Let's get started, everybody The title of our course is Seeking Treasure in Apricot Grove – Recognizing and identifying Chinese Herbs Just as the title implies, This course mainly introduces the Basic some knowledge about Chinese herbs For us Chinese or even for the Chinese nation no matter in history or at present there is one thing we shall never fail to mention Historically the survival and prosperity of the Chinese nation owed much to its irreplaceable contributions In reality it is still an option for health cultivation, prevention, treatment and longevity it has attracted and more attention not only aross China but also worldwide As to what exactly it is I think you should have already known It is our hero tody the Chinese herbs The name of this course is Seeking Treasure in Apricot Grove You may wonder why it got such a name Two literary quotations, I think can be used as an answer In Chinese history we should always remeber two names In the Eastern Han Dynasty and the Three Kingdoms Period, there were two renowned doctors Zhang Zhongjing and Hua Tuo We know well about Zhang Zhongjing who is addressed respectfully as the Medical Sage in China His Shang Han Lun (Treatise on Cold-Induced Diseases) and Jingui Yaolue (Synopsis of Golden Chamber) are classics for us to learn, study and practise Chinese medicine As for Hua Tuo in the history of China not only the medical history but in the entire Chinese history he has left a great deal of anecdotes such as wound-healing with bone-scraping and the Five-Animal frolics (Wu Qin Xi), etc But do you know just at that time equally famous with Zhang and Hua there was another doctor whose name is Dong Feng. That is also what I'm going to introduce to you You can imagine As a docdtor, Dong Feng is comparable to Zhang Zhongjing and Hua Tuo he must have been a great doctor And just beacause of this, there was an endless stream of patients who visited him for treatment Those with incurable diseases or with rare miscellaneous diseases receiving Dong's treatment Most patients had been brought back to health and miraculously cured If you were the patient originally you had lost any hope of life but when treated by Dong Feng you restored your heathy you much be very grateful to Dong Feng So they would like very much, by various means to express their gratitude to Dong Feng Sage Dong was not only highly skillful in medicine but also had noble medical ethics For patients' reward he never took a penny Yet it's hard to decline all their good intention So, he told those who recovered from major illnesses to plant five apricot trees around his clinic and those who recovered from mild illnesses to plant one tree The patients were all delighted to do so Since so many people visited him, you can imagine very soon nearby his clinic there growed hundreds of thousands of apricot trees making an apricot grove Therefore, out of respect to Dong Feng's high medical skill and ethics people called this apricot grove as Immortal Dong's Apricot Grove Ever since in history if we want to praise a doctor with high medical skills and noble ethics we'd like to use these words, which later became Chinese idioms such as reputation among the apricot grove, or apricot grove in warm spring So whenever we talk about apricot grove it is natural to associate it with Chinese medicine and herbs And I assume now you can all understand why I use apricot grove in the title of this course The other half of the title is about seaking treasure I think you've heard of this quotation from Chairman Mao He said that the traditional Chinese medicine is a great treasure awaiting for excavation with endeavours Why it is a treasure has been already mentioned In the history of Chinese nation, it has made irreplaceable contributions If we say it develops with the Chinese civilization it has at least a history of about five thousand years during which, instead of being shrunk being replaced or even withering away it has yet become even more powerful And it is evident to conclude that it's really a treasure house Here I want to mention another literary quotation Shennong tasting all kinds of herbs I still remember many years ago there were brain twister games Among them there was one question related to Chinese medicine especially to Chinese herbs What exactly is the question What is Shennong's last word before he died It's about his last word Actually, it is a tricky question But the right answer should be this grass (herb) is poisonous Maybe it is funny but when you stop laughing you should really contemplate for a moment and find some worship in Shennong, the sacred emperor in ancient times You should know Shennong is the leader of ancient agriculture in ancient China He not only created or initiated agriculture but made tremendous contributions to the development of the theoretical system of Chinese herbs. In history, there was a saying goes like Shennong tasted one hundred herbs and seventy of them were poisonous It is because of his special experience