Zangfu

The zangfu (simplified Chinese: 脏腑; traditional Chinese: 臟腑; pinyin: zàngfǔ) are a system of organ-related functional concepts in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) that is built on a cultural view or belief system that has been influenced by Daoism, Confucianism and Chinese folk religion.In this view the Zangfu occupying a fundamentally different conceptual position than in Western evidence based biomedicine, instead of being formative structures, they are relationship or pattern based observations. In this traditional theory In the Suwen (素問) often translated as Basic Questions or Plain Questions, is the foundational theoretical text of traditional Chinese medicine within this text it is stated that the zangfu were not strictly just physical organs but had an energetic component, this early text integrated a foundational understanding of gross anatomy with systemic, cosmological relationships. In this ancient East Asian cultural view of medicine called today TCM, the zang organs are considered yin and the fu organs yang. Each principal zang is paired with a fu and associated with one of the five phases of wuxing. The zang are described as manufacturing and storing qi, blood and bodily fluid, while the fu transmit and digest substances. In TCM theory, a group of "extraordinary fu" is also recognized, with functions that combine characteristics attributed to the two groups. The underlying assumptions and theories of the zangfu system have not been established nor verified by scientific modern evidence-based medicine.