Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) is known as having a long history, brilliant achievements, and profound medical skills, and has always been regarded as a cultural treasure of China by the Chinese people. Until now, there are still countless fans and admirers of TCM in China.
However, TCM has gynecology, but not obstetrics. For thousands of years, the obstetrics of Chinese medicine has been blank. Why has obstetrics not been born and developed in China?
First, in ancient times, China was severely bound by feudal etiquette and religion. Confucianism was absolutely dominant in ancient China. The Confucian classic "Mencius" wrote, "Men and women do not kiss each other, and they are also courteous." It means that men and women cannot talk, socialize, or come into contact with each other, and the ancients believed that this was a natural etiquette. In ancient times, there was a saying that men and women "can't eat and sit together". This means that men and women cannot eat at the same table when eating, and they cannot sit too close. As a result, a male doctor is not present at all during a woman's birth, let alone a male doctor.
Second, in ancient China, women had a low social status and were discriminated against, women's life and health were not valued at all, male superiority and inferiority were very serious, and women had no right to receive medical education at all, so there were almost no female doctors. When a woman gives birth, only a "stable woman" delivers the baby. Wen Po, also known as "Lao Niang Po", is a professional woman who specializes in delivering babies for women in ancient times, and is generally served by a mature and stable married woman, so she is called Wen Po.
In ancient China, there were many male doctors who were highly educated and proficient in gynecology. But Wen Po, who was in charge of delivering the baby, did not have any education, let alone any medical education. The duty of a stable woman, in addition to delivering the baby, is to encourage and comfort the mother. encountered maternal dystocia, hemorrhage, shock, and infection, Wen Po was helpless and could only resign herself to fate. Therefore, for thousands of years, women have been taking great risks when giving birth to children, and the maternal mortality rate is very high.
According to historical records, Bian Que, known as a miracle doctor, also worked as a gynecologist, and was called "bringing down the doctor" at that time. Although Bian Que has excellent medical skills, he is also unable to deliver babies, so Bian Que has no impact on Chinese obstetrics.
In addition, obstetrics itself has a surgical nature, which can be seen from the fact that modern medicine has many surgeries in obstetrics. But surgery is also the weak link of TCM. Although Hua Tuo is known as a miracle doctor and is said to be good at surgery, surgery requires aseptic surgery, hemostasis, blood transfusion, anti-infection, anesthesia, and monitoring...... These are the shortcomings of traditional Chinese medicine.
Personally, I think that Chinese medicine is more oriented towards philosophy, history, literature and other humanities. Obstetrics needs to be based on natural sciences such as anatomy, physiology, and surgery, so the obstetrics of traditional Chinese medicine has never developed and grown in history, and it does not exist now, which cannot but be said to be the regret of traditional Chinese medicine, and it is also the sorrow of ancient Chinese society and culture.