Modernity Construction And Involution Of Chinese Medicine ——An Anthropological Study With The Wu School Of Medicine In Yunnan As The Core

Since China entered the development process of globalization,western cultures have changed the basic structure of Chinese social and cultural environment as a whole.Conflicts between traditional culture and modernity become more obvious in many aspects of our daily life.Chinese medicine is in the center of such a controversial field.From the abolition of Chinese medicine in the Republic of China till now,many topics such as "pseudoscience of Chinese medicine" and "farewell to Chinese medicine" have caught academic attention.In the academic discussion of Chinese medicine,there is a basic problem,that is,how to treat and understand Chinese medicine?The answer to this question will lead to new questions,such as "Is Chinese medicine Metaphysics?" "Is there any need for Chinese medicine?" "How can Chinese medicine treat new diseases?" There are different answers to these questions.The conflicts are so fierce that there might arouse risks of tearing society apart.Applying anthropological method,this study attempts to find out answers from both the internal and external level.In this study,Wu family,one of the four famous schools of Chinese medicine in Kunming,Yunnan Province,is taken as the research object.Through a long-term field survey,we have paid full attention to and understood the historical origin,theoretical context and treatment characteristics of Wu family.It specifically includes the description and analysis of the diagnosis and treatment status of Chinese medicine in Kunming since the Republic of China,the reform of management system,the integration and formation of knowledge community,the cooperation and interaction between Chinese and Western medicine,and the transformation of different education modes.On this basis,the author believes that it is necessary to judge the merits and demerits of Chinese medicine and other national medicine from the perspective of cross-cultural comparison.It would be helpful to find the development direction of Chinese medicine with the shortcomings of Western medicine,and to understand the cultural logic in response to changes from the perspective of thematic vision of Chinese medicine.The thesis puts forward two concepts:the construction of modernity and the involution of Chinese medicine."The construction of modernity" is an important basis for understanding the situation of Chinese medicine,which can be divided into four parts:1)The requirements of modern nation-state for the professional management reduce the interference of non-medical factors in the field of Chinese medicine,and improve the level of professional treatment of Chinese medicine.2)Conflicts between Chinese and Western medicine in the process of "Disenchantment" of social rationalization reveal difficulties of communication between Chinese medicine and modernity.3)The national education system of Chinese medicine established in the light of western medicine confronts with traditional Chinese medicine in those certain inheritance methods under "high context".4)As the "other" for Chinese medicine,Western medicine provides reference,self-development and self-affirmation for Chinese medicine in the process of existence and development."Involution" is the key to understand the past and future of Chinese medicine.This is an endogenous knowledge growth mode in line with the law of development and change of Chinese medicine since the Song Dynasty.The method is:1)to attach importance to traditional medical classics and to derive rich and relatively cohesive medical knowledge through repeated interpretation of classics from different angles around these knowledge growth points.2)Chinese medicine interacts with the subject fields which use similar symbols such as Yin-Yang and five elements.With the help of the philosophical theory and the signifier function of these philosophical symbols,we can express,deduce and summarize the practice of medical experience theory.However,these symbols are also commonly used by other knowledge systems sharing the same world view and cosmology view.Therefore,the involution tendency of Chinese medicine can easily be regarded as similar to fortune telling,physiognomy,geomancy and divination,and as one of metaphysics or pseudoscience.Behind the seemingly contradictory conflicts between "modernity construction"and "Chinese medicine Involution",there is an internal unified social basis,that is,Chinese medicine must function practically on treating diseases.When Chinese medicine is over influenced by modernity and is on the verge of losing its subjectivity and medical function,the traditional production mode of involution knowledge may be awakened.If the development of Chinese medicine is too broad,it also needs the support of modern system,that is to say,it must have the guarantee of medical professional admittance system and the examination of curative effect,and otherwise it may appear various non-medical tendencies under the "extensive and profound".Therefore,modern construction is beneficial for the maintenance of the rational basis of Chinese medicine,while "internal involution" is used to highlight the main characteristics and self-development direction of Chinese medicine.The thesis also attempts to understand the concept of Yin-Yang and five elements of Chinese medicine based on the cognitive schema of "modernity construction" and"Involution".It is believed that the current Chinese medicine uses the specific five viscera theory to build up the abstract Five Elements Theory,which is the result of the"modernity construction" of Chinese medicine.Through the construction of specialization and knowledge field,Chinese medicine doctors in the specific medical context are not affected by the concept of metaphysics.However,due to the existence of past habits,for beginners and fans of Chinese medicine,these formal signifier symbols may still have a certain impact on Chinese medicine learning.