Abstract

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) has been practiced in China for over 47 centuries based on the theory of qi. Today TCM is included in the national health care systems of major countries in East Asia, but still in back alleysin North America and Europe—for its lack of scientific bases. In July 2018, this author began to develop the theory of Chee (Chee is coined to replace qi) in mathematical format and scientific language. The results were presented in four international symposiums and published in a medical journal during 2022-2023. In 2024 experimental validation of Chee and the theory were successfully conducted—pending external independent verification of course. Characterization of Chee and validation of major pathways for Chee transport (called Jing Luo) and the nodes (called Shua) along Jing Luo are on a successful path. Efforts to distill and synthesize TCM procedures to conform to modern sciences, one by one, to metamorphose TCM to Scientific TCM (STCM) are successful thus far. These results showed that STCM is on a trajectory rapidly converging with evidence-based modern medicine, thus expected to impact significantly concepts and approaches from zoology to human physiology, psychology, clinical diagnosis and therapy, as well as whole-body health.

Keywords

Traditional Chinese Medicine; TCM, Biomarker Chee; Theory of Chee; Scientific TCM; Field equations; qi; qi therapy; Physiology; Diagnosis; Medicine

Abbreviations

AD- Anno Domini; BC- Before Christ; BC- Biochemical; CNS- Central Nervous System; dB- Decibel; dbm- Decibel-Milliwatts; ECGElectrocardiogram or Electrocardiograph; EEG: Electroencephalograph; EKG- Electrocardiogram; EM- Electromagnetic; FFT- Fast Fourier Transform; Hz- Hertz; ME- Mechanic; MΩ- Mega Ohm; m/sec-Meter/second; µV- Micro-volt; mV-Millivolt; mV/div- Millivolt/division; ns- Nano second; NIHNational Institute of Health; STCM- Scientific TCM; TCM-Traditional Chinese Medicine; TH-Thermal; Watt/m²- Watt/square-meter

Introduction

Since 1990, healthcare systems in advanced nations have been degrading, with rising costs, rampant chronic diseases, and aging demographics. In response, governments and private sectors have been seeking solutions from untapped fields. Notably, the US National Institute of Health (NIH) initiated the alternative, complimentary, and integrative medicine in 1991. A major focus has been the Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). Today, TCM is included in the national health care systems of major countries in East Asia, used by 60-75% of the population [1,2], and used in the Russian Federation and countries of the former Soviet Union [3-5]. However, in North America and Western Europe, TCM operations are still mostly in back alleys with meager annual sales of $163 Billion in 2023. TCM’s dilemma is rooted in its inability to meet the standards of science and evidence-based modern medicine.

TCM is based on the conceptual theory of qi (or chi) founded more than 47 centuries ago that the vitality of human body relies on adequate qi continuously circulating and permeating throughout the entire body. To advance TCM to an evidence-based medicine is too expensive to implement in the current economic and political environment due to the high cost of clinical trials. On efforts to meet the standard of science, little progress has been made since the book by Guo J [6] in 1963. Index and bibliography are still missing, and definition is either absent or convoluted. For example, World Health Organization 2022 published a voluminous Book to standardize TCM terminology [7], which has not resolved these problems and contains mostly ineffective transliteration only.

In March 2018, the discovery of a new human organ named “Interstitium” was reported [8] and resonated throughout the media, claiming broad implications for all organs, most tissues, and the mechanisms of most major diseases. This author readily recognized Interstitium as an independent empirical verification on how qi could permeate throughout the entire human body consistent with the original theory of qi, thus started in July to develop the theory of Chee based on modern sciences (“Chee” was coined to differentiate from the commonly used “qi” and “chi”).

The scientific theoryof Chee and its field equations were formulated by following the pioneering footsteps of Albert Einstein in his creation of the theory of relativity [9] and Julius Stratton in his consummating macroscopic Electromagnetic (EM) theory [10]. The work also leveraged this author’s experience in numerical computations [11 ] and EM measurements [12] which provided this author with the confidence to begin distilling and synthesizing TCM procedures, one by one, to metamorphose TCM to Scientific TCM (STCM). The results were presented [13-16] and published [17,18] during 2022-2023.

This paper reports empirical validation for the EM component of Chee and the theory of Chee.

