As we all know, Chinese medicine is a valuable heritage of the Chinese nation and one of the three national treasures. It has established an indelible merit for the development of the Chinese nation and the origin of Chinese culture. However, in modern times, with the gradual advancement of Western medicine, TCM has gradually fallen into decline, and many people have come to believe that TCM is useless, that it does not cure diseases, and that it is a fraud. In the last hundred years, both governments and individuals have repeatedly proposed to resolutely outlaw Chinese medicine. Is it true that TCM cannot cure diseases? In a comprehensive analysis, we find that it is not that TCM is not effective, but that we have gone wrong in the process of inheriting and applying TCM. First of all, it should be related to the improper modern education methods, then it is related to the current policy that the whole society does not pay attention to TCM and is skeptical of TCM, and it is also related to the current quality of Chinese medicine, which has low content of active ingredients, and fake, inferior and counterfeit medicines are filled in the whole medical chain, so how can it cure the disease. To change this phenomenon, we have to find the root cause, the government advocates the whole society to pay more attention, the way of education should be changed, strengthen the management of each link in the production, processing and circulation of Chinese medicine, and should strengthen the popular education of Chinese medicine knowledge, so that more people understand Chinese medicine, believe in Chinese medicine and apply Chinese medicine. Only in this way can Chinese medicine really develop and serve the nation better. In China’s modern history, with the gradual advancement of Western medicine, many people began to think that TCM was useless, that it did not cure diseases, and that it was a fraud. In 1912, the Beiyang government, on the grounds that Chinese and Western medicine were “difficult to adopt at the same time,” advocated only medical special schools (Western medicine) and not Chinese medicine in the newly promulgated school system and various school regulations, completely excluding Chinese medicine from the medical education system. In 1913, Wang Daxie, the chief of education, publicly proposed the abolition of TCM. In February 1929, the National Government held the First Central Health Council and passed the “Abolition of Old Medicine (TCM) to Remove Obstacles to Medicine and Health” proposed by Yu Yunxui, a Western medical doctor. Yu Yunxui, who had studied Western medicine in Japan, was a representative of the abolitionist school of Chinese medicine. He had always attacked Chinese medicine and equated it with witchcraft, even saying that “Chinese medicine was the scourge of murder” and that he wanted to abolish it before he could get rid of it. After his father died of tuberculosis, Lu Xun, a famous writer, thought that Chinese medicine could not cure the disease and insisted that Chinese medicine was a fraud, and went to Japan to study Western medicine. At the beginning of the liberation, He Cheng, the first vice minister and party secretary of the Ministry of Health at the time, and Wang Bin, the vice minister, also acted to propose a policy of eliminating Chinese medicine. They both undoubtedly believed that TCM could not cure diseases, that TCM was a pseudo-science, and that TCM was a fraud. To this day, there are still people who believe that TCM is useless and clamor that it should be firmly outlawed. Is it true that Chinese medicine cannot cure diseases? Is Chinese medicine really a scam? As we all know, Chinese medicine is a valuable heritage of the Chinese nation and Chinese culture, a discipline that has been passed down for thousands of years without interruption and is still functioning today. It is also a living cultural relic, and TCM has not lost its healing function and high efficacy in the present day because of its antiquity, because it is a discipline created under the guidance of Chinese philosophical approach, which has a connotation due to the super era. Throughout the history of the Chinese nation for more than 5,000 years, Chinese medicine has been responsible for the development of the Chinese nation. As early as the Three Kingdoms period, Hua Tuo invented marijuana, which enabled him to perform surgical operations and was called the originator of surgery, relieving countless people of their suffering at that time. During the Song Dynasty, folk doctors observed that herd boys rarely suffered from smallpox and invented the method of catching cow pox to prevent smallpox, more than 400 years earlier than the European invention of smallpox prevention methods. There are many medical doctors in the history of the prevention and treatment of epidemics, especially in the Ming and Qing dynasties, the prevention and treatment of the plague more in-depth research, have written books and put forward a variety of prevention and treatment methods. A search of history also shows that the number of plague outbreaks in China is the least compared to other countries, which is closely related to the theory of prevention before illness. Even in the case of epidemics, the mortality rate is the lowest compared to other countries due to the prevention and treatment of Chinese medicine. The SARS outbreak in 2003 was an acute epidemic, but it was quickly