The earliest record of medical treatment in China dates from the Shang Dynasty, 14th-11th century BCE. Here, medicine, just like in Ancient Egypt, was based on a more ritualistic process and was not seen as an area or profession by itself. The recordings were found on bones and tortoise shells and often show various prescriptions that were given to the Shang Royal family. They weren’t seen as illnesses but as curses from the ancestors.

One of the most popular ancient Chinese records that show the importance of massage in the ancient world is the Gong Fou, which gave a lot of information about the use of various herbs but also about exercises and positions that patients needed to adapt a healthier lifestyle.

A complete ancient Chinese medical text that has been a fundamental source for Chinese traditional medicine was the Yellow Emperor’s Inner Canon, a work of two texts that were divided into 81 chapters. The format of this text is very unusual because it has been comprised into question and answers regarding certain medical issues. This “dialogue” is supposedly between the Huangdi and his ministers.

The first part of the text shows the basics of Chinese Medicine and how people are diagnosed. The following parts show how various illnesses could be treated with prescriptions regarding treatment and the measures that needed to be taken for the patient to heal properly.

The book offered some knowledge about massage and what it could do for various illnesses in the body but also gave knowledge about different relations between humans, the environment and the cosmos.

One of the first manipulative therapies in the world was Tui Na, which was a type of massage used to treat both infants and adults.  Tui Na was based on a system that was noticed in animals. People saw that whenever an animal was hurt it would rub itself and with that knowledge a system was created that included hand techniques applied using certain principles of Yin and Yang.

The hand techniques were various and were used to balance and adjust the Chi energies. Along with herbal concoctions the massage techniques were used to treat a wide array of illnesses and some even manipulated the bone structure.

As time passed, massage was used throughout China by reputed Chinese physicians such as Bian Que who managed to popularize it even more.

to be continued,

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