Results

Theory of Chee

The theory of Chee is based on the following seven postulates (which will become theorems after full validation):

Postulates:

1. Vitality of human body relies on adequate Chee continuously circulating and permeating throughout the entire body. Chee is a field vector containing four components: Thermal (TH), Mechanic (ME), Electromagnetic (EM), and Biochemical (BC). Each component may have local nonlinearity and chaotic characteristics, yet is essentially deterministic. The EM component is a Poynting vector power intensity, denoted by S and S, wherein S=E×H and S=E×H, in the time and frequency domains, respectively, and in the unit of Watt/m² [10].
2. Interstitium constitutes the bulk of the pathways for Chee transport.
3. Major thoroughfares for Chee transport include Jing Luo which has fourteen [14] main networks and eight (8) secondary networks, distributed mostly below the dermis layer of the skin and with right-left symmetry. Each Jing Luo connects, directly or indirectly, the Central Nervous System (CNS) (including brain and spine) with an internal organ and ending (or starting) at the tip of a finger or toe, as shown in figure 1 for the right side and the center of the body. Not shown are the Jing Luo on the left side which is symmetrical to Jin Luo on the right side. Jin refers to parts that are generally vertical, deeper, and larger effective diameter; Luo refers to parts that are generally horizontal, shallower, and smaller in effective diameter.


Figure 1: Human body’s fourteen (14) major Jing Luos (networks).

4. There are over 2000 Shua’s along the pathways and near epithelial and connective tissues, which regulate and optimize Chee under the top command of the brain, shown in figure 1 as black colored dots for the right side and the center of the body.
5. Major Shua’s have direct fast links to one another, to specific organs, and to specific parts of the brain.
6. There are super-Shua’s that can generate a powerful signal that mimics distributions or generalized functions [11,19].
7. Each of the four components of Chee must all be adequate and continual, individually and collectively, in harmony like a symphony, for whole-body whole-life health.

Macroscopic   Field   Equations   for   Chee:   Under   the   seven postulates, we set up the general macroscopic problem of interest as follows. A live human body occupying a subspace H, which may be stimulated or explored by an applicator or instrument. The environments are generally: temperature between 1^°C and 45^°C, atmospheric pressure 700-800 mm Hg, and oxygen level 14-24%.The sources are either external or internal, denoted by J^E and J^I, where J^E is generated by applicator/instrument and J^I is by the human body. Chee in the field equations is denoted by the Greek alphabet χ. Thus, total Chee is denoted by χ^T (r, t), where r is the position vector for the location of the field and t is time [11]. Total Chee, denoted by Χ^T, contains Electromagnetic (EM), Mechanical (ME), Thermal  (TH), and  Biochemical  (BC)  components  denoted  by  χ^EM,  χ^ME,  χ^TH,  χBC, respectively. χ^T is a function, denoted by Ƭ, given by

χ^T (r, t) = Ƭ [χ^EM(r,t), χ^ME(r,t), χ^TH(r,t), χ^BC(r,t)]                   (1)

Note that each χ in Equation (1) is in the time domain thus italicized. Numerical solution of vector field equations in the time domainis generally difficult and costly, thus often performed in the frequency domain. By Fourier Transform (FT), Equation (1) can be transformed to the frequency domain as

χ^T (r, ⍵) = Ƭ [χ^EM(r, ⍵), χ^ME(r, ⍵),χ^TH(r, ⍵), χ^BC(r, ⍵)]                (2)  

where ⍵=2πf, and f is the frequency. In Equation. (2), each χ is in the frequency domain thus not italicized.

EM, ME and TH components of Chee are well understood and clearly defined parameters. BC component is much more complex and must be included for completeness of the theory of Chee. They all must be carefully dealt with—inside human tissues and outside human tissues—particularly for χ^EM and χ^BC. For χ^EM, fields can be generated by either J^E or J^I, or both. For fields generated by J^I, χ^EM predominates as nerve impulses, which manifest slow speeds <100 m/sec. Meanwhile, these nerve impulses could take off as EM waves when nearing non aquatic regions—even within subspace H—and propagate at the speed of light in the medium. The speeds of χ^ME, χ^TH, and χ^BC are much slower than that of χ^EM.

The biochemical component χ^BC in the time domain is complicated, yet χ^BC in the frequency domain is straightforward. For example, hemoglobin in motion is a part of χ^BC having not only the primary function of iron-containing oxygen-transport but also several other functions such as antioxidant, regulator of iron metabolism, etc.

Formulation of the field equations can take either a differential equation approach or an integral equation approach. The former is simple, thus preferred for formulations in acupuncture, reflexology, chiropractic, physical therapy, etc. The latter is complicated but preferred for hyperthermia therapy, precision diagnostic instruments, etc. that require high accuracy. χ^BC is highly complex, thus not discussed here.

Validation of Chee and the theory of Chee: To validate Chee and the theory of Chee, since 2022 we have submitted a series of more than 10grant applications or resubmissions, most of which as a team backed by 3 top US research universities, so far without success. Also, it was reported that China had, in recent decades, spent a substantial resources on experiments to determine the existence and nature of qi, without any progress, and that TCM community had not even a clear definition on qi [20]. Thus, in 2024 we began the validation effort alone with limited resources yet an abundance of uncertainties.

