Traditional Chinese Medicine 1. Philosophical background: principles human body is a self-regulating universe with a set of sophisticated closely-related subsystems. Philosophically, human body is operated on the movement of yin and yang (阴阳) and five elements (五行). Subsystems include qi (气) xu (血) body fluid (津液) zng-f(脏腑 body organs) meridians (经络 circulation channels) etc.Health is perceived as harmonious interaction of entities of these subsystems and the outside world; disease is interprete