Can Chinese medicine really tell the gender of a man by taking his pulse? Why?

Traditional Chinese medicine has been shrouded in a veil of mystery since ancient times. When we often see clips of Chinese medicine practitioners treating patients and taking pulses on TV dramas, especially those that can distinguish between men and women by taking the pulse and taking the pulse with a hanging thread, we are always amazed. So is it true or false that Chinese medicine can distinguish between men and women by taking the pulse?

1. First of all, we need to understand the difference between the pulse during pregnancy and the pulse of a normal person.

Generally speaking, the normal pulse is present in the Cun, Guan and Chi parts, with a pulse of 72-80 beats/minute, neither floating nor sinking, neither large nor small, calm and gentle, soft and powerful, with consistent rhythm. The Chi pulse is deep and has a certain strength, and has corresponding normal changes with different activities and climatic environment.

In traditional Chinese medicine theory, the pulse of pregnancy is characterized by being slippery. Simply put, the pulse feels fast and smooth (put the index finger, middle finger, ring finger and little finger of your right hand on the wrist of your left hand in sequence. Generally speaking, the area where the ring finger presses is the "cun", the middle finger is the "guan" and the index finger is the "chi". If you are pregnant, the ring finger, middle finger and index finger can clearly feel the pulse beating happily and smoothly.

To put it simply: if you are pregnant, your ring finger, middle finger and index finger can clearly feel the cheerful beating of the artery, and it beats in sequence from "Cun" to "Chi" like flowing water. If you are not pregnant, the pulse of "Chi" cannot usually be felt. To put it simply, if you can't feel the pulse beating in one of the three fingers, it is not a sign of pregnancy.

2. Secondly, we need to first understand the differences between the pulses of men and women.

In traditional medical theory, the pulses of the left and right hands represent different things: the Cun, Guan, and Chi parts of the left hand represent the heart, liver, and kidneys; the right hand represents the lungs, spleen, and kidneys (Mingmen) - so professional and conscientious Chinese medicine practitioners must take the pulses of both hands of the patient during diagnosis. Men's innate foundation is in the kidneys, which are yang, and are mostly stringy and astringent; women's acquired foundation is in the spleen, which is yin, and is relatively thin and rapid. In "The Secret of Pulse Secrets", it is stated that "A man's radial pulse is often weak and his inch pulse is often strong; a woman's radial pulse is often strong and her inch pulse is often weak. This is normal. On the contrary, if a man takes a woman's pulse, it is insufficient, and if a woman takes a man's pulse, it is excessive." In the "Pulse Classic", the pulse of men and women is described as "left is strong for men, right is strong for women". In fact, these so-called differences in the pulse of men and women are naturally related to the differences in the physical constitutions of men and women. As we all know, men and women have their own physiological characteristics, which is most prominently reflected in the differences in the dominance of yin and yang, qi and blood.

3. Can taking the pulse tell whether the fetus in a pregnant woman's belly is a boy or a girl?

To determine whether the baby is a boy or a girl by taking the pulse, it is actually mainly determined by the changes in yin and yang in the pulse. We all know that the pulse of pregnant women is basically slippery. If the slippery pulse is accompanied by a stringy or astringent pulse, the fetus in the womb is a boy (a positive pulse appears in a negative pulse); if the slippery pulse is accompanied by a thin pulse, the baby in the womb is most likely a girl (even more negative characteristics are added to the negative pulse). When taking the pulse in traditional Chinese medicine, the radial part (the pulse of the kidney) is not divided into the left and right kidneys, but follows the saying that men take the left pulse and women take the right pulse. This saying is related to the concept of yin and yang: men are yang and women are yin, so any part or pulse that tends to be yang is a man, and any part or pulse that tends to be yin is a woman.

In addition, it should be noted that the pregnancy pulse does not appear in every month of pregnancy. In the Pulse Classic, Chapter 1: Differentiating the Symptoms of Pregnancy and the Approaching of Male and Female Birth, it is said that the pulse of pregnancy can only be identified until the fifth month. Whether or not it is possible to tell whether the baby is a boy or a girl has a lot to do with the doctor's experience. If nine Chinese medicine doctors take a person's pulse, they may get nine different pulse patterns. You should know that pulse diagnosis is a diagnostic method that is closely related to experience.

We should respect science, not blindly believe in superstition, and not have the idea of ​​"preferring sons over daughters". Whether it is a boy or a girl, they are the "happy fruit" of their mothers' ten months of pregnancy, and they are their "heart and soul" and "treasures". It is the same whether it is a boy or a girl, isn't it?