Principles And Methods In Standardization Of Traditional Chinese Medical Terminologies

Traditional Chinese culture is the crystalization of the wisdom of Chinese people,the source of the cohesiveness of Chinese nation, and the most precious wealth passeddown from our ancestors. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is an importantcomponent of traditional Chinese culture and is the summation of the experienceaccumulated by Chinese people in ifghting against diseases. Owing to its uniquetheoretical system, rich clinical experience and marvelous therapeutic effects, TCMhas made great contributions to the development of the health care system and to theprosperity of the Chinese nation. Meanwhile, TCM has exerted significant influenceson the development of other medical systems worldwide. Two thousand years haspassed since TCM was firstly transmitted to the neighboring regions and tribes at theQin and Han dynasties. Ever since then, TCM has been widely spread to the Arabicand European countries, America and others and has brought well-beings to people allover the world.In the1970s，Chinese physicians successfully performed operations by usingacupuncture as anesthesia and extracting artemisinin from Chinese herbs, whichenhances the status of TCM in the medical circles globally. Besides, the therapeuticefifcacy of TCM in treating chronic diseases has won great popularity for TCM notonly in the medical circles abroad but also among the ordinary people. Thedissemination of TCM in the West relies heavily on translation, particularly on theEnglish translation of TCM, for English has long become the common language usedin the international academic exchanges of TCM.However，due to the disparities between the theoretical systems of TCM andWestern medicine, as well as the differences between the cultures and languages ofChina and the West, the English translation of TCM is by no means an easy task. Thebiggest problem that lies in the English translation of TCM is the inconsistenttranslation of TCM terms, which is largely due to the translators’ different understanding of the original text and their use of different English words to renderthe same TCM term. This chaotic translation situation has hampered the furtherdevelopment of TCM in the Western countries and caused confusions in foreignreaders. Therefore, the increasing demands of TCM in foreign countries have calledfor standardization of English translation of TCM terms.The international standardization of TCM terms must be formulated under theguidance of principles and methods*This thesis aims to study the principles andmethods adopted in the standardization of English translation of TCM terms byanalyzing the principles and methods put forward by the forerunners, and byconducting a comprehensive study on the ifrst international standard of TCM terms，Standard Acupuncture Nomenclature，and the ifve published international andnational standards of English translation of TCM terms.