they can extend survival by a few months. For example, the anti-VEGF and anti-EGFR antibodies bevacizumab and cetuximab, which have proven to be very useful in colorectal cancer treatment, cost a lot of money. For example, the anti-VEGF and anti-EGFR antibodies bevacizumab and cetuximab, which have proven to be very useful in colorectal cancer treatment, cost a lot of money and prolong the survival time of patients by a few months with many adverse events; and for Crohn’s and anti-TNF antibodies in treatment, they cannot change the course of Crohn’s disease at all, let alone cure it. So the idea of “artificial confrontation” may not be a good solution to the problem. Let’s look at “simple complementary” therapy. It is the most direct mechanistic treatment, for example, if albumin is lacking, supplementation of albumin will improve the patient’s hypoproteinemia; if hypokalemia is present, supplementation of potassium ions will relieve the patient’s hypokalemia symptoms; if chronic malnutrition is present, nutritional support will solve the nutritional problem; however, for some other diseases, simple supplementation may not work, for example, familial adenomatous polyposis, which is known to be For example, familial adenomatous polyposis, which is known to be a genetic disease caused by mutations in the APC gene, can supplementation of this gene with protein or placement of this gene treat this disease? Obviously not. Modern advances in molecular biology have identified many diseases that are caused by gene deletions, but supplementation of these genes and their products does not produce any curative effect at all. The dream of discovering the molecular biology of certain diseases and then possibly treating them by inserting these genes (knock-in) or knocking out (knock-out) these genes has so far there are few gene therapy products that work in humans. Previously, it was found that in many genes where immune factors were lacking or excessive immune responses were occurring, we seemed to have some effect by supplementing immune factors or suppressing immunity, but now studies are proving that the effect is minimal. So is modern medicine useless? Obviously not! The value of modern medicine is evident to all, but this way of understanding and solving problems in modern medicine may need to be critiqued and adjusted. It is necessary for modern medicine to draw certain nutrients from traditional medicine, especially traditional Chinese medicine, which may have an important influence on its development. Although traditional Chinese medicine may have some shortcomings due to the influence of traditional culture and the limitations of historical factors, such as the late start of the understanding of anatomical structures and the relative shortage of treatment in Chinese surgery. However, with thousands of years of history, traditional Chinese medicine has its own complete theoretical system and rich clinical experience, and has been maintaining the health of Chinese children before modern medicine was introduced into China. During thousands of years of clinical practice, Chinese medicine has experienced peace, war, disaster and plague, and its theoretical knowledge and clinical experience have been constantly improved. However, its core theories of “yin and yang”, “five elements”, “zangxiang” and “meridians” have not become obsolete in any way. Chinese medicine focuses on the spirit of prevention, “not treating the disease before it happens”, and as early as in the Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Internal Medicine, there are records of treating the disease before it happens. It is written in “Suwen – Shanggu Tianzhen”: “The ancient people, who knew the law of yin and yang, and the art of number, eat and drink in moderation, rise and live in a regular manner, and do not make delusional labor, so that they can be in shape with the gods, and end their natural life, and spend a hundred years before leaving”. This is the initial discussion on the prevention of diseases by following the natural rules of life, eating in moderation, exercising properly and living in a normal manner. In fact, many diseases such as tumors, coronary heart disease, cardiovascular diseases and metabolic diseases are related to unreasonable living and eating habits. Chinese medicine emphasizes the holistic view of “the unity of heaven and man” and “the unity of the five organs”, and insists on the organic combination of “whole” and “local”. The organic combination of “whole” and “local”. Chinese medicine divides the organism into “five organs and six internal organs”, focusing not only on the functional differences of the internal organs, but also on the connection between the internal organs, paying attention to the local lesions of the internal organs and meridians, and not ignoring the impact of the lesions of the internal organs and meridians on other internal organs and meridians. For example, when the draining function of the liver is not normal, not only does the liver itself become diseased, but also often affects the transport and transformation function of the spleen, resulting in symptoms such as distension and fullness of the abdomen, lack of food and drink, abdominal pain and diarrhea, etc. It can also affect the propagation and purification of the lung, resulting in cough and asthma, and can affect the heart and mind, resulting in irritability or depression, and affect the operation of the heart and blood, resulting in chest pain. Therefore, the treatment is often “when we see the disease of the liver, we know that the liver transmits to the spleen, so we should first strengthen the spleen”, so that at the beginning of the disease, the transmission of the disease to other organs and meridians is blocked, which reflects the wisdom of Chinese medicine treatment. Modern medicine, on the other hand, treats the headache and the foot, so modern medicine should pay attention to “integration” at the same time as it “breaks down”, otherwise, the original function of the