Professor Fang Changsheng from East China Normal University: With the progress of civilization and the development of society, human beings' understanding of health is constantly being updated. The complete connotation of modern health is no longer limited to physical health without disease, but also includes mental health and the harmonious adaptation of people to the environment and society. Health and longevity have been the common and eternal pursuit of human beings throughout history and around the world. The World Health Organization clearly defines health as a state of overall good physical, mental and social well-being, not merely the absence of disease and infirmity. How to scientifically regulate one's body and mind, exercise reasonably and achieve longevity is a profound and regular discipline.

China is an ancient country with a long history of health preservation. For thousands of years, various schools of thought, medical experts and scholars of all ages have written books and theories on health preservation and longevity, with diverse viewpoints and numerous schools. Together, they established a splendid treasure trove of health preservation in traditional Chinese culture.

As early as the Pre-Qin period, traditional health preservation ideas had already begun to sprout and develop, laying the foundation for the health preservation system of later generations. The Tao Te Ching states: "This is the way with deep roots and solid foundations, in pursuit of a long life of a hundred years." Among them, the two characters "shou" are the earliest records of the concept of longevity in the existing historical documents of our country. After Laozi, Confucius systematically expounded the principles of dietary health preservation in "The Analects of Confucius: Village Affairs" : "Never get tired of delicious food, 脍 never get tired of details." If you eat 饐 and 餲 and the fish is hungry and the meat is bad, you should not eat it. "Don't eat anything without ginger and don't eat too much either." " This is also the earliest record of dietary health preservation in our country. At the same time, Confucius put forward the concept of "Don't talk while eating and don't talk while sleeping" for daily life and health preservation: talking while eating will stimulate the cerebral cortex and disrupt the digestive function; Chatting idly before going to bed can complicate thoughts and directly affect sleep quality and mental stability. The minimalist lifestyle principle encompasses simple health preservation wisdom.

Zhuangzi, as an important health preservation expert in the Pre-Qin period, developed a unique Taoist health preservation ideology. "Zhuangzi: The Master of Health Preservation"; Using the metaphor of a butcher dissecting an ox, it is proposed that the core of health preservation is to follow the laws of nature and conform to the natural order, just like the blade moving through the bones, going with the flow, and minimizing waste and loss as much as possible. In addition, Zhuangzi had a profound understanding of Qigong for health preservation. The Zhuangzi: Shen records: "Blowing the 呴 qi, discarding the old and welcoming the new, the bear meridian and the bird meridian stretch out, this is longevity." It advocated promoting blood circulation and strengthening the body through breathing exercises and imitating the flexion and extension of birds and beasts, thus initiating ancient guidance and health care exercises.

The Huangdi Neijing was compiled in the Pre-Qin period. It is the first medical classic in China and also a traditional guiding work on health preservation. The entire book establishes the core health preservation concept of the unity of heaven and man, emphasizing the harmonious coexistence and correspondence between humans and nature. Health preservation should follow the four seasons of cold and hot, and maintain a peaceful and harmonious lifestyle. It put forward core principles such as "cultivating Yin and Yang in harmony with the principles of destiny" and "nourishing Yang in spring and summer and Yin in autumn and winter". In terms of physical and mental care, it is necessary to achieve a balance between physical and mental health: on the one hand, rely on an appropriate combination of work and rest, control diet, and maintain a healthy figure; On the other hand, it harmonizes the seven emotions and six desires, calms the mind and thoughts, and achieves physical and spiritual cultivation. In the "Ancient Treatise on True Nature", there is such a passage: "If false evil winds are avoided and the right ones are attained, and the mind is calm and free from emptiness, the true nature will follow. If the spirit is internally guarded, how could diseases come?" This article emphasizes a state of mind free from desires and demands, a fearless and peaceful state of mind, as well as a moderate amount of physical exertion. It neither pursues shallowness nor greed. Finally, the important concept of ";Virtue is free from danger" was put forward, integrating self-cultivation and health preservation with disease prevention. This laid the early theoretical foundation for the later model of self-cultivation and harmony between body and mind in health preservation.

