Were there periods in Chinese history when the visual was not emphasized?

It is certainly a characteristic of modern medicine (a product of current society) that what is visible is real. Visualizing the disease is incredibly important in making a WM diagnosis.

In CM "the inside is known by observing the outside", and observing includes palpation, smelling, and asking in addition to visually observing - in other words, the visible aspect of disease is not emphasized.

So is this a product of Chinese culture?

(racing along here, do modern Chinese CM physicians emphasize the visible more than those in the past? Also, given that our reconstruction of practices of the past is done mainly from textual evidence, and is presented in reference to modern practices . . . how accurate can it be? Bleah...is it even worth thinking about, given that we can only imagine what it was like in the past? What is the value in trying to recreate past practices? . . . )