controlled and the number of deaths was very low due to the government’s effective control and prevention, as well as the use of Chinese medicine to prevent the disease. In contrast, the plague that occurred in Europe in the 14th century took the lives of 25 million people in a short period of time. Thus, it seems that Chinese medicine is not ineffective, but we have gone wrong in the process of inheritance and application. After checking the history of Chinese medicine and understanding the current medical situation, the author summarized the reasons for the poor efficacy of Chinese medicine and analyzed that it should be closely related to the following five aspects. First, the reason of education In the education of Chinese medicine, in ancient times, the learning of Chinese medicine theory is passed down from teacher to apprentice, which is taught by the teacher personally in the clinic, and the students learn on the spot, so that they can systematically learn the theoretical knowledge of Chinese medicine and the teacher’s clinical experience of looking, smelling and feeling. They are also required to memorize the classics of Chinese medicine, the medicinal fugue, and the soup head song, and to be able to understand and apply them. After the completion of the study, they are required to travel to the folklore to practice medicine, get in touch with cases in many aspects, summarize the treatment experience and enrich the practical knowledge. Nowadays, the westernization of theoretical education in Chinese medicine has become a common phenomenon. Many students are not familiar with the pharmacological properties of Chinese medicine, have not memorized several prescriptions, are not proficient in the diagnosis and treatment of diseases, and are not able to make clinical diagnosis at all. Some of the more diligent and hardworking students have a good grasp of the theory, but little practice, poor ability, and a serious disconnect with the clinic, and can not be applied to clinical diagnosis and treatment. The TCM graduates trained in this way will not be able to diagnose diseases with the method of Chinese medicine, and they will not be able to prescribe medicine. Therefore, most of the students who go to clinical work after graduation no longer believe in TCM and are reluctant to use TCM for treatment because they do not know how to apply TCM methods or the treatment is not effective after application. That is why the professors of TCM universities evaluate them as the gravediggers of TCM. If we do not pay attention to the development of Chinese medicine theory, soon Chinese medicine in education will reach the situation of no one to follow. Second, the reason for the importance of hospitals Nowadays, many Chinese hospitals themselves do not pay enough attention to Chinese medicine treatment, and even have been seriously westernized. Although Chinese medicine hospitals are called Chinese medicine, in essence, they are still dominated by Western medical treatment methods, with Chinese medicine as a supplement. There is hardly a pure TCM hospital in the country, and TCM has become an accessory of Western medicine. Hospitals do not pay enough attention to the application of TCM, which inevitably leads to TCM physicians not paying attention to TCM’s observation and examination, and instead using various examination methods of Western medicine instead. Most Chinese hospitals do not attach importance to Chinese medicine talents, not to recruit Chinese medicine graduates and as long as Western clinical graduates, will make more and more people do not want to apply for Chinese medicine colleges to learn Chinese medicine, will lead to the withering of Chinese medicine broken generation, it is difficult to sustain development. Third, the doctor’s reason can cure the disease, and the doctor’s level of treatment has a lot to do with. The doctor’s level is not high, the application of the examination is not good, the identification of the disease is not clear, the identification is not clear, certainly can not prescribe the right remedy, and how can cure the disease? The author once learned from a Chinese hospital that patients basically take one prescription from admission to discharge, which is completely contrary to the theory of Chinese medicine. The principle of taking Chinese medicine is the combination of the ruler and the minister, the identification of the evidence and the addition and subtraction of medicine. As the treatment process changes, the patient’s symptoms will change, so it is necessary to re-identify and use the right medicine. Take headache as an example, according to the six meridians, there are Yangming meridian headache, Shaoyang meridian headache, Sun meridian headache and Jueyin meridian headache. If you don’t know the evidence but prescribe medicine, the effect is definitely not good. The level of medical ethics and service attitude of doctors also have a great relationship with the efficacy. From the patient’s point of view, they would like to tell all their discomfort to the doctor in detail, but a doctor has to see dozens or even hundreds of patients a day, where there is time and mood to listen to the patient slowly, usually just ask some symptoms in general and prescribe medicine. Chinese medicine is concerned about the examination, smell, ask and cut, a patient’s consultation time, long more than 10 minutes, short a few minutes, simply ask a few