Liu Yanchi is Associate Professor and head of the teaching section on the Basic Theory of Traditional Chinese Medicine at the Beijing College of Traditional Chinese Medicine. He is a member of the editing commission for the basic theory of traditional Chinese medicine, China Medical Encyclopedia, and Digest of Traditional Chinese Medicine.For more than four thousand years, Chinese scholars and medical practitioners have documented ways of maintaining health and treating illness, from theories of yin-yang and the zang-fu organs to the use of herbs and acupuncture. The Essential Book of Traditional Chinese Medicine marks the first time such concepts have been made accessible to Westerners in a comprehensive form.[An] excellent encyclopedic handbook.Reflects a great deal of work not only by the author...but also by a group of ten highly proficient translators and editors on both sides of the Pacific who did a wonderful job.Traditional Chinese Medicine: An Orientation Yin-Yang and the Five Elements The Zang-Fu System The Channel System Etiology: The Cause of Disease Pathogenesis: The Course of Disease Methods of Examination Diagnosis: The Differentiation of Symptom-Complexes Glossary Index