body and the back are assigned to yang, while the lower part of the body is believed to have the yin character. yin and yang characterization also extends to the various body functions, and – more importantly – to disease symptoms (e.g., cold and heat sensations are assumed to be yin and yang symptoms, respectively). thus, yin and yang of the body are seen as phenomena whose lack (or over-abundance) comes with characteristic symptom combinations: yin vacuity (also termed "vacuity-heat"): heat sensations, possible sweating at night, insomnia, dry pharynx, dry mouth, dark urine, and a "fine" and rapid pulse. yang vacuity ("vacuity-cold"): aversion to cold, cold limbs, bright white complexion, long voidings of clear urine, diarrhea, pale and enlarged tongue, and a slightly weak, slow and fine pulse. tcm also identifies drugs believed to treat these specific symptom combinations, i.e., to reinforce yin and yang. interactions of wu xing phenomenonwoodfireearthmetalwater direction eastsouthcentrewestnorth colour green/violetred/purpleyellow/pinkwhiteblack climate windheatdampdrynesscold taste sourbittersweetacridsalty zang organ liverheartspleenlungkidney fu organ gallbladdersmall intestinestomachlarge intestinebladder sense organ eyetonguemouthnoseears facial part above bridge of nosebetween eyes, lower partbridge of nosebetween eyes, middle partcheeks (below cheekbone) eye part irisinner/outer corner of the eyeupper and lower lidsclerapupil strict rules are identified to apply to the relationships between the five phases in terms of sequence, of acting on each other, of counteraction, etc. all these aspects of five phases theory constitute the basis of the zàng-fǔ concept, and thus have great influence regarding the tcm model of the body. five phase theory is also applied in diagnosis and therapy. correspondences between the body and the universe have historically not only been seen in terms of the five elements, but also of the "great numbers" (大數; dà shū) for example, the number of acu-points has at times been seen to be 365, corresponding with the number of days in a year; and the number of main meridians–12–has been seen as corresponding with the number of rivers flowing through the ancient chinese empire. model of the body old chinese medical chart on acupuncture meridians tcm "holds that the body's vital energy (chi or qi) circulates through channels, called meridians, that have branches connected to bodily organs and functions." its view of the human body is only marginally concerned with anatomical structures, but focuses primarily on the body's functions (such as digestion, breathing, temperature maintenance, etc.): these functions are aggregated and then associated with a primary functional entity – for instance, nourishment of the tissues and maintenance of their moisture are seen as connected functions, and the entity postulated to be responsible for these functions is xiě (blood). these functional entities thus constitute concepts rather than something with biochemical or anatomical properties. the primary functional entities used by traditional chinese medicine are qì, xuě, the five zàng organs, the six fǔ organs, and the meridians which extend through the organ systems. these are all theoretically interconnected: each zàng organ is paired with a fǔ organ, which are nourished by the blood and concentrate qi for a particular function, with meridians being extensions of those functional systems throughout the body. concepts of the body and of disease used in tcm are pseudoscientific, similar to mediterranean humoral theory. tcm's model of the body is characterized as full of pseudoscience. some practitioners no longer consider yin and yang and the idea of an energy flow to apply. scientific investigation has not found any histological or physiological evidence for traditional chinese concepts such as qi, meridians, and acupuncture points. it is a generally held belief within the acupuncture community that acupuncture points and meridians structures are special conduits for electrical signals but no research has established any consistent anatomical structure or function for either acupuncture points or meridians. the scientific evidence for the anatomical existence of either meridians or acupuncture points is not compelling. stephen barrett of quackwatch writes that, "tcm theory and practice are not based upon the body of knowledge related to health, disease, and health care that has been widely accepted by the scientific community. tcm practitioners disagree among themselves about how to diagnose patients and which treatments should go with which diagnoses. even if they could agree, the tcm theories are so nebulous that no amount of scientific study will enable tcm to offer rational care." qi tcm distinguishes many kinds of qi (气; 氣; qì). in a general sense, qi is something that is defined by five "cardinal functions": actuation (推动; 推動; tuīdòng) – of all physical processes in the body, especially the circulation of all body fluids such as blood in their vessels. this includes actuation of the functions of the zang-fu organs and meridians. warming (温煦; 溫煦; wēnxù) – the body, especially the limbs. defense (防御; fángyù) – against exogenous pathogenic factors containment (固摄; 固攝; gùshè) – of body fluids, i.e., keeping blood, sweat, urine, semen, etc. from leakage or excessive emission. transformation (气化; 氣化; qìhuà) – of food, drink, and breath into qi, xue (blood), and jinye ("fluids"), and/or transformation of all of the latter into each other. vacuity of qi will be characterized especially by pale complexion, lassitude of spirit, lack of strength, spontaneous sweating, laziness to speak, non-digestion of food, shortness of breath (especially on exertion), and a pale and enlarged tongue. qi is believed to be partially generated from food and drink, and partially from air (by breathing). another considerable part of it is inherited from the parents and will be consumed in the course of life. tcm uses special terms for qi running inside of the blood vessels and for qi that is distributed in the skin, muscles, and tissues between them. the former is called yíng-qì (营气; 營氣); its function is to complement xuè and its nature has a strong yin aspect (although qi in general is considered to be yang). the latter is called weì-qì (卫气; 衛氣); its main function is defence and it has pronounced yang nature. qi is said to circulate in the meridians. just