DPhil Student
Green Templeton College
Thesis: From xu feelings to xuzheng depletion patterns: bianzheng lunzhi 辨证论治 (pattern differentiation and treatment determination) in Traditional Chinese Medicine
The concept of xu (虚 depletion) occupies a significant position in Chinese cultures. It is a polysemous term ubiquitously used in both everyday language and medical discussion of Chinese medicine, and it overlaps with common notions of fatigue, burnout, and exhaustion.
This research examines how ordinary people experience xu in their daily lives, shedding light on their embodied perceptions of depletion. Additionally, through detailed ethnographic accounts of probingly oscillating diagnosis-and-treatment involved in bianzheng lunzhi (辨证论治), “pattern differentiation and treatment determination”, the study further develops earlier research that offers a fine-grained and nuanced understanding of hybridised Chinese medical practices in the 21st century. It is hoped that the Chinese medical cases also provide some practical insights for addressing the worldwide challenges of living with an “exhaustion syndrome” in an “exhaustion era.”
binli.dai@gtc.ox.ac.uk
