Constructing Pulse Diagnosis: Western Medicine and the Transformation of Chinese Pulse Knowledge in Modern

Abstract

Pulse diagnosis, a hallmark diagnostic method of traditional Chinese medicine, took its modern conceptual form during the fusion with Western medicine in the 19th and early 20th centuries. This article explores how Western doctors and Western-trained Chinese physicians redefined the core meaning of pulse diagnosis during this period of medical transformation. Early Western observers were curious about TCM pulse diagnosis and compared it with pre-modern European medical traditions. However, with the rise of modern anatomy and experimental medicine, missionary doctors gradually regarded it as an “unscientific” method. By the early 20th century, Western-trained Chinese physicians adopted a pragmatic approach, critiquing the fundamental theories of TCM while reinterpreting pulse diagnosis using modern physiology and medical instruments. This article argues that the modern understanding of pulse diagnosis was influenced not only by scientific scrutiny but also by factors such as shifts in medical authority, cross-cultural medical exchange, and institutional power.