Self-medication with Chinese Medicine Online

ABSTRACT

The internet provides the means for people to play an expanded role in managing their own health. I describe an online group of 325 students seeking to address various health issues through a collaborative “online clinic.” I have coined the term DIO (Do-It-Ourselves) to emphasize the underlying collaboration in this self-care trend. As a living tradition, Chinese medicine is transforming as lay people participate in this process, and their collaborative study in a digital classroom suggests a new style of knowing.

Video Abstract

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KEYWORDS:

• China
• Chinese medicine
• online health community
• self-care
• TCM

Acknowledgments

I am grateful to Prof. Gracia Liu-Farrer and Prof. Glenda Roberts for their continuous guidance and suggestions. Thanks to the three anonymous reviewers and the journal editor Lenore Manderson for their valuable comments and suggestions. I am indebted to Gulin Kayhan, Melimelo Marick, Jamie Coates, Ksenia Kurochkina, Ksenia Golovina, and Paul Hansen for their insightful suggestions and stimulating discussions on the earlier version of this article. Special thanks to Dr Victoria Team in Medical Anthropology Editorial Office and Kim Suan Lim in Waseda University for their great help.

Notes

1. A formula documented in Shang Han Za Bing Lun, a Chinese medical treatise compiled by Zhang Zhongjing.

2. Formula documented in Shang Han Za Bing Lun.

3. China has a remarkable medical pluralism with the co-existence of TCM and biomedicine on almost every level of its health care system. Each has institutions of their own.

4. Formula documented in Shang Han Za Bing Lun.

5. Formula documented in Shang Han Za Bing Lun.

6. Formula documented in Shang Han Za Bing Lun.

Additional information

Funding

I received no specific funding for this work.

Notes on contributors

Dacheng Yao

Dacheng Yao is a PhD candidate in the Graduate School of Asia-Pacific Studies of Waseda University. He is currently researching self-medicalization with Chinese medicine and the transformation of Traditional Chinese Medicine in China. ORCID: 0000-0001-8157-7351.