“In the old days the sages treated disease by preventing illness before it began, just as a good government or emperor was able to take the necessary steps to avert war.”

What did early Europeans think of Chinese medicine when they first encountered it? One of the earliest detailed accounts is from 1676 by Herman Busschof, a Dutch missionary in Batavia (Jakarta) about a Chinese medical treatment called Moxa, which involves burning dried mugwort sticks over acupoints…