During the Qin and Han dynasties, the development of society promoted the further enrichment and diversification of health preservation techniques. Influenced by the emperor's need for immortality, the exploration of health preservation became increasingly popular. To satisfy Emperor Qin Shi Huang's longing for immortality, the alchemist Xu Fu led a little boy and a little girl into the sea in search of the elixir of immortality, but they never returned in the end. Although the path to immortality eventually came to nothing, this did not dampen the enthusiasm of the ancients to explore the secrets of health preservation. During this period, indoor health preservation techniques gradually became popular and became an important direction in health preservation research.

The bamboo slips and silk manuscripts from the Western Han and Pre-Qin periods, such as "Ten Questions", "Yin-Yang Harmony Formula", and "The Supreme Way of the World", unearthed from the Mawangdui Han Tomb, incorporate the content of indoor health preservation. Objectively speaking, the art of sexual intercourse in later generations was mixed with many feudal dross and distorted concepts. However, after eliminating backward factors, the experience summaries in aspects such as controlling sexual desire, coordinating the body and mind, preventing diseases, and strengthening the body still have certain reference value. In the section "Literary Theory" of the "History of the Han Dynasty", a dialectical evaluation of the art of sexual affairs is made: "When there is moderation and joy, there will be peace and longevity." Those in a state of chaos were neglected. They fell ill and lost their lives. This health preservation concept that emphasizes moderation and dialectical choice is highly scientific.

Parallel to the development of the art of sexual intercourse, there was also the art of seeking longevity through alchemy. Since the reign of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, alchemy began to take shape. At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Taoism flourished and external elixirs and miraculous medicines were rapidly popularized. In ancient times, people extracted elixirs of immortality from minerals such as cinnabar and sulfur, hoping to achieve eternal life through these elixirs. However, they overlooked the strong toxicity of these medicinal materials. Long-term consumption actually damages internal organs, shortens people's lifespan and leads to many tragedies. After the drawbacks of external medicine became prominent, health preservation practitioners began to look inward and turned to cultivating internal medicine, taking their own qi and blood as the foundation, regulating breathing, calming the mind and transforming the original qi. Essentially, this is a practical form of health preservation through Qigong.

There were abundant theoretical works on health preservation in the Han Dynasty. Both the "Huainanzi" by Liu An, the King of Huainan in the Western Han Dynasty, and the "Lunheng" by Wang Chong in the Eastern Han Dynasty are highly representative. The Huainanzi: The Yuan Daoxun takes the thoughts of Laozi and Zhuangzi as its core, establishes the principle of health preservation with self-cultivation as the priority, and puts forward the "Five Supreme" principles of virtue, tranquility, emptiness, balance and purity: the supreme virtue is to have no joy or sorrow in the heart. To never forget one's original aspiration is the highest peace. Abandoning greed is the highest state of emptiness. The absence of hatred and preference is the highest balance. Purity and devotion are the highest realms of purity. Controlling external temptations within one's nature, harmonizing the body and mind, and unblocking the spirit and energy were important concepts of self-cultivation and health preservation in the Han Dynasty.

The achievements in health care at the end of the Han Dynasty were represented by Hua Tuo. He inherited Zhuangzi's guidance and methods, and combined them with the physiological laws of the human body to create the classic dynamic health-preserving exercise - the Five Beasts Exercise. Hua Tuo adhered to the health preservation concept that "running water does not go bad, nor does a door hinge go bad", and proposed: "The human body has the desire to work, but it cannot be used to the extreme." If a person wavers, the energy of the five grains will dissipate, the blood circulation will be smooth, and diseases will not occur. Moderate exercise can improve food and water quality, smooth blood circulation and resist diseases, laying a theoretical foundation for traditional Chinese medicine's exercise for health preservation. In addition, Hua Tuo also took into account medicinal diet health preservation and created "Qi Ye Qing Nian SAN", which helped his disciples regulate their internal organs, prolong life, prevent diseases, and achieve the combination of exercise health preservation and medicinal diet health preservation.

During the Wei, Jin, Northern and Southern Dynasties and The Three Kingdoms period, society was in turmoil and Taoism and metaphysics were prevalent. Taoist health preservation ideas became mainstream, giving rise to health preservation masters such as Ji Kang, Ge Hong, Yan Zhitui and Tao Hongjing.