After several months of trials and errors, on November 25, 2024, we succeeded in detecting, capturing and recording the EM component of Chee—apparently for the first time in history—using a commercial 2-channel digital oscilloscope with high performance of 1 ns (nano second) Peak Detect,with two passive analog metallic probes having highimpedance of 1 MΩ. More tests showed that Chee could be measured—noninvasively—essentially any whereon the skin of live human—unless the local area had been seriously disrupted.

We immediately started a small pilot project to establish a bird’s-eye view for Chee. To achieve this goal, we set up a standardized test method following the procedures well established in Electrocardiogram (ECG or EKG), Electrocardiograph (ECG), and Electroencephalograph (EEG) commonly used nowadays, including their techniques, contact pad and probes, etc.

A considerable amount of data has been generated, which are exemplified by figure 2, which shows snapshots at specific instants for two adults, A and B, by probe 1.The time-domain waveform (intensity in 20 mV/div vs time in 200 ns/div) and its Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) spectrum (in dbm/div vs frequency in Hz) are displayed simultaneously on the top and bottom halves of the screen, respectively. Note that the signal level of Chee is robust, displayed in 20 mV/div scale, while in microneurography the signal picked up using a tungsten probe invasively at the axon of a single neuron is ~20 µV peak-to-peak or lower [21]. Thus, the existence of Chee consistent with the theory of Chee has been empirically validated—for the first time—with instrument meeting the standards of modern science.

Figure 2: EM Chee in time domain (top curve, mV vs ns) and frequency domain (lower curve, spectra density) captured on oscilloscope at a point on medial forearmmof twohuman adults A and B.

Our limited preliminary measurements also enable us to see TCM’s Jing Luos (networks), such as figure 1, looming as treasure maps for neuroscience. Specifically, each Jing Luos (networks) under Postulates 3-5, is between brain and bodily organs or the world outside human body—thus matches the definition of either interoception or exteroception in neuroscience [22]. To understand the maps of Jing Luo, it helps to know that the descriptive title of Jin Luo follows the convention shown by the flow chart in figure 3. In this convention, the title invariably starts with the word “hand” or “foot,” next the word “Ying” or “Yang,” and ends with a bodily organ.

Figure 3: Flow chart for Jin Luo’s descriptive title.

An example “Hand yang large intestine Jing” is shown in figure 4, in which “Hand” is the starting point. The direction of Chee flow is upward (the arrow sign); thus Yang. The end is the organ “large intestine.” (The full title has a word on the strength of Ying and Yang, which is sometimes ignored for simplicity, as in this case). Also, to the best of our knowledge, TCM books rarely show the vectorial characteristic of chi and Jing Luo—except the book by Guo [6], which uses arrow sign to indicate the direction of the vector, as in figure 4. The arrow sign is absent in network B of figure 1.

Figure 4: Hand yang large intestine Jing flow network.

It must be clear now that each Jing Luo (network) is between hand/foot and bodily organs or the world outside human body and passes CNS (brain or spine)—thus matches the definition of either interoception or exteroception in neuroscience. Indeed, research has been ongoing, mostly under NIH, to capture and record the interoceptive process by which the nervous system senses, integrates, and interprets information about the inner states of the body, and in return regulates those states. Also onging is the research on exteroceptive process of perceiving the external world through the senses of sight, sound, smell, taste, and touch, as well as the body’s responses directed by the brain.

We have begun the exploratory research on generating both interoceptive and exteroceptive data, which will be processed and stored for later usage. To set up the test arrangement, we have purchased two identical 4-channel digital oscilloscopes within three weeks of our first successful test on Chee.

In our initial phase in exploring the characteristics of Chee,we found out that Chee is very dynamic: varying widely from one human to another, and within a single human as well, by 10 dB or more. For example, figure 5 shows strong Chee displayed on 200 mV/div by one individual, and normal Chee displayed on 50 mV/div by another individual. We also had incidental finding that Chee could be too low to be detected for a healthy adult on 20 mV/div if the body has been shocked electrically by therapeutic stimulater.

Figure 5: EM component of Chee on a point on human medial forearm in time (top) and frequency (lower) domains: (a) strong Chee displayed on 200 mV/div, (b) normal Chee displayed on 50 mV/div.

Figure 6 shows that the EM component of Chee for the human with strong Chee in figure 5 taken a day later about the same time had dropped to the normal range, which could be displayed on 50 mV/div scale. Therefore, it appears the norm for Chee of human for adults is with in the range measurable on 20 mV/div scale, which should enable Chee toto continue to serve as the main biomarker for the theory of Chee, as it has been for the past 47 centuries.

Figure 6: EM component of Chee for the human with strong Chee in figure 5 taken a day later about the same time displayed on 20 mV/div scale.

Efforts on experimental validation of the ME (Mechanic) and TH (Thermal) components of Chee were started in January 2025 with satisfactory results. We plan to update our progresses in the near future.

