Chronic non-communicable diseases (chronic diseases) of unknown etiology or multiple causes are the majority of the modern diseases, which bring a heavy social and economic burden. Academician TONG Xiaolin advocates that the prevention and treatment of chronic diseases should return to the most basic and simplest state of the unity of heaven and humankind, and fundamentally adhere to the principle of "treating complexity with simplicity" . Based on the four basic elements that nature has endowed human beings with, namely sunshine, water, air and nutrition, together with the natural laws of life being old and deficient, he outlines "ten states of chronic diseases" , which include cold state, hot state, dry state, wet state, constraint state, stasis state, barren state, congestion state, old state, and deficiency state. Based on clinical practice, the prevention and treatment strategy in relation to "ten states of chronic diseases" is summarized, that is, after the "state" is recognized and differentiated, corresponding statemodulating formula is prescribed, and symptom-target and indicator-target drugs are supplemented. This strategy combines the macro-level "state modulation" and micro-level "target treatment" in diagnosing and treating chronic diseases, which is a provoke-thinking exploration and can provide references for prevention and treatment of chronic diseases with traditional Chinese medicine in the context of modern medicine.