Berlin’s Ethnologisches Museum holds a unique collection of objects associated with Chinese medicine. The new Humboldt-Forum will include a portal dedicated to this collection, giving visitors the opportunity to learn more about the history, development and significance of the Chinese medical tradition. But the question of how to present these topics is a difficult one. What exactly do we mean by ‘Chinese medicine,’ anyway? A two-day workshop brought together experts in the field to discuss these very questions. The group came to the conclusion that in order to understand Chinese medicine and accurately convey the thinking and theoretical principles on which it is based, we need to widen our cultural horizons. Chinese medicine can only be properly understood in the context of other discourses, especially those relating to religion and philosophy. Participants agreed that from their point of view, ‘Chinese medicine’ is a generic term that encompasses a broad range of different ideas and methodologies. A tour of the Ethnologisches Museum collection, led by curator Siegmar Nahser, gave participants the chance to substantiate their talks with real-life examples of Chinese medicine in practice.

The origins of Chinese medicine go back some thousands of years. The opening talk by workshop organizer Silvia Gaetti conveyed an impressive overview of its history, and also showed how the challenges of presenting this history have been met by museums in the past. The classic handbook of internal medicine “Huang Di Nei Jin,” was written around 300 B.C. and belonged to the Yellow Emperor. Even today, it is seen both in the West and East as an important foundation for a proper understanding of Chinese medicine. But as far back as the Shang period (c. 1600-1050 B.C.), people were beginning to develop theories and traditions that would eventually become essential aspects of the actual concept of Chinese medicine. These included oracle bones, treatments for dealing with demons and ghosts, and the I Ching (Book of Changes). Since its beginnings, Chinese medicine has undergone many changes. Some of its theoreticians have, for their part, had an important influence on religious thought, for example on Taoism, Buddhism and Confucianism. Explanatory models and treatments were developed and handed down within practitioner families and their circles, while both practice and theory were subject to approval or regulation by whichever ruler was currently on the throne (for example, in 1822 the Emperor's court prohibited the use of acupuncture).

This immense treasury of knowledge could only be built up and passed on thanks to China’s sophisticated culture and its extensive network of writers and book manufacturers. One impressive example of this culture can be found in the Ethnologisches Museum collection. It contains one of the volumes from what is popularly known as the “Yongle Encyclopaedia,” a vast work compiled at the beginning of the fifteenth century that aimed to bring the whole of human knowledge together in a single work in the form of excerpts from longer texts. Curator Ching-Ling Wang presented the Berlin manuscript, which is one of just 400 volumes that have survived from the original 11,000. This particular book, which focuses on children and childhood, is richly illustrated, and forms an important source for our knowledge of medicine. It discusses typical childhood illnesses in detail and lists known treatments together with references to their sources. These references are especially valuable because many of the source texts themselves are no longer extant.

Today’s perceptions of Chinese medicine are strongly influenced by the West’s interest in traditional Chinese treatments and the related transmission of knowledge, ideas and methodologies from China to the West from the 1950s to the 1970s. The World Health Organisation (WHO) eventually named the phenomenon “Traditional Chinese Medicine” (TCM). In the West, however, the ideas coming out of China were often taken up and transformed in a creative way that had little to do with tradition. But this reawakening of interest also made it possible to resurrect ancient knowledge. Long-neglected texts were translated and published for a new readership. All of this led to a bundling of Chinese medical schools of thought in China and to the teaching of TCM at Chinese universities, despite the fact that under Chairman Mao, Chinese medicine was denigrated and Western medicine promoted as the only progressive form of treatment for illness. In the West, various initiatives pressed for proper clinical testing of TCM, so as to legitimize its inclusion in public health provision.

Henry Johannes Greten, a doctor and professor of Chinese medicine in Heidelberg, used the language of science and economics in his paper to show how basic principles of Chinese medicine can be understood in terms of Western thought. He explained that in Chinese medicine, life is a process of “flow.” It can be represented as a sinus curve, where in any biological system, optimal target values for that system can only be regulated, never consistently attained. The greatest strength of Chinese medicine, according to Greten, is that it uses both sophisticated diagnostic methods and empirical observation to create a “snapshot” of the momentary condition of any given biological system – a human being, for example. Greten explained that from this, it is possible to see not only actual irregularities (pathologies) but also to identify what stage these are at and patterns in their development. By plotting the patient’s condition on a sinus curve (or on the Circle of the Five Elements), according to Greten, it is possible to say whether the illness is likely to move the system further away from its optimal state or whether the system is likely to move back towards this.

