What's in the web for family physicians - traditional Chinese medicine

Alfred KY Tang 鄧權恩

The Pulse of Oriental Medicine ***
http://www.pulsemed.org/noframes4.htm

This Online Journal of Oriental medicine is a web resource of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). The Pulse website has numerous easy-to-understand articles written by acupuncturists, herbalists and medical doctors. It tells when TCM may be superior, reveals some more important research about herbs and acupuncture with highlights on potential drug-herb interactions.

今日中藥 HerbNo1.com
http://www.herbno1.com/html/herb-index.html

A well illustrated website on Traditional Chinese Medicine, featuring a lot of useful information for beginners of TCM, like 中醫常用名詞，中醫常用療法名稱，中醫資料圖文庫，中藥食療 etc. The common TCM terminologies, and different treatment methods of traditional medicines are particularly useful for those who are new to TCM and wish to understand the TCM language.

Traditional Chinese Medicine Basics
http://www.tcmbasics.com

A comprehensive website on different aspects/topics of Chinese Medicine, it contains extensive descriptions of the fundamental theories, articles on anti-neoplastic herbal medicines and the immune system. The site also covers information not just on TCM but also on ancient historical ideas of Chinese metaphysics and philosophies that are crucial and helpful to the understanding of traditional Chinese medicinal knowledge. A few examples of different sections of the website include: Introduction to TCM, Basics of TCM, Classification of Antineoplastic Herbal Medicines.

中藥網
http://www.cmn365.com/

A well designed website in simplified Chinese, recommending sites for those who are new to Chinese Medicine. Basic concepts, history of development, general knowledge and related links to TCM sites are included. There is a section on "Learning TCM" (中藥學習) which is designed for those who wish to learn more about TCM. An English version of the website is said to be under preparation.

中藥搜尋網
http://www.tcmresearch.com/

Information on TCM herbs classified according to the nature of the herbs and their indications. The search engine of the website allows search by name of herb or their indications. Good resource for practitioners looking for further information for any particular TCM herb.

Local Web Resources on Traditional Chinese Medicine

The school of Chinese Medicine of The Hong Kong Baptist University maintains an online forum on TCM with articles by both overseas and local TCM practitioners at 中醫大講堂 http://www.tcmforum.com/index.php. The website of Chinese Medicine Library of the University at http://www.hkbu.edu.hk/libcm/index.html also maintains a lot of web resources and databases on Chinese Medicine. The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology is also keeping lists of useful links on TCM: http://library.ust.hk/guides/tcm/tcm-home.html . All TCM links are classified and grouped into Resources on Internet, Research Centres, Programmes and Resources at HKUST Library.

Rocky Mountain Herbal Institute Herbalist Review
http://www.rmhiherbal.org/review/2003-3.html

The herbalist review section of the TCM website hosts a lot of articles focusing on current development of herbal medicine and their long-term impact on health and society. Users can subscribe to the mailing list intended for health professionals for free. The most recent topic of the herbalist review is on "SARS and TCM theories of epidemic illnesses".