9 body types and how traditional Chinese medicine keeps people healthy

Wang Qi, an academician at the Chinese Academy of Engineering, spent nearly half a century sorting the human body into nine types. Our constitution is like soil, he says. Treat the soil, and you treat what grows in it, rather than chasing diseases separately.

For thousands of years, traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has focused on preventive care to keep people healthy before they fall ill. Today, acupuncture is practiced in clinics worldwide. As Wang notes, its global reach is simple: it works.