It seems, however, that we should be careful not to assume that Chinese medicine can be explained on the basis of a few general principles. Acupuncture, for example, which is currently recognized as a valid treatment for certain symptoms and as such is funded by German health insurance schemes, tends to be described as one of the “Five Pillars.” These Five Pillars are known as acupuncture (with moxibustion and cupping); tu ina and anmo (therapeutic massage techniques using acupuncture pressure points and meridians); Chinese phytotherapy; nutritional teachings; and qigong and tai chi. But as Ute Engelhardt, a sinologist and teacher of Chinese medicine in Munich, explained in her paper, the idea of the Five Pillars is in fact a twentieth-century development and never formed part of traditional teachings.

Sinologist and anthropologist Michael Stanley-Baker (Max-Planck-Institut für Wissenschaftsgeschichte, Berlin) discussed the influence of various religions on Chinese medicine, especially the importance of Taoist teachings relating to the “Celestial Masters” for the establishment of phytotherapy. One of the most famous practitioners of herbal treatments was Sun Simiao (581-682). The collection at the Ethnologisches Museum contains several statues of this doctor, and it is planned to include one of them, which depicts him with a tiger, in the Humboldt-Forum display. There is a story attached to this, which tells us something about how the various forms of treatment are connected. According to legend, Sun Simiao freed a tiger from a splinter of wood, which had lodged in its throat. Thereafter, the tiger never left his side. When a dragon became ill, Sun Simiao rode on the tiger’s back to the dragon and healed it with acupuncture. Both tigers and dragons are very important in the imagery of Chinese traditions.

The portal in the Humboldt-Forum plans to show an authentic pharmacy from the nineteenth century, including the original vessels, tools and equipment, to give visitors an idea of Chinese herbal medicine. The pharmacy shall be placed right at the center of the space, and workshop participants came up with the idea of using it as a link to physically represent the relationship between the professional aspect of Chinese medicine, with the various diagnostic methods used by doctors, and the everyday aspect practiced by people in their own homes. To the left of the pharmacy there could be an area devoted to practices that people use in everyday life to look after their health, such as qigong, seasonal nutrition and the use of herbs. To the right, there could be an area with treatment tables where visitors could lie down while acupuncture pressure points and meridians are projected on to their bodies. The group also considered setting up diagnosis points (e.g. for diagnosing symptoms of the tongue, pulse or face), which would include displays of various prescriptions and possibly even books such as a medical textbook from the collection, which have been added to and handed down from generation to generation. Modern replicas of these books and translations of the texts could be made available so that visitors can handle them and read the contents.

One apparently small issue led to some heated discussions, showing again the challenges involved in finding an appropriate format for the exhibition. The group was asked to think about the way in which the exhibition could convey the language of Chinese medicine to visitors. How should curators deal with the fact that a simplified generic system of terminology does not truly reflect the complexity of the Chinese medical tradition? It was felt that terms and concepts such as yin/yang, wu xing (“the five phases of transformation”), qi (“energy,” “strength”) or ba gang (“the eight diagnostic parameters”) should be represented using Chinese letters as well as the official phonetic transcriptions (pinyin). In this context, sinologist Lena Springer (University of Westminster) gave a paper which showed how important it is to recognize the impact of translations, as serious misunderstandings can arise when this is not taken into account.

It looks as though the exhibition, with all its many varieties of linguistic and cultural translation, is likely to be challenging and exciting for both curators and its visitors. The workshop, thoughtfully planned and delivered by Silvia Gaetti and Jan Valentini, was an important step towards achieving this goal.

Translated from German by Galina Green

Nike Riedel works as a doctor of Western and Chinese medicine in Germany and Switzerland. Besides a medical degree, she has studied Sinology and has visited China many times in the course of her studies.

Link Program Workshop “Chinese Medicine in flux” (PDF)

The workshop (“Chinese Medicine in flux. Presenting and explaining Chinese medicine in the Humboldt-Forum”) took place from 21st-22nd July 2015 at the Dahlem Museums.

Speakers:
Ute Engelhardt (Sinologist, lecturer in TCM at the Technische Universität, Munich)
Silvia Gaetti (Research assistant, north and east Asia collection, Ethnologisches Museum, Berlin)
Henry Johannes Greten (Professor of Chinese Medicine, University of Porto; Director of the Heidelberg School of Chinese Medicine)
Siegmar Nahser (Curator, north and east Asia collection, Ethnologisches Museum, Berlin)
Lena Springer (Research fellow, University of Westminster)
Michael Stanley-Baker (Postdoctoral researcher, Max-Planck-Institut für Wissenschaftsgeschichte, Berlin)
Ching-Ling Wang (Curator, department of ancient Chinese art, Museum für Asiatische Kunst, Berlin, and of the China collection at the Ethnologisches Museum, Berlin)
Moderator:
Jan Valentini (Medical doctor and lecturer in Western and Chinese medicine, Universität Heidelberg)

Concept of the workshop: Silvia Gaetti, Jan Valentini