 So at one Thanksgiving meal, I was speaking with one of my aunts and she was saying, you know It's a terrible thing that Chinese medicine is killing off all the endangered animals. She's like you're killing the tigers You're killing bears by keeping them alive and milking their gallbladder juices. You're killing dogs You're killing tats and it made me realize that Chinese medicine is truly in need of the world's greatest PR agency now in this video I want to share this idea that Chinese medicine is all about tiger penis soups and killing off endangered animals in order to Acquire these supposed tonics that help people live longer Hey guys, I'm Alex Hine author of the book master of the day current doctoral student in traditional or classical Chinese medicine Now there are a lot of news articles that are the negative side the dark side of Chinese medicine Talking about animals that are imprisoned to be used or milked for parts Tigers and basically endangered animals that are essentially gone in China I don't think there's any more wild tigers in the whole country and really what we're talking about is a few things There's a few distinctions we have to make the first is folk medicine versus Chinese medicine now in every indigenous culture There is folk medicine, which is a mixture of Medicine and maybe mysticism or religious practices and also just irrational Science lists beliefs now in Chinese medicine Essentially a lot of the parts that we use for herbal formulas are herbs minerals and animal parts And yes, even though we use animal parts and so does conventional medicine You just don't see it because it's in a little pill even though we use animal parts using things like tiger is Very unusual in actual traditional Chinese medicine in other words people that are trained professionally and that are licensed So for example in all of my herbal training and I'm when I mean herbal I mean all the herbal formulas that also include animal parts and include minerals and stones Not once have I seen an endangered animal now There is definitely some weird stuff in there, but I've never seen tiger and never seen shark never seen bear Haven't seen any of that so in all of the classical medical texts that I've studied and that are required as part of my Doctorate they are required as part of my national licensing exams. I have to take three or four So none of them have referenced tigers no tiger parts no leopards No, none of these majestic animals are used in anything. I've had to learn for my licensing my national licensing And I want to differentiate that between what are folk beliefs? So for example in China, it's very common to see things like ginseng being really overpriced for its magical tonic like abilities and you often see this where Cultures over harvest animals for their supposed aphrodisiac qualities whether it's tiger penis or it's a longevity elixir like ginseng But ginseng even in Chinese medicine should not be given to everyone It's not like you're tired so you just pound back some ginseng and yet that's how people think you treat it as an herb and In reality ginseng is a very specifically used herb in certain herbal formulas and again, it's one of those things where People lay people that don't understand the use of this thing this medicinal they think oh It's when you're weak and you're tired you use this to get strong and live long and then they just cross apply that to everything I should everyone should take this all the time every day It's just like the super food movement in the West where everyone thinks that they should just be pounding goji berries and kale shakes every day and Despite the fact that they're having awful digestive problems. They still think super foods are exactly how you live long More nutrients is better for my body, right? I'm just gonna live longer and I think this is the kind of flawed logic You see both in Asia as well as in the West so whether or not Chinese medicine uses tiger penis and other tiger parts No, but we do use animal parts minerals and plants And I think it's key to understand if this is like a folk indigenous practice Which is not based on science necessarily or if this is actually Taught or used by a trained professional that actually has done medical training in that field So I think this is really important and Chinese medicine gets a bad rap a lot of the time because people don't understand Chinese medicine how it works what parts we use and so on so I hope that Clarifies a little bit some of the weirdness you tend to hear around acupuncture traditional Chinese medicine now before you go I want you to comment there below let me know for you What is the weirdest thing you've heard Chinese medicine does as one of their treatments or a part an animal a plant a mineral part That we actually use comment down below now The best way to stay in touch is to grab my free guide how to add 10 years to your life with traditional or classical Chinese medicine So if you're into natural healing self healing herbs and things like that You can download it free on my website Alex hind com ford slash free and you can also check out my last two videos on the topic right here and right here