Origin of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Cuba in the 19th Century from Its Main Exponents and Some Notable Medical Descendants in the 20th Century

Abstract

The Cuban people are made up of three major migratory currents, the Chinese are one of them. They brought their culture, the methods, and procedures of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in the 19th century. Few were able to return and so they created families in Cuba; some of their descendants dedicated themselves to medicine. In order to investigate the practices that were predecessors of TCM in Cuba in the 19th century, a qualitative phenomenological research was carried out, reviewing what was published by various sources, applying documentary analysis, logical historical analysis, abstraction, synthesis, and systematization of the results on the regularities of the work and human behavior of Chinese doctors in the Cuban 19th and 20th centuries. This made it possible to identify six Chinese doctors in the 19th century in Cuba who gave rise to the beginning of some practices of TCM in Cuba, and five from the 20th century, descendants of coolies who dedicated themselves to other specialties of medicine. It was found that despite their geographical and time disperse, they were all notorious for their outstanding professional and human behavior, with a trail of accumulated successes in achieving “almost the impossible” with the patient. They have left their mark on Cuban culture.