Chinese herbal medicine is a major aspect of traditional Chinese medicine, which focuses on restoring a balance of energy, body, and spirit to maintain health rather than treating a particular disease or medical condition. Herbs are used with the goal of restoring balance by nourishing the body.

Because of the large number of Chinese herbs used and the different uses recommended by practitioners, it is difficult to comment on Chinese herbal medicine as a whole. There may be some individual herbs or extracts that play a role in the prevention and treatment of cancer and other diseases when combined with conventional treatment. However, more research is needed to determine the effectiveness of these individual substances.

Chinese herbal medicine is not based on conventional Western concepts of medical diagnosis and treatment. It treats patients' main complaints or the patterns of their symptoms rather than the underlying causes. Practitioners attempt to prevent and treat imbalances, such as those caused by cancer and other diseases, with complex combination's of herbs, minerals, and plant extracts.

Chinese herbal medicine uses a variety of herbs in different combination's to restore balance to the body, such as astragalus, ginkgo, ginseng, green tea, and eleuthero (also known as "Siberian ginseng"). Herbal preparations are said to prevent and treat hormone disturbances, infections, breathing disorders, and a vast number of other ailments and diseases. Some practitioners claim herbs have the power to prevent and treat a variety of types of cancer.