Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has a time-honored history of several thousand years. It is the sum of knowledge gained by all the nationalities of our country in fighting disease and maintaining good health in the course of a considerably long historical period. As pointed out by the first theoretical medical classic, the Internal Classic of Yellow Emperor, the human body is built upon two opposing aspects, the yin and the yang, which are interdependent and interrelated. TCM aims at maintaining the harmonious relationship between these two aspects so as to achieve physical health and longevity. In a chapter of the above-mentioned classic, it is stated that “when one masters the mystery of the yin-yang principle, one can even enjoy a life as long as nature itself” [21. The lofty goal of TCM is thus matched and in line with what the WHO defines for “health” in 1948 as “a state of optimum physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity”…
