Western healers in traditional Chinese medicine.

in recent years, some in the West have begun to recognize traditional chinese medicine (tcM) as a potential source of new drug candidates (corson & crews, 2007; Efferth et al, 2007; Li & zhang, 2008; Schmidt et al, 2007). at the same time, the practice of tcM in Western countries has been increasing (institute of Medicine, 2005). as tcM is usually thought to have evolved independently of Western medical practices, the two systems are considered to be distinct from one another, with only a few weak connections between them (Food and Drug administration, 2006). Nevertheless, by analysing both the history of tcM and the compounds used in tcM, we find that tcM and Western medicine are not quite so different after all. in fact, there have been frequent exchanges of ideas and culture between china and its neighbours over the past 2,000 years, including communication with much of Europe. Not surprisingly, china acquired foreign herbs that were eventually adopted by tcM; common agents such as aloe, olibanum, myrrh, benzoin, styrax, strychnos, saffron, fennel, fenugreek, pepper, garlic, clove, areca seed and evening primrose all came from abroad (Xiao et al, 2001). Even during the last century, new ideas were selectively absorbed by tcM practitioners as modern Western medicine spread to china. Some 80 years ago, zhang Xi-chun (1860–1933) combined aspirin, a typical Western drug, and Gypsum fibrosum, a tcM product that has been used for more than 2,000 years (Editorial committee of chinese Materia Medica, 1999), to create a new formula to treat febrile arthritis (yue & Wang, 2004). today, a large number of tcM formulae contain Western drugs and approximately 10–30% of tcM therapeutics are based on synthetic chemicals (zhu, 2004). Furthermore, there are many similarities between tcM components and increasing in Western medicine, it is therefore noteworthy that both systems are in fact not that different, but have been sharing several compounds and therapeutics for thousands of years.