Just think how Liang Shan-po, in the famous Chinese love story, died coughing blood after he was thwarted in his love for Chu Ying-tai. And think of the pale and sickly Lin Tai-yu in Dream of the Red Chamber. She would wheeze and cough each afternoon, her cheeks flushed -- that too was tuberculosis.
君不見山伯求親未遂思念英台，而病重咳血致死；自小體弱多病的林黛玉面色蒼白，每到下午就嬌喘吁吁，兩頰粉紅，也是肺癆病症。