as the qi held by each of the zang-fu organs, this is considered to be part of the 'principal' qi (元气; 元氣; yuánqì) of the body (also called 真气; 真氣; zhēn qì, true qi, or 原气; 原氣; yuán qì, original qi). xie in contrast to the majority of other functional entities, xuè or xiě (血, "blood") is correlated with a physical form – the red liquid running in the blood vessels. its concept is, nevertheless, defined by its functions: nourishing all parts and tissues of the body, safeguarding an adequate degree of moisture, and sustaining and soothing both consciousness and sleep. typical symptoms of a lack of xiě (usually termed "blood vacuity" ) are described as: pale-white or withered-yellow complexion, dizziness, flowery vision, palpitations, insomnia, numbness of the extremities; pale tongue; "fine" pulse. jinye closely related to xuě are the jīnyè (津液, usually translated as "body fluids"), and just like xuě they are considered to be yin in nature, and defined first and foremost by the functions of nurturing and moisturizing the different structures of the body. their other functions are to harmonize yin and yang, and to help with the secretion of waste products. jīnyè are ultimately extracted from food and drink, and constitute the raw material for the production of xuě; conversely, xuě can also be transformed into jīnyè. their palpable manifestations are all bodily fluids: tears, sputum, saliva, gastric acid, joint fluid, sweat, urine, etc. zang-fu the zàng-fǔ (脏腑; 臟腑) constitute the centre piece of tcm's systematization of bodily functions. bearing the names of organs, they are, however, only secondarily tied to (rudimentary) anatomical assumptions (the fǔ a little more, the zàng much less). as they are primarily defined by their functions, they are not equivalent to the anatomical organs; to highlight this fact, their names are usually capitalized. the term zàng (臟) refers to the five entities considered to be yin in nature – heart, liver, spleen, lung, kidney – while fǔ (腑) refers to the six yang organs – small intestine, large intestine, gallbladder, urinary bladder, stomach and sānjiaō. the zàng's essential functions consist in production and storage of qì and xuě; they are said to regulate digestion, breathing, water metabolism, the musculoskeletal system, the skin, the sense organs, aging, emotional processes, and mental activity, among other structures and processes. the fǔ organs' main purpose is merely to transmit and digest (傳化; chuán-huà) substances such as waste and food. since their concept was developed on the basis of wǔ xíng philosophy, each zàng is paired with a fǔ, and each zàng-fǔ pair is assigned to one of five elemental qualities (i.e., the five elements or five phases). these correspondences are stipulated as: fire (火) = heart (心; xīn) and small intestine (小腸; xiaǒcháng) (and, secondarily, sānjiaō and pericardium ) earth (土) = spleen (脾; pí) and stomach (胃; weì) metal (金) = lung (肺; feì) and large intestine (大腸; dàcháng) water (水) = kidney (腎; shèn) and bladder (膀胱; pángguāng) wood (木) = liver (肝; gān) and gallbladder (膽; dān) the zàng-fǔ are also connected to the twelve standard meridians – each yang meridian is attached to a fǔ organ, and five of the yin meridians are attached to a zàng. as there are only five zàng but six yin meridians, the sixth is assigned to the pericardium, a peculiar entity almost similar to the heart zàng. jing-luo acupuncture chart from the ming dynasty (c. 1368–1644) main article: meridian (chinese medicine) the meridians (经络, jīng-luò) are believed to be channels running from the zàng-fǔ in the interior (里, lǐ) of the body to the limbs and joints ("the surface" ), transporting qi and xuĕ. tcm identifies 12 "regular" and 8 "extraordinary" meridians; the chinese terms being 十二经脉 (shí-èr jīngmài, lit. "the twelve vessels") and 奇经八脉 (qí jīng bā mài) respectively. there's also a number of less customary channels branching from the "regular" meridians. gender in traditional medicine fuke (妇科; 婦科; fuke) is the chinese term for women's medicine (known as gynecology and obstetrics in modern medicine). however, there are few or no ancient works on it except for fu qing-zhu's fu qing zhu nu ke (fu qing-zhu's gynecology). in traditional china, as in many other cultures, the health and medicine of female bodies was less understood than that of male bodies. women's bodies were often secondary to male bodies, since women were thought of as the weaker, sicklier sex. in clinical encounters, women and men were treated differently. diagnosing women was not as simple as diagnosing men. first, when a woman fell ill, an appropriate adult man was to call the doctor and remain present during the examination, for the woman could not be left alone with the doctor. the physician would discuss the female's problems and diagnosis only through the male. however, in certain cases, when a woman dealt with complications of pregnancy or birth, older women assumed the role of the formal authority. men in these situations would not have much power to interfere. second, women were often silent about their issues with doctors due to the societal expectation of female modesty when a male figure was in the room. third, patriarchal society also caused doctors to call women and children patients "the anonymous category of family members (jia ren) or household (ju jia)" in their journals. this anonymity and lack of conversation between the doctor and woman patient led to the inquiry diagnosis of the four diagnostic methods being the most challenging. doctors used a medical doll known as a doctor's lady, on which female patients could indicate the location of their symptoms. cheng maoxian (b. 1581), who practiced medicine in yangzhou, described the difficulties doctors had with the norm of female modesty. one of his case studies was that of fan jisuo's teenage daughter, who could not be diagnosed because she was unwilling to speak about her symptoms, since the illness involved discharge from her intimate areas. as cheng describes, there were four standard methods of diagnosis – looking, asking, listening and smelling and touching (for pulse-taking). to maintain some form of modesty, women would often stay hidden behind curtains and screens. the doctor was allowed to touch enough of her body to complete his examination, often just the pulse taking. this would lead to situations where the symptoms and the doctor's diagnosis did not agree and the