An introduction to Chinese medicinal properties and Chinese medicine
Display titles and publisher names are translated or transliterated by TCM Compass where needed. Original information is retained separately below.
- Publisher / author
- The Hong Kong Polytechnic University
- Source language
- Traditional Chinese
- Actually accessed
- 2026-11-04
- Published date
- Not confirmed
- Material type
- Institutional educational resource
- Access status
- Actually accessed
- What this source cannot establish
- Traditional explanatory framework and terminology; energy is a loose translation, not a measured physiology claim. Does not establish treatment efficacy.
Supports: traditional qi vocabulary · relational yin and yang · nature and flavour terminology · symptom and pattern distinction
Original source information
Bibliographic wording is preserved below for checking against the original source.
- Original title
- 淺述中藥性能／中醫學簡介
- Original publisher / author
- 香港理工大學
- Original source language code
- zh-Hant
- Original material type
- institutional educational resource
- Original supported topics
- traditional qi vocabulary · relational yin and yang · nature and flavour terminology · symptom and pattern distinction
- Original access status
- accessible
- Recorded access date
- 2026-11-04
- Recorded publication date
- —
- Original review notes
- Traditional explanatory framework and terminology; energy is a loose translation, not a measured physiology claim. Does not establish treatment efficacy.
How this reference is used here
These are our published explanations that cite this source. Each link opens the relevant section; this does not mean the publisher endorses the article.
Qi, Yin and Yang in Plain Language · Three words within a traditional framework
Qi, yin and yang help traditional authors describe life, relationships and change. They are not three nutrients or ingredients. PolyU’s introduction describes qi as a foundational traditional concept associated with movement and life activity, and presents yin and yang as relational categories.
Qi, Yin and Yang in Plain Language · Yin and yang always invite a comparison
The original shaded and sun-facing slopes provide a useful starting image. The point is a relationship, not that one slope contains a substance called yin. In traditional analogies, darkness and stillness are associated with yin, brightness and activity with yang. Neither side is a moral judgment.
Qi, Yin and Yang in Plain Language · Read qi in the sentence, not in isolation
In food writing you may meet “nourish qi,” while other texts discuss qi movement or use compound terms. Start by asking what the author is describing: a traditional action attributed to a material, an account of bodily function, or a practitioner’s assessment. The same short word does not make all these statements interchangeable.
Qi, Yin and Yang in Plain Language · Do not collapse different traditional terms
A traditional qi concept is not identical to yin or yang. Nor is the phrase “four qi” on a materia-medica page a list of four measured energies: PolyU explains it there as the cold, hot, warm and cool properties. Context and compound words change what a term is doing.
Warming and Cooling Foods: What These Terms Mean · One word can conceal three different questions
When someone calls a food “hot,” ask which question they mean. Serving temperature concerns the physical temperature of the dish. Nutrition concerns its composition, including energy and nutrients. Traditional nature concerns its classification in Chinese medicine. One answer does not supply the other two.
Warming and Cooling Foods: What These Terms Mean · What the traditional categories describe
CMRO lists cold, cool, warm and hot, with neutral for less pronounced classifications. PolyU explains the corresponding materia-medica terms as descriptions within a yin–yang framework; sources may also use qualifiers such as slightly warm. These are traditional categories, not values on a thermometer.
Warming and Cooling Foods: What These Terms Mean · Nature and flavour are separate labels
Traditional entries often pair nature with flavour: for example, the same CMRO publication calls mung beans sweet and cold, and adzuki beans sweet and neutral. “Sweet” therefore does not by itself determine “warm” or “cold.” PolyU also notes that traditional flavour classification includes both tasted flavour and an interpretation of action.
What Is Traditional Chinese Medicine? · The framework behind the vocabulary
Traditional texts organize explanations through concepts such as qi, yin and yang, and patterns. These terms belong to a framework for interpreting relationships and changes. Learning what an author means by them is different from showing that a proposed treatment produces a measurable benefit.
What Is Traditional Chinese Medicine? · What a pattern means in a consultation
A symptom is an individual experience or sign; a pattern is a traditional interpretation of a collection of information. CMRO describes four examination methods: observation, listening and smelling, questioning, and palpation. The assessment brings information together before a treatment decision.