Methods

Theory of Chee

The scientific theory and its field equations were derived by following the pioneering footsteps of Albert Einstein in his creation of the theory of relativity, lucidly described in the book, e.g., as the following excerpts, verbatim [9].

“From a systematic theoretical point of view, we may imagine the process of evolution of an empirical science to be a continuous process of induction. Theories are evolved and expressed in short compass as statements of a large number of individual observations in the form of empirical laws, from which the general laws can be ascertained by comparison. Regarded in this way, the development of a science bears some resemblance to the compilation of a classified catalogue. It is, as it were, a purely empirical enterprise.

“But this point of view by no means embraces the whole of the actual process: for it slurs over the important part played by intuition and deductive thought in the development of an exact science. As a science has emerged from its initial stages, theoretical advances are no longer achieved merely by a process of arrangement. Guided by empirical data, the investigator rather develops a system of thought which, in general, is built up logically from a small number of fundamental assumptions, the so-called axioms. We call such a system of thought a theory. The theory finds the justification for its existence in the fact that it correlates a large number of single observations, and it is just here that the “truth” of the theory lies…”

It is also worth commenting that derivation of the Chee field equations benefits from Julius Stratton in consummating Macroscopic Electromagnetic (EM) theory, extensively described throughout the book, e.g., the following excerpts on p. 1 [10].

“Eventually, the field vectors must be defined in terms of the experiments by which they can be measured. Until these experiments are formulated, there is no reason to consider one vector more fundamental than another, and we shall apply the word intensity to mean indiscriminately the strength or magnitude of any of the four vectors at a point in space and time…”

Discussion

Validation of other Chee components

Efforts on experimental validation of other components of Chee, ME (Mechanic) and TH (Thermal), were started in January 2025 with satisfactory results. We plan to update our progresses in the near future.

How was TCM created 47 centuries ago?

The following unique geographical features of the area where Chinese culture originated, about 300,000 km sq. in north western China, were conducive to creating TCM from the New Stone Age 2-12 thousand years ago to recent times [23].

• The strong clay earth was easy for digging dwelling caves on hill slope, with vertical interior walls, which were warm in the winter and cool in the summer, providing shield from the harsh weather and invading animals outside.

• Warm springs on mountains and winding rivers on plains with periods of flooding to enrich plants, fish and animals.

• Easy-to-mine coal, flint, and minerals for energy and tools including magnet.

• Cold weather and comfortable interior encouraged social gatherings and interactions, development of oral and written language.

It is worth pointing out that, three of the four Chee components, χ^ME, χ^TH and χ^BC, could be readily measured and manipulated, though grossly by modern standards. It is interesting to note that TCM research efforts today are still mostly on force-based manipulation, heat caps, and drugs.

Many doubt that TCM bible Huangdi Neijing (黄帝内经), also known as the “Yellow Emperor’s Inner Canon, ”was created in the reign of Yellow Emperor 2600 BC and suggested that it was 600 BC. The truth was likely as follows. For a long period up to 3000 BC, TCM was passed between generations partly by verbal communication. The reign of Huangdi was when TCM consummated, the name was coined like King James Bible in 1611 and (Emperor) Kangxi Dictionary (Chinese: 康熙字典) in 1716 AD. This discussion shows that TCM has a truly long history of 4624 years, with its essential theory intact, and its abundance of treasures to be unveiled. Hence, it’s also timely to modernize TCM, like the theory of mechanics supporting the construction of pyramid in 2630 BC, had been transformed to modern sciencein1687 AD, after 4317 years.

Concluding Remarks

Experimental validation of the EM component of Chee and the theory were successfully conducted—pending external independent verification of course. Characterization of Chee and validation of major pathways for Chee transport (called Jing Luo) and the nodes (called Shua) along Jing Luo are on a successful path. Experimental validation of the ME (Mechanic) and TH (Thermal) components of Chee were also started successfully. Preliminary results are planned to be published in the near future.

Efforts to distill and synthesize TCM procedures to conform to modern sciences, one by one, to metamorphose TCM to Scientific TCM (STCM) are successful thus far. These results showed that STCM is on a trajectory rapidly converging with evidence-based modern medicine, thus expected to impact significantly concepts and approaches from zoology to human physiology, psychology, clinical diagnosis and therapy, as well as whole-body health.

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Article Information

Article Type: RESEARCH ARTICLE

Citation: Wang JJH (2025) Validation of theory of Chee and characterization of biomarker Chee for Traditional Chinese Medicine—on a trajectory converging with modern medicine—bringing new concepts in physiology, diagnosis, therapy, and whole-body health J Clin Case Stu 10(1): dx.doi.org/10.16966/2471-4925.278

Copyright: ©2025 Wang JJH. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.

Publication history: 

Received date: 25 Feb, 2025

Accepted date:10 Mar, 2025

Published date: 17 Mar, 2025