There is no direct discussion on COPD in ancient Chinese medical literature. Based on the clinical manifestations of the disease, the discussion of the disease is scattered in the literature on “cough”, “wheezing” and “lung distension”. In the early stage, when the main manifestation of the disease is cough and sputum production, it can be treated as “cough”. When wheezing and shortness of breath are the main manifestations, the patient should be treated as “wheezing”. If the disease develops further and there is dyspnea with chest fullness and stuffiness like congestion, it can be treated as “pulmonary distension”. At present, it is believed that most of the moderate to severe COPD belongs to the category of “pulmonary distension”. The name “pulmonary distension” was first mentioned in “Nei Jing”. The “Ling Shu meridian chapter” cloud: “lung hand Tai Yin pulse, …… is the disease lung swelling full expansion and coughing”. The “Spiritual Pivot on distension” said “lung distension, full of deficiency and wheezing and coughing”. Zhang Zhongjing is more detailed on lung distension, he believes that this disease is more actual, involving water and phlegm, and proposes the corresponding treatment prescriptions. The Jin Kui Essentials of Pulmonary Impotence, Pulmonary Carbuncle, Cough and Upper Air Disease, Pulse and Treatment, says: “Those who have upper air and panting and are agitated are suffering from lung distension and want to make wind and water, and sweating is the cure”; and also says: “Cough and upper air, this is lung distension, the person is panting, the eyes are like off, the pulse is floating, the Yue maidservant plus Han Xia Tang is the master”; and “Lung distension, coughing with upper qi, irritability and asthma, with a floating pulse, is characterized by watery Qi under the heart; Xiao Qing Long plus Shi Fa Tang is the mainstay”. The “Treatise on the Origin of Diseases, Coughing and Rebellious Short Climate” puts forward the theory of lung deficiency: “When the lung is deficient and injured by slight cold, it coughs; when it coughs, the gas returns to the lung and the lung is distended; when the lung is distended, the gas is rebellious, and the lung is deficient, the gas is insufficient, and when it is multiplied by evil, the congestion cannot be pronounced, so it coughs and rebellious short gas. The “Secret Guide to Wai Tai” points out: “The source of the disease is lung deficiency and coughing from a slight cold, coughing while the gas is still gathered in the lungs, the lungs are distended, which is coughing and rebellion. The evil and the right qi fighting the right qi can not be declared, but the reverse between the throat, the evil volt is gas quiet, the evil moving gas running up. Boredom wants to die, so it is called coughing against the upper gas.” It can be seen that lung deficiency, compounded by external evil is the pathogenesis of lung distension. In the Song and Yuan dynasties, the understanding of this disease was further enriched and developed. Shengji General Record” pointed out that “the evidence of gas bloating full, swelling and coughing, …… wheezing cough reverse leaning breath, eyes such as off, its pulse floating is also”, and proposed the use of ephedra or cicadas to relieve the table, in order to cure the external bundle of evil, to solve the couples of depression, the surface and the inside of the same treatment. Danxi Xinfa said: “Lung distension and cough, or left or right can not sleep, this phlegm with blood stasis obstructing the Qi and disease. He was the first to propose the stagnant blood symptom of this disease and pioneered the method of activating blood and resolving stasis, and his influence is far reaching today. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, as the understanding of this disease continued to deepen, medical practitioners in different eras discussed the causes, mechanisms, symptoms and treatment of this disease. For example, “Shou Shi Bao Yuan? Phlegm Asthma” proposed: “Lung distension and panting, high diaphragm and shortness of breath, agitation of the two hypochondrium, pit under the trap, opening of the two nostrils, stuffy coughing and thirst, voice not sounding, phlegm and saliva congestion”. The theory that this disease is a deficiency of the root and a symptom of the symptoms, with a mixture of deficiency and reality, is proposed in the Evidence and Treatment Repertory. In the chapter on coughing, it is said: “Lung distension is caused by wheezing and fullness, shortness of breath, left or right, and sleeplessness. If phlegm is holding stagnant blood and hindering qi, it is advisable to nourish the blood to flow the qi and lower the fire to clear the phlegm, using the four substances soup with peach kernel, heliotrope shell, guavas, and bamboo leach. …… have kidney deficiency water withered lung gold does not spread down and swelling, the symptoms of dry cough annoying injustice, it is appropriate to Six Flavor Pill plus Mai Dong, Wu Wei.” In conclusion, the understanding of successive generations of physicians has laid the theoretical foundation for the prevention and treatment of this disease in Chinese medicine, which plays an important role in enlightening our clinical practice to this day.