 83  Chin J Integr Med 2013 Feb;19(2):83-85 Historic Background Chinese medicine (CM) has over 2,000 years of history in China and was the only health care system providing care for Chinese prior to the introduction of Western medicine (WM) into China. WM was slowly introduced into China by missionaries from the middle 17th century to the beginning of the 19th century. By 1840, WM began to take root in China. Western hospitals, clinics, medical schools and nursing schools spread rapidly throughout the country. At that time, with the might and power portrayed by Western countries, everything "Western", including medical practices, was believed to be "modern" and superior. Not surprisingly, CM was rapidly abandoned, especially in the urban centers. By the late 1910's, the new government in power, with the aim of modernizing China, and with the reasoning that WM was scientific and that CM was not, set up rules and regulations to eliminate CM altogether. Paradoxically, this actually turned out to be beneficial for CM. Facing the risk of being eliminated, CM physicians and their proponents were forced to organize in order to protect, to develop, and to give CM a more modern face. CM thought-leaders had the foresight to recognize the need for changes if CM was to survive and to progress. They began to foster the idea of absorbing the strength of WM into CM, while maintaining the essence of the Chinese medicine tradition. (1,2) After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Chairman MAO Ze-dong, noting that the "subject of CM is a great treasure", called on doctors of WM to learn CM. His thought was that "CM and WM must combine … should study the laws of CM with the modern scientific technique of the Western countries, and thus develop a new medical science in China." In other words, the theory of CM must be studied using the Western scientific method. By 1980, it became clear that there were three forms of medical science and treatment available in China: CM, WM and integrated medicine. With this historic background, one could see that integrated CM and WM may become a way to develop and evaluate CM. Under this banner of integrated medicine, much work has been done over the last 50 years, although much remains to be accomplished. Concept of Integrated Medicine Integrated medicine has been conceptualized and defined in different ways. One can go back to Chairman Mao's concept of studying the practices of CM with WM scientific method, and thus development of a new medical science. The most accepted current concept and practice is to treat patients and illnesses combining CM and WM modalities in the belief that the two disciplines will complement each other. We will use this commonly accepted concept and propose a model for the future. Integrated Medicine: Current Status and A Proposed Model for the Future We propose that CM and WM cannot be truly integrated until CM has been proven to be effective clinically. If well designed clinical trials cannot demonstrate efficacy, there is little value in expending efforts in trying to integrate the two disciplines. We believe properly designed clinical trials which demonstrate that CM is effective must be the first step in a transition to integrated medicine. In order to develop proper CM clinical trials, WM practitioners should be reminded that CM theory and practice often have no WM counterparts. For example, the term 'Kidney' (Shen), is not the same as the anatomical organ described in PERSPECTIVE Integration of Chinese Medicine and Western Medicine in Clinical Practice (Patient Care): Past, Present, and A Proposed Model for the Future Ian Tsang, Simon Huang, and Barry Koehler ©The Chinese Journal of Integrated Traditional and Western Medicine Press and Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2013 Division of Rheumatology, Department of Medicine, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, Canada Correspondence to: Prof. Ian Tsang, E-mail: ianktsang@hotmail. com DOI: 10.1007/s11655-013-1350-9