Ji Kang, a renowned scholar of Cao Weiguo, revered the art of Laozi and Zhuangzi, and was adept at guiding one's temperament and cultivating one's character. He authored "On Health Preservation", which has been passed down to this day. He believes that immortality cannot be achieved through natural gifts, but it can be prolonged through proper care and recuperation. Based on the concept of the unity of form and spirit that "form relies on spirit to stand, and spirit depends on form to survive", the principle of health preservation, which involves cultivating oneself to protect the spirit and calming the mind to nourish the body, was proposed. It advocates disregarding love, hate, worry and joy, letting go of emotional attachment, and achieving a calm state of mind and a peaceful body. At the same time, it advocates breathing exercises and dietary regulation, and independently pioneered the music health preservation method. It soothes emotions and relieves worries with the music of the five-stringed instrument, harmonizes the body and mind through the rhythm of the music, and enriches the forms of emotional health preservation.

Yan Zhitui of the Northern Qi Dynasty compiled practical daily health preservation methods in his "Yan's Family Instructions on Health Preservation", advocating the regulation of heart qi, the harmonization of breathing, regular living habits, adaptation to temperature changes, moderate diet, rational medication, and comprehensive regulation of both body and mind. He personally practiced the Taoist method of tapping teeth to strengthen his teeth, insisting on tapping his teeth in the early morning to treat problems such as loose teeth, cold and heat pain. This simple and feasible health preservation method is closely related to daily life and highly practical.

The health preservation thoughts of Tao Hongjing of the Southern Dynasties are included in "The Record of Nourishing Nature to Prolong Life", which integrates the strengths of various schools and forms a complete system. He advocated nourishing the spirit with a state of mind and less desire, and guided breathing exercises to nourish the body. At the same time, he controlled his diet and sexual activities, and explicitly advocated late marriage and maintaining sexual desire. He pointed out that early marriage and indulgence in sexual activities would deplete essence and blood, leading to physical weakness, fatigue and limb stiffness, and regulate sexual health from a physiological perspective.

During the Sui and Tang Dynasties, research on health preservation was inclusive. Based on the inheritance of Taoist health preservation techniques from the Qin, Han, Wei and Jin Dynasties, it integrates foreign health preservation techniques such as Buddhist meditation and Indian massage, making its content more complete. Sun Simiao was a medical expert and master of health preservation in the Tang Dynasty and the peak of this period. His book "Thousand Gold Prescriptions" has a dedicated volume titled "Nurturing Nature", covering all aspects of health preservation, including daily life, massage, qi regulation, diet, and sexual life.

He advocated the "Yellow Emperor's Inner Observation Method", which means concentrating the mind and observing the five internal organs internally to calm the mind and coordinate the internal organs. Advocate simple and unadorned living, reject luxurious ostentation, and avoid the breeding of greed. Pay attention to the details of daily life and put forward scientific principles, such as not wearing damp or sweaty clothes for a long time, changing clothes in time after sweating profusely, not wearing thin clothes in spring to avoid catching a cold, and not covering your head while sleeping at night in winter. At the same time, it emphasizes the way of sleep for health preservation, advocating sleeping on the side with knees bent, stretching the limbs after waking up, and calming the mind before going to sleep, which is completely in line with the modern physiological health laws. In terms of sexual health care, Sun Simiao held an objective and dialectical view, opposing excessive baseness and indulgence. He pointed out that long-term suppression of sexual desire can lead to blood stasis and the growth of 痈疽. Only when men and women are in balance with Yin and Yang and exercise moderate restraint can they meet the natural needs of their bodies and minds, which has significant scientific reference value.

During the Song, Jin and Yuan dynasties, the thoughts of Confucianism, Buddhism, Taoism and medicine were deeply integrated, and a large number of health preservation works were published, forming a pattern of a hundred schools of thought contending. During the Song Dynasty, the official compilation of classics extensively collated the health preservation literature of all dynasties. The Taiping Yulan compiles treatises on health preservation and longevity from ancient times to the Sui and Tang Dynasties, preserving a large amount of precious historical materials. The Taiping Shenghui Formula emphasizes both medicinal and dietary therapy for health preservation, and proposes that "the foundation of a person's well-being must be based on food." The method of treating diseases lies in medicine. Clarify the distinction between dietary therapy for strengthening the body and nourishing the root and drug therapy for treating diseases in terms of health preservation. The "Vitality Record" includes health preservation techniques such as guided massage and daily conditioning. Simple health preservation methods such as "bending down to press the mountain source" and "governing the city" are easy to operate and closely related to people's livelihood.

