Yin and Yang the Foundation of Chinese Beliefs

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People of the Chinese culture have many different beliefs and practices of medicine and healthcare. It is extremely important for nurses to be culturally competent and to be able to understand different practices and beliefs of different cultures to ensure that they are providing the best care and making their patients as comfortable as possible. According to Shih-Yu Lee, ritual is defined as “a social essential collective activity within a culture,” it is also well recognized that culture and ritual plays a fundamental role in “defining, sensing the health and illness, and searching help for problems” (Shih-Yu, Shu-Ling, and Yu-O, 2013). There are many rituals and beliefs of traditional Chinese medicine that are crucial to understand, the most important being the concept of “yin and yang.”
Yin and Yang are the foundation of most of the Chinese’s beliefs, including traditional Chinese medicine. The Chinese view Yin and Yang as, “dynamic, interacting, and interdependent energies” (Lewis et.al, 2011). Yin and Yang cannot exist without each other, and each contains a piece of the other within itself (Lewis et.al, 2011). Yin and Yang are apart of everything in nature, and the Chinese believe that they must be kept in balance to maintain good health and wellbeing (Lewis et.al, 2011). It is also believed that any imbalance in Yin and Yang will result in illness, so traditional Chinese medicine works to restore the balance between the two energies (Lewis et.al, 2011). In Chinese culture, it is common for the elders and the men to make any decisions for the family, including healthcare decisions for the woman, so it is not unusual for the husband to make decisions and answer questions for his wife. Traditional Chinese medicine has many ...

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... these different variations to prevent any miscommunication or misunderstandings.

Works Cited

Brown, L. (2008). Childbirth traditions around the world: China. Beyond Babyzone.
Chen, Y. (2001). Chinese values, health and nursing. Journal Of Advanced Nursing, 36(2), 270-273.
Leung, S. K., Arthur, D., & Martinson, I. M. (2005). Perceived Stress and Support of the Chinese Postpartum Ritual “Doing the Month”. Health Care For Women International, 26(3), 212-224.
Raitisoja, G. (2008, November 12). Traditional Chinese beliefs about pregnancy and childbirth. GBTimes.
Shih-Yu, L., Shu-Ling, Y., & Yu-O, Y. (2013). Doing-in-month ritual among Chinese and Chinese-American. Journal Of Cultural Diversity, 20(2), 94-99.
Sullivan, (2012). Culturally Sensitive Insight into Chinese Immigrants Childbearing Traditions. International Journal Of Childbirth Education, 27(1), 23-26.

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