Answer to Xie and colleagues concerning the use of western medical terms to represent traditional Chinese medical concepts

This paper rejects the Professor Xie's argument that the use of biomedical terms to represent traditional Chinese medical concepts is helpful to the internationalization of Chinese medicine [(Chin J Integr Tradit West Med 2005; 25(11):1046-1049]. It further argues that this practice destroys the integrity and independence of Chinese medical concepts, taking the term fěng huo yan as an example. This paper supports the viewpoint with numerous other examples that for those seeking a deep understanding of TCM, the literal translation (loan translation) is much more helpful.