symptoms, cut the pulse a few seconds, such a short period of time, assembly line like the way to see the patient, how can the work of the examination, smell, ask and cut be sufficient? It is hard to say whether the diagnosis is clear and whether the prescription is right, so how can we cure the disease? Fourth, the cause of Chinese medicine Chinese medicine quality, origin, sizzling method, shoddy, decoction method also has a relationship with the efficacy. Checking the “Treatise on Typhoid”, most of the scripture prescriptions are less than 10 flavors of medicine, each flavor is generally 3-6g, rarely more than 10g, the efficacy is quite good. In contrast, we are now prescribed prescriptions, often more than 20 flavors, each flavor of medicine to about 20g, but the efficacy is not good. In ancient times, Chinese medicine was mostly wild, and its active ingredient content was high, so the efficacy was good. Now the hospital application of Chinese medicine is mostly planted, some experts have done the same kind of drug wild and planted active ingredients comparison experiment, planted surprisingly less than 1% of the wild. So now the dosage of Chinese medicine is too light to be effective is an important factor. But the pharmacopoeia has provisions, the prescription dosage of Chinese medicine must comply with, there is no choice but to add the efficacy of similar Chinese medicine, which will inevitably lead to the prescription of multiple drugs, but also prone to chemical reactions between drugs, to a certain extent affect the efficacy. In the past, most of the drugs were used from the local herbs, which have a long history, excellent variety, rich production and remarkable efficacy, such as Sichuan Chuanxiong, Chuanbei Mum and Chuan Niu Kne, Yunnan Panax notoginseng and Muxiang, Shandong Agaricus and Northeast Ginseng. However, nowadays, in order to pursue production and economic benefits, Chinese herbal medicines no longer care about soil quality, add pesticides, catalysts, and disregard seasonal harvesting, all of which seriously affect the quality and efficacy of Chinese herbal medicines. Improper processing of Chinese herbal medicines can cause mold, insects, deterioration, etc., which can affect the quality and efficacy of Chinese herbal medicines, and may not completely remove the toxicity of Chinese herbal medicines, which can cause toxic side effects when applied, but can aggravate the condition. The efficacy of raw earth is to clear heat and cool the blood, while the efficacy of cooked earth after honey broiling becomes nourishing yin and tonifying the kidney, the efficacy of artichoke is to clear heat and cool the blood, but after frying charcoal becomes astringent to stop bleeding, and strychnine is easy to crush after broiling to improve the efficacy and reduce toxicity. If the prescriptions are not specified, there will be ineffective use of drugs, such as the treatment of bleeding disorders with more Chinese medicine fried charcoal to stop bleeding instead of using raw products, it will aggravate the disease. The impact of fake and inferior medicines on the efficacy is even greater. In order to pursue profits, unscrupulous businessmen disregard the health of patients, resulting in fake and inferior medicines flooding the Chinese medicine market, which are only similar in appearance, but different or even opposite in efficacy or invalid. The actual fact is that it is possible to aggravate the condition and even cause death. The decoction method also affects the efficacy of Chinese medicine, such as shells and ores should be decocted first in order to decoct the active ingredients, rhubarb should be decocted later in order to strengthen the laxative effect, and pungent herbs should be decocted first to remove the toxicity, if the correct decoction method is not done, it will make the prescription ineffective or even toxic side effects will occur, thus affecting the efficacy. Fifth, the patient’s reason Chinese medicine has many contraindications in the application, such as avoid cold, spicy, raw and cold. If the patient is diagnosed as having a cold spleen and stomach, he should apply drugs to warm the stomach and disperse cold, and avoid eating cold and raw food, but the patient does not respect the doctor’s advice and does the opposite, drinking beer and using cold and raw food as usual, then even if the right medicine is taken, it will not help. For example, the doctor told the patient should pay attention to health, to follow the laws of nature, pay attention to the emotional regulation, pay attention to diet and living, strengthen physical exercise, etc., but the patient still I do my own way, ignore, that is certainly not conducive to the disease, which is also the cause of Chinese medicine does not cure the disease. In order to continuously improve the theoretical knowledge and clinical diagnosis and treatment level of Chinese medicine practitioners, improve the status of Chinese medicine, make Chinese medicine really develop according to its own laws, and change the current status quo of poor efficacy of Chinese medicine, we suggest the following: a. Increase the administrative power of Chinese medicine management departments Government departments should set up two administrative agencies equal in administrative rights between Chinese medicine and Western medicine, and end the administrative mode of Western medicine managing Chinese medicine, so