Recently, the epidemic has shown a multi-point outbreak, which has caught everyone off guard. Since then, how to deal with and control the public epidemic has become the focus of people's attention at present. Looking at the long history, it is not difficult to find that the ancients also faced the threat of epidemics. In the era of underdeveloped medical technology, how did they cope?
Hefei streets after the new crown epidemic in the spring of 2022 Source: Anhui Net
01
Was there a high probability of outbreaks in ancient times?
That's pretty high. The earliest recorded disease in Chinese history occurred in the Zhou Dynasty. In the summer of the twentieth year of the Duke of Luzhuang, the "Great Disaster of Qi". According to the Ram, this plague is the plague. Since then, there have been more and more records of the disease.
According to The Incomplete Statistics of Deng Tuo in the book "History of China's Disaster Relief", the number of epidemics in the past dynasties was: 1 time in the Zhou Dynasty, 13 times in the Qin and Han Dynasties, 17 times in the Wei and Jin Dynasties, 17 times in the Sui and Tang Dynasties, 32 times in the Two Song Dynasties, 20 times in the Yuan Dynasty, 64 times in the Ming Dynasty, and 74 times in the Qing Dynasty. Judging from the number of deaths, the most serious one was in the first year of the Jin Dynasty (1232), the great epidemic in Beijing, and in the 50 days, "more than 900,000 people died in the various doors, and the number of poor people who could not be buried was not in the number." It can be seen that the destructive power of the epidemic on human society is indeed extraordinary.
"Ram Biography" book shadow
"History of China's Rescue of Famine" by Deng Tuo
02
Which places in ancient times were prone to outbreaks?
Everyone should have guessed the answer - Gangnam. Because of its warm and humid climate, bacteria and viruses are extremely easy to multiply, coupled with the rich and dense population since ancient times, it is a hotbed of virus transmission. People in the Central Plains believe that the humid and hot weather in the south and the exuberant water system will produce "miasma" that endangers people's health. Therefore, many people who were sent to the far south felt that they were going to commit chronic suicide and had no return, and Su Shi called this act "nine deaths and a lifetime" when he went to Hainan, which also came from this idea.
Song Li Gonglin's "Drunken Sitting with a Staff" (Portrait of Su Shi)
03
What was the main cause of epidemics in ancient times?
The "Lü's Spring and Autumn Season Spring Chronicle" records:
"Meng Chun's autumn order, then his people are plagued; When the spring of the season is summer, the people are sick and sick; Midsummer and autumn orders, the people suffer from the epidemic; Meng Qiu performed summer time, and the people had more malaria. ”
In addition to seasonal reasons, as the saying goes, "after a great plague there will be a great plague". Disasters such as war, famine, drought, floods, and earthquakes are all hotbeds of the epidemic. The people are hungry, resulting in physical weakness, a significant decrease in immunity, and easy to contract diseases. Coupled with the displacement of people, the increase in the number of displaced people, and the large-scale migration and flow of people, it also provides a more favorable way for the spread of the plague; after the plague, because most of the ancients were buried in the earth, the poor even buried directly in mats and buried in mass burial posts, and the sanitation was also greatly damaged, so these naturally decomposing corpses once again became the source of the plague.
"Lü's Spring and Autumn" book shadow
04
How did the ancients recognize the cause of the epidemic?
Initially, the ancients did not have a scientific understanding of the causes of the epidemic, and mostly attributed it to "ghosts and gods".
Chu Ci
For example, in the "Chu Ci", it is said: "Bo Qiang, the great plague ghost, hurts people." "They think that Bo Qiang is a kind of ghost, specializing in creating epidemics. The earliest surviving Chinese medical code, the Yellow Emperor's Inner Classic, records that "the five plagues are easy to infect, regardless of size, and similar symptoms... Righteous qi exists in it, and evil cannot be dried up, avoiding its poisonous gas. It shows that people at that time believed that the plague epidemic was caused by "untimely qi", and as long as "righteous qi was stored", it could "avoid its poisonous gas".
The late Ming Dynasty physician Wu Youke authored the first plague monograph on the mainland, "On the Epidemic of Temperature", in which he proposed:
"The disease of fuwen is not wind, not cold, not summer, not wet, but there is a strange feeling between heaven and earth", "evil enters from the mouth and nose",
"The natural qi is full, and the evil is not easy to enter; the natural qi coincides with the indebtedness, and between the breaths, the external evil is multiplied",
"Or in the face of hunger and toil, sorrow and anger, righteousness is wounded, and evil qi begins to overflow."
