Western Names for Chinese Disease Classes

By Hong-yen Hsu, Ph.D.

Many of the difficulties in communication between Western populations and practitioners of Chinese medicine lie in the lack of a shared vocabulary. Westerners speak of diseases as being caused by viruses and bacteria, while the Chinese speak of conformational disorders and yin-yang imbalances. It is to these problems that this book is addressed. Dr. Hong-yen Hsu presents a list of disease names used in Chinese medicine as well as a compendium of equivalent Western disease terms. Some 1,200 diseases, arranged in 16 categories, are discussed in this work. While sporadic attempts have been made to develop a common disease terminology to bridge the realms of Chinese and Western medicine, Dr. Hsu’s book is the most comprehensive effort to date; a book which provides the much-needed communication link between Chinese and Western practitioners. Western Names for Chinese Disease Classes is sure to rank as a resource of key importance to anyone with an interest in the growing acceptance of Chinese medicine in Western societies.

(Paperback, 133 pgs.)