that Chinese medicine practitioners can independently manage TCM, and be able to compete with Western medicine on an equal footing and complement each other. The educational power of TCM should be transferred from the education department to the new administrative department of TCM, and the educational policy should be formulated in accordance with the development of TCM; the administrative department of TCM should have the power to approve the titles of TCM doctors and set up clinical institutions according to the law of development of TCM itself; the principle and law of equality of TCM and Western medicine in terms of administration, medical treatment and status should be established, so that they can get the same status in treating diseases for the people. The status of Chinese medicine and Western medicine should be established in administrative, medical and legal terms. According to the needs of economic and social development and the development of Chinese medicine, we should plan and develop the education of Chinese medicine colleges and universities. Adjust the structure and scale of higher education in TCM, insist on taking TCM majors as the main body, teach according to the law of growth of TCM talents, strengthen the teaching of basic theories of TCM, cultivate basic practical skills and educate medical ethics and medical style. The education of TCM colleges should be rigorous, so that TCM students can really master the TCM classics, increase their clinical practice and hands-on ability, and be fully able to apply the method of looking, smelling, asking, and prescribing medicine in the clinic. Cultivate students’ theoretical knowledge of Chinese medicine, improve the ability to identify and recognize medicines, and apply them in the workplace after graduation to be able to guide the production and processing of Chinese medicine, concoction and roasting, etc., which can improve the efficacy of Chinese medicine and also prevent fake and inferior medicines from being applied to the clinic. Strengthen the medical ethics education of medical students and enhance their service consciousness, so that they can treat patients like family members, be patient and meticulous when they work in the clinic in the future and serve them better. Third, strengthen the construction of TCM hospitals Establishing pure TCM hospitals and truly applying the methods of TCM for clinical treatment should be based on TCM and supplemented by Western medicine. Chinese medicine hospitals should pay attention to the collection and collation of folk medicine knowledge and technology, to summarize and use; collate ancient books of Chinese medicine and medical cases of past generations of doctors, research and summarize their academic ideas, technical methods and treatment experience, to learn and absorb the application of clinical; establish local Chinese medicine experts with subject expertise as famous veteran Chinese medicine doctors, summarize their academic and clinical experience, select successors, in the form of teachers and apprentices, teaching by example to Cultivation. The above-mentioned methods can be carried out simultaneously to continuously improve the technical level of TCM hospitals. TCM hospitals should also increase the number of TCM graduates enrolled, so that TCM students have a place to learn and apply their knowledge, and more people will voluntarily study TCM before they can strengthen the construction of the TCM talent team. Fourth, strengthen the management of Chinese medicine production Strengthen the protection, research and development and rational use of Chinese medicine resources. Protect medicinal wildlife resources, speed up the construction of germplasm resource base, combine with agricultural structure adjustment, build a breeding system of good seeds of authentic medicinal materials and standardized and large-scale production bases for Chinese herbal medicine cultivation, carry out technical training and demonstration and promotion, and guide the production and processing of Chinese medicine. Strengthen the management of the Chinese medicine market to prevent counterfeit and substandard drugs from flooding the market and flowing into the clinic. V. Strengthen the propagation of TCM knowledge As a national treasure, TCM theory has made a monumental contribution to the reproduction and development of the Chinese nation, but due to the gradual advancement of Western medicine in the past hundred years, many people are ignorant of it or even completely unaware of it. The traditional methods of health care and the academic ideas of treating the untreated diseases in TCM are also of great guidance to modern medicine, and if followed, can improve the physical quality of all people. Therefore, the popular education of TCM knowledge should be strengthened in the future, so that more people can understand TCM, believe in TCM and apply TCM, which can also continuously improve the efficacy of TCM. To sum up, the failure of TCM to cure diseases is not only a problem of TCM itself, but also closely related to social factors, environmental factors and humanistic factors. I would like to write this article in the hope that it can arouse the thinking of all walks of life and stop attributing the reasons for the poor efficacy of TCM to TCM itself, and also hope that the suggestions made in this article will be beneficial to the new health care reform policy nowadays.