During the Song Dynasty, Pu Qian Guan's "Bao Sheng Yao Lu" abandoned the complicated traditional guiding techniques and innovated the "Xiao Lao" approach. It advocates that "the body should be slightly tired but not extremely fatigued", and encourages people to move their muscles and bones and stretch their limbs anytime and anywhere in daily life. Through simple movements such as flexion and extension, massage, arm swinging, head turning and waist twisting, blood circulation is promoted and digestion is assisted. It is suitable for daily practice by people from all walks of life and has extremely high promotion value. Wang GUI's "Essential Treatise on Health Preservation in Tai Ding" of the Yuan Dynasty focuses on health preservation throughout the entire life cycle of human beings. According to the physiological characteristics of different stages such as children, middle age and old age, the precautions for health preservation have been classified. It also reaffirms the core of health preservation, that is, taking moral cultivation as the foundation, believing that moral cultivation is the fundamental way to achieve harmony between the body and mind and ensure the well-being of life. This concept is profound.

During the Ming and Qing dynasties, traditional health preservation, after more than a thousand years of accumulation, saw its theoretical system become increasingly mature and the difficulty of innovation increase. Most health preservation work mainly focuses on compiling, organizing and summarizing the experiences of predecessors. The "Eight Chapters on Respecting Life" by Gao Lian of the Ming Dynasty collected all the achievements of health preservation before the Ming Dynasty and was divided into eight major parts: seasonal regulation, daily life and comfort, diet and consumption, longevity and disease prevention. It breaks through the limitations of traditional health preservation, incorporating emotional leisure activities such as the appreciation of calligraphy and paintings and flowers and trees into the scope of health preservation, thus broadening the connotation and boundaries of health preservation.

Long Zunxu's "Talks on Food and Nature" focuses on the relationship between diet, sexual desire and health, and conducts a special analysis of the key points of daily health preservation. In Hu Wenhuan's "Key Points of Category Cultivation", there is a popular health maxim: "Smile less." The saying "When you get old, you get annoyed" is easy to understand and widely spread. In the late Ming Dynasty, Chen Wangting created Taiji, integrating the concepts of Yin-Yang and the Five Elements. Gentle and expansive movements, harmonizing qi and blood, cultivating one's character and nature, and integrating movement with stillness, internal with external. It has become a popular national fitness and health care movement and has been passed down to this day.

The number of health-preserving works in the Qing Dynasty was relatively small, but their content was practical and closely related to the elderly and daily life. Cao Tingdong's "Common Sayings of the Elderly" records simple and feasible health preservation methods in the form of prose. Among them, the health preservation method of sunbathing in the early morning, staying away from the warm sunlight, nourishing Yang energy and coordinating the qi and blood throughout the body, is in line with the natural season, simple and efficient, and still has great practical value to this day. In addition, works such as You Cheng's "Don't Take Medicine" and Wang Ang's "Don't Take Medicine Yuanquan" advocate the health preservation concept of less medication, daily life regulation, and emotional and psychological peace, promoting the popularization of the health preservation concept centered on life.

Looking back on the development history of traditional Chinese health preservation over thousands of years, from the ideological foundation of philosophers in the Pre-Qin period, to the practical innovation in the Han and Tang Dynasties, then to the integrated development in the Song, Jin and Yuan Dynasties, and finally to the summary and improvement in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, a complete health preservation system that conforms to nature, nourishes the body and mind, maintains a balanced diet and promotes health preservation has been formed. Maintain a regular daily routine, combine movement with stillness, and cultivate one's character and nature.

Even to this day, looking back at the ancient wisdom of fitness and health preservation still holds extremely strong practical significance. For modern people to achieve good health and longevity, they should carry forward the essence of traditional health preservation, abandon the dross of feudalism, develop scientific exercise habits, stay away from bad habits such as smoking, excessive drinking, indulgence and staying up late, and adhere to the health preservation principles of regular schedule, moderate diet, balanced rest and an open mind. We should take traditional wisdom as the foundation and modern science as the guidance, coordinate our body and mind, treat life kindly, and constantly improve the quality of life. Only in this way can we truly achieve physical and mental health as well as longevity.

Extracted from "Cultural Health Preservation Network"