The Meaning of TCM: Beyond Promotion

 

When I told my American colleagues that I don’t “promote” TCM, they thought it was unusual. That’s because the word promotion means different things in different cultures. In English, it often means raising awareness or encouraging an idea, like promoting healthy eating. In Chinese, though, 推广 (tuīguǎng) is tied to business — marketing, advertising, selling. For us, sharing wisdom is more about teaching or guiding, not promotion.

So when I said “no promotion,” I meant I don’t see TCM as something to market. I share what I know, but not in a commercial way.

On a deeper level, TCM isn’t something you just pass around casually. It’s something you have to seek, observe, and experience for yourself. Real understanding comes from practice and reflection, not second‑hand stories, which are always colored by personal bias.

For me, TCM is neither a product nor an ideology to broadcast. It’s wisdom that reveals itself when you sincerely ask and learn through your own journey. As we say in Chinese: 道不轻传，医不扣门 — “The Way is not lightly passed on, and medicine does not knock on your door.” True knowledge has to be pursued with sincerity.