The Place of ‘Traditional Medicine’ in the Modern History of Vietnam: How ‘National Medicine’ Came into Being

Abstract

This paper describes how traditional medicine has been viewed and practiced throughout modern Vietnamese history. Vietnamese traditional medicine comprises two elements: thuoc Nam, which originated in Vietnam, and thuoc Bac, which is grounded in Chinese medicine. When discussing Vietnamese medicine, thuoc Nam is often referred to as the “original medicine” and one that represents “Vietnameseness.” This is in spite of the fact that the differences between two medicines are vague. At present, the Vietnamese government classifies both forms of medicines as “traditional medicine” (y hoc co truyen). It is also known as “national medicine” (y hoc dan toc) or “Eastern medicine” (dong y). This paper clarifies that traditional medicine was viewed differently from the North to the South. In addition, it outlines how traditional medicine acquired the label Y Hoc Dan Toc, or national medicine, after the unification of Vietnam under the influence not only of Vietnamese nationalism towards foreign countries but of nationalism by the state to unify its country.

The term Thuoc Nam emerged against the backdrop of Vietnam seeking sovereignty from China, and reflects the dichotomy of the “north” (China) and the “south” (Vietnam). After the French colonization, the concept of the “West versus the East” had surfaced within the field of Vietnamese medicine. During the Indochina and Vietnam wars, medical practitioners and researchers began studying medicinal plants out of necessity in the battlefields. Around the same time, Ho Chi Minh asked the Ministry of Health of North Vietnam to promote thuoc Nam and thuoc Bac, and as a result, the North Vietnamese government formulated a policy for promoting both forms of medicine as integrated traditional Vietnamese medicine. Through this development process, thuoc Nam and thuoc Bac received considerable attention in North Vietnam.

On the other hand, journals and ethnographic works in Saigon, the capital of South Vietnam, did not use the terms thuoc Nam or thuoc Bac when Vietnam was divided into the North and South. Instead, they used dong y and Viet y for traditional medicine. Further, traditional medicine in Saigon mainly comprised Chinese medicine. Thus, it can be concluded that thuoc Nam, which originated in North Vietnam, was not as commonplace in the South as it was in the North.

After the unification of North and South Vietnam in 1976, the new government officially gave traditional Vietnamese medicine the label “national medicine” in the hope that it would be shared by both regions and appeal to the notion of unified single Vietnam. In addition, this move aimed to clearly differentiate between Vietnamese and Chinese medicine, especially at a time when deterioration of Vietnam’s relationship with China had become more obvious than before.