In my opinion there's a difference between Traditional Chinese Medicine, and "Traditional Chinese Medicine".
The one is actually historical, has a long basis for the cures and methods, and has at least some evidence for being actually effective.
The other is an excuse to slaughter endangered species for quack 'cures', generally for erectile dysfunction.
I see the effective elements in Chinese traditional medicine the same as the herbs, plants, and the like which worked in traditional Western medicine... which were then identified, extracted or replicated more efficiently or substituted, concentrated, and then used in many of the drugs we have today. Sifting through the crap and doing the same for Chinese traditional medicine could lead to some
great breakthroughs for mankind as a whole, probably.
Turning a vast portion of anything that slithers, crawls, walks, or swims into food or "medicine"/placebos and quack cures is something I find
totally repugnant and utterly barbaric.
isn't really a Chinese thing.
China was perfectly fine before communism took over. Just look at Taiwan, making all those microchips and high tech stuff.
Chinese traditional medicine works (I've taken it and it's worked for me).
The other stuff is pretty awful in quality.
Chinese competence has become synonymous with how they are now under the CCP (which has infiltrated and transformed much of historical Chinese culture and way of life -- every culture went through this cultural shift though, such as the British Empire and post-Empire Britain, for example), not how they were 'historically'.
In practically, Chinese and "Taiwanese" have become distinct entities, despite coming from the same root culture -- same deal with North and South Korean culture.
Combined with what I see as Chinese arrogance down to the street cultural level (perpetuated by the CCP, as I mentioned above), such as Chinese fishing boats literally raiding other countries' territorial waters, to the cheapening of construction for money for their own populace (look at the "wet concrete" scandals), to using poisoned fake eggs and milk domestically, to infiltrating Western companies (I'm looking at you, government Tencent!), to industrial, economic, and military espionage, to even using fucking
street sewage from manholes as fucking cooking oil... need I go on? Yeah, I know Western civilization has its faults, but at least we're not a bunch of fucking savages like that.
Oh, and the dog food festival, but that's IIRC traditional and not from the CCP-era.
Hell, even watching airport security programs, 7/10 times someone causing trouble is of Chinese origin, like trying to bring their own bug-ridden, fungus-infested garden with them in a suitcase, and then throwing literal tantrums about being fined or reprimanded when they signed documents stating that no, they weren't trying to import a chunk of the Chinese countryside into Australia or New Zealand (cough).
If seeing this shit about the current Chinese cultural mindset from top to bottom makes me "Sinophobic"? Then fine, I'm "Sinophobic" (which ironically makes little sense -- I have no
irrational fear of Chinese people or their CCP-dominated culture/mindset). My dislike has spawned from their
own actions, and the actions of their government.
Corruption. Barbarism. Arrogance.