individual may not be found when it is broken down too much. Chinese medicine’s idea of “treating diseases before they occur” is the most important thing that modern medicine should learn from and learn from. It is written in “Su Wen – Shang Gu Tian Zhen Lun” that “the evil of the wind, avoid it sometimes, calm and empty, the true energy from it, the spirit within the guard, the disease is safe from”, emphasizing that by nurturing the spirit to strengthen the righteousness, to prevent disease, health and longevity. This viewpoint is still useful to our current society, where people are pursuing fame and fortune, and are in a hurry to achieve success and profit, and are noisy and restless, and their hearts are in turmoil, and there are many major public health incidents, and although medicine is developing more and more, there are more and more incurable diseases. Traditional Chinese medicine also has a long history of understanding of “food therapy”, and the prevention of “illness from the mouth” is the great wisdom of our ancestors. The “Su Wen – Zang Qi Fa Shi Lun” has proposed: “Five grains for nourishment, five fruits for help, five animals for benefit, five dishes for filling. The concept of food therapy is to use grains and cereals to nourish the five organs, fruits to nourish the internal organs, various kinds of meat to nourish the essence of the internal organs, and vegetables to supplement the deficiencies of grains and cereals, fruits and meat to nourish the five organs from their aspects. In addition, traditional Chinese medicine has also conducted in-depth research on the health effects and medicinal properties of many ingredients, and put forward the concepts of “medicine and food have the same origin” and “food has five qualities”, using many foods to treat and prevent diseases. For example, when patients have symptoms of spleen deficiency and dampness, such as tiredness and laziness, loose food and stools, they are often given white lentils, yams and coix seeds to strengthen the spleen and promote dampness; when they have symptoms of inflammation of the liver, such as redness and swelling of the eyes, they often use chrysanthemum and cassia seeds to make tea to clear the liver and lower the fire and brighten the eyes; when they have symptoms of stomach and abdomen fullness, belching and acid swallowing and other symptoms of stomach gas due to stagnation, they often use hawthorn, malt and rice sprouts to eliminate food and neutralize the middle, and strengthen the spleen and open the stomach. In the formulas of traditional doctors, various ingredients were often used to treat diseases with good results. For example, in the “Treatise on Typhoid Fever”, which was later called “the leader of the group”, there are four ingredients of cinnamon stick, ginger, jujube and licorice in the five flavors of medicine, and after taking the medicine, hot porridge is sipped to help the medicine. It is widely used in stroke, typhoid fever and various miscellaneous diseases. Another example is the soup with angelica, ginger and mutton in the book “Jin Kui Yao”, in which only three ingredients, angelica, ginger and mutton, can be used to warm the middle of the body and nourish the blood, dispel cold and relieve pain, which is used for abdominal pain caused by weakness of qi and blood and loss of warmth of yang after childbirth. Modern research has also confirmed that some food flavonoid components such as tea and onion do have preventive and curative effects on cancer. Chinese herbal medicine is a huge treasure trove. After thousands of years of clinical application, the understanding of traditional Chinese medicine herbal medicine has become more and more mature, and the contents of the odor and yin and yang, elevation and floating, inducing and reporting the meridian, combination, contraindication, treatment and rule of treatment of drugs have been improved, and these experiences can play a significant value in our further research of modern medicine. For example, Bupleurum can clear heat and detoxify the toxins, promote dampness and laxative, and treat carbuncles, sores, sore throats, snake bites, and hot and astringent pains, and in recent years, it has been widely used in the treatment of various cancers, either alone or in various preparations, which can improve clinical symptoms or basically disappear; modern experimental studies have also found that high concentrations of this preparation have been effective in in vitro experiments against Ehrlich ascites carcinoma, Yoshida sarcoma, and various leukocytic cancers. Modern experimental studies have also found that high concentrations of this product have inhibited Ehrlich ascites carcinoma, Yoshida sarcoma and various leukocytosis cancer cells in in vitro experiments; another example is dongling grass extract dongling grass methicin, which has inhibitory effects on a variety of cancers and can also regulate some signaling pathways of tumorigenesis. Although the current technology of chemically synthesized drugs is very high, the efficacy of chemically synthesized drugs cannot be compared with that of substances extracted from natural drugs. For example, paclitaxel, which is derived from Pacific redbud, requires six 100-year-old redbud trees to treat one patient and is therefore very expensive, whereas paclitaxel and its anticancer homologous derivatives can now be produced by chemical semisynthesis of its precursors, but their efficacy differs greatly from that of natural extracts. Similarly, the efficacy of artificially grown Cordyceps and human involvement in natural medicine are far from each other, not to mention synthetic ones. In conclusion, although modern medicine has made great progress, it is also at the primary stage of human understanding of diseases. Studying traditional medicine, especially traditional medicine with a long history, rich theoretical and temporal experience, and profound philosophical thought like Chinese medicine, is of great value in exploring the development of modern medicine.