that he could thoroughly understand the properties of all herbs and establish the Chinese herbal medicine we benefit today During its development there have been numerous literature and works, but the one which has gained well recognition and first symbolizing the formation of the theoretical system of Chinese herbs is Shennong Bencao Jing (Shennong's Herbal Classic) This doesn't mean it is writen by Shennong Judging from its name 'Herbal' means Chinese herbs 'Classic' shows its significance and classics just like the Huang Di Nei Jing (Yellow Emporer's Inner Classic) which is also called 'classic' and the reason why we use 'Shennong' here is to indicate his historical importance 'Shennong' in the title of the book means this book is valuable and deserves close attention On the other hand it is true that the establishment of the theoretical system of Chinese herbs is closely related to Shennong so adding his name to the title is out of respect to and worship of him From this perspective the title of Shennong's Herbal Classic itself implies it is of great significance and that it is a treasure So I think we can know from Dong Feng and the legend of the apricot grove from Shennong and the formation of the theoretical system of Chinese herbs why we gave this book such a name to Seeking Treasure in Apricot Grove It is now easy for everyone to understand Of course, the key is to introduce Chinese herbs to you and teach you how to recognise and use them Accordingly in general, this book is mainly about Chinese herbs and the main points include two aspects One is about the basic knowledge and the other is about commonly-used Chinese herbs Focusing on basic knowledge and common Chinese herbs we will explain these herbps from their concepts, theories and applications I hope through my explanation and your own study you can obtain a better and overall understanding of Chinese herbs and thus in your daily life you can use them correctly In additionr I hope through my lectures can further motivate your enthusiasm and interest in learning TCM and Chinese herbal medicine thus do in-depth research on TCM So, based on this objective I'd like to introduce this course in five units The first unit is about the basic concepts of Chinese herbs and technical terms i.e., what exactly Chinese herbs are In this unit I'd also like to tell you what cultural properties it possess that is to say why such a theoretical system about Chinese herbs could develop in China and what are the social and cultural foundations of its formation This is what we're going to learn in the first unit from this unit we get to know what is Chinese herb and we are supposed to know why herbs can be used to treat illnesses. So in unit 2 I'd like to introduce action mechanisms of Chinese herbs. This will involve fundamental theories of Chinese herbs and how to apply these theories to to clinical treatment and guidance in using these herbs Therefore, the second unit is mainly about the Action Mechanism of Chinese Herbs and Wisdom of Treatment Of course both unit 1 and 2 will mainly focus on theory But it is not about pure theory and we will take some herbs as examples This is what we're going to learn in unit 2 For unit 3 and 4 We're going to combine with specific herbs In terms of choosing the type of Chinese herbs, we should stick to one principle these herbs have to be closely associated with our daily life This will involve three kinds of herbs One is related to our diet When we say food, clothing, shelter and transportation food is a basic necessity of life it's therefore important to integrate Chinese herbsd with our diet and achieve health through what we eat some Chinese herbs are both medicine and food or edible herbs These herbs will be introduced in another unit Unit 3 In unit 4 besides edible herbs Some herbs are used frequently in our everyday life This includes herbs used in daily life like holidays or the Spring Festival or rare expensive herbs many people pursue today These contents will be introduced in unit 4 No matter it is edible herb herbs used during holidays or solar terms or rare expensive herbs they all need to be applied appropriately Medicine, as we say, are used to treat diseases and the reason for this lies in their properties or functions If used appropriately, they can be very effective however, if used inappropriately, these herbs may have no effect but harm your body So in the last unit we will introduce the safety of herbs that is, how to use herbs in a reasonable and appropriate way to ensure their efficacy and safety The five units cover concepts, theories, specific herbs and safety. This is the framework of this course I hope these five units can help get a basic understanding of Chinese herbal medicine and equip you with these basic knowledge That is what I'd like to tell you before formal lectures the framework of this course including the origin of its title objectives of the course and how we will introduce it And that's all for this part. Thank you!
