Here in the west (well, in Canada anyway) we tend to use organs and numbers for the location of acupuncture points.  When I began learning acupuncture points this was imensly helpful.  Bladder (BL) 11 is 1.5 cun lateral to the lower border of the first thoracic vertebra.  All I had to do was remember the pattern BL 11 -T1, BL 12-T2, etc. until T-8 then skip one until BL 30.  All the points from BL11-30 are 1.5 cun lateral to the midline.  Simple enough.

    But the name of the "Bladder meridian is 足太阳膀胱经 (zu2 tai4 yang2 pang2 guang1 jing1) Foot TaiYang Urinary Bladder Channel.  The other Taiyang Channel is 手太阳小肠经 (shou3 tai4 yang2 xiao3 chang2 jing1) Hand Taiyang Small Intestine Channel.  By learning the names of the channels it was revealed to me that these two are the same channel (太阳) and that the Small intestine and the Urinary Bladder have to "communicate" with each other.  One is associated with 火 (huo3, fire) and therefore 阳 (yang2) and the other with 水 (shui3, water) and therefore 阴 (yin1).  So a problem in one may result in a problem with the other.  And if I hadn't learned the names, I would still be thinking that the main relationship with the Bladder is the Kidney.

    And as for the acupuncture point names, BL 11 大杼 (da4zhu4) usually translated as "great shuttle", but I'm not sure yet what the name signifies or hints at.

    Also, if I learn the names of the acupuncture points, then I can communicate with TCM doctors that speak mandarin and I'll also be able to read medical texts from China.

    So, do you think that by learning the number system we a destroying part of the medicine?

A 100 year old doctor of traditional Chinese medicine (陈兆一 Chen Zhaoyi，otherwise referred to as 陈老) was recently quoted on the question of strengths & weaknesses of each approach. 

The strengths of Chinese medicine are (1) disease prevention .. and the philosophy that Man is not separate from Nature; (2) treatment of chronic diseases and rare disorders; (3) unique ways of regulating the body and dealing with 'sub-health'; (4) access to physicians and low medical costs; (5) human sensibility (sic). 

Ditto Western: (1) good results in the treatment of acute diseases and surgical (procedures); (2) Western medicine and modern science and technology and closely linked; (3) Western medicine is suitable for fast-paced life.  

This last point reminded me of a story I read recently arguing the advantages of 'strolling'.   This is something that drives Westerners crazy in China but I think that there is something in it.  And apparently it is supported by doctors of Chinese medicine.  The author argues that Chinese cities are designed for strolling, whereas American cities are not.