Today, I will introduce the common therapies of TCM. Let us have a brief introduction.

a. Herbal Ingredients

Nowadays Chinese herbal medicines can be classified into two: raw herbal ingredients and Chinese patent drugs.

Raw herbal ingredients (usually sun-dried herbs as well as animals such as snake gall, minerals such as magnetite, ostracum such as pearls, etc) are available in private TCM clinics, pharmacies and hospitals. People can decoct them with water and drink the decoction following the doctor's advice. Due to natures and characters of different medicinal herbs, the decocting time and decocting methods may vary. Therefore, people should pay attention to that to gain the best curative effect while decocting.

By contrast, Chinese patent drugs (decoction, pills, electuary, pulvis, vinum, troche, syrup, electuary, medicinal tea, etc) are more convenient, as they have usually been processed by modern medical technology and patients can take them directly. Generally speaking, herbal therapy is most widely used among all of the TCM treatments.