Chinese traditional herbal medicine is an alternative system of treatment arising from a holistic philosophy of life. It emphasizes the interconnection of the mental, emotional, and physical components within each person, and the importance of harmony between individuals and their social groups, as well as between humanity as a whole and nature. Although Chinese medicine is neither the oldest system recorded by historians nor the only form of herbal therapy practiced today, it is the oldest continuous surviving tradition of herbal medicine. The only other alternative system of treatment that can be traced as far back as Chinese medicine is the Ayurvedic system of India. It should be noted that traditional Chinese herbal medicine did not develop in complete isolation. As early as the second century B.C., Chinese merchants in India came into contact with Ayurvedic medicine. In the sixteenth and...