This "qi" is colorless, tasteless, invisible to the naked eye, transmitted from the mouth and nose, and is also related to people's own resistance – it can be said that the characteristics of the virus transmitted through the respiratory tract have been described in nine times out of ten.
Ming Wu Youke's "Plague Theory" book shadow (a total of 2 photos)
05
Did the ancients directly use magic defense in response to the epidemic?
There is indeed a magic defense. In ancient times, due to people's lack of scientific understanding, the occurrence of the epidemic was often attributed to ghosts and monsters serving in force, and the content of service was to take people's lives.
The Eastern Han Dynasty's "Interpretation of names" explains: "Epidemics, service also, words have ghosts to do service also." "The "epidemic" here is "service". It seems that the ghosts and gods also want "996", and they cannot get rid of the fate of "beating workers".
In the pre-Qin period, it is said that one of the five emperors, zhuān xū, had three sons who were born and died as ghosts, one of whom lived in the river for the plague ghost. The four madmen of the Fang Xiang clan mentioned in the "Zhou Li Xia Guan" are specialized exorcisms. These four people are dressed in bear skins, wear masks, carry Ge Yang shields, and handsome hundred subordinates beat up the epidemic room by room, which is the origin of the later nuó drama.
Shandong Jiaxiang Wu Ancestral Hall Han Dynasty Mural "Xiang Dao Tu"
According to the Book of Etiquette of the Later Han Dynasty, the Great Ceremony of the Eastern Han Dynasty was more solemn and had the nature of royal etiquette. Although there is no solemnity and grandeur of court ceremonies, the forms of wearing masks, dancing sacrifices, and exorcisms are generally consistent with court ceremonies. Folk customs such as setting up pots and paper boats to send plague gods, such as dragon boat racing in the Dragon Boat Festival, are actually related to exorcism ghosts.
Song Anon. "The Great Painting" collection of the Palace Museum in Beijing
Song Anon. "The Great Map" Part of the Collection of the Palace Museum in Beijing
Qing Lianxi Zhong Kui Tu Collection of Anhui Museum
Qing Five Poison Charms Collection of Anhui Museum
06
How did the ancients prevent and fight the epidemic?
In the oracle bones excavated from the Yin Ruins, there is a record of fighting the "epidemic". In the thousands of years of anti-epidemic history, the ancients have also explored many scientific anti-epidemic measures, which are not backward in today's view.
"Square Cabin Hospital"
In the pre-Qin period, there were already "furuncles" that specialized in isolating people with infectious diseases. The earliest record of medical isolation of patients with infectious diseases in Chinese history books is the "Book of Han and the Records of the Ping Emperor"--"Those who are sick and sick, give up empty residences, and buy medicine".
The "empty mansion" is to vacate the house and place the patients in a centralized manner, which can ensure that the patients will not become a secondary source of infection and facilitate centralized treatment. Since then, the "Shekong Didi" has become a means for the governments of ancient dynasties to control infectious diseases. In The Han Dynasty, China had a "sick relocation workshop" facility to isolate lepers.
By the time of the Southern and Northern Dynasties, it had developed into a system, and during the Xiao Qi period, Prince Mao and others had set up a special isolation institution, the Six Diseases Pavilion.
During the Tang Dynasty, there was also a "patient's workshop" set up by the Buddhist Society to isolate lepers, which contained monks to treat patients, and was a fairly modern charity. During the Wu Zetian period, it was renamed "Sorrowful Field Recuperation Workshop" and was managed by the government. This can be regarded as the earliest "square cabin hospital" in history.
Su Shi, a literary hero of the Song Dynasty, also personally built the "Anle Fang" in Hangzhou to specifically isolate patients and achieved remarkable results. Since the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, a system of leaky gardens has been widely established to dispose of corpses that cannot be buried and to avoid the re-spread of the disease.
Ancient "black technology"
In addition to isolation, the ancients did not give up the treatment of people who have been sick, the famous doctor Hua Tuo once explored the use of artemisia annua to cure the epidemic "jaundice" caused by malaria, and the later medical scientist Tu Youyou also isolated "artemisinin" from artemisia annua, created a powerful drug for malaria, and once again verified the scientific ideas of ancient famous doctors to treat plague.
The most popular ancient infectious disease in film and television dramas is smallpox. It is a viral infectious disease, although today the smallpox virus has been extinct for nearly half a century, but behind this, it involves a medical innovation of the ancient Chinese - human pox. Human pox refers to the method of taking smallpox patients acne scab pulp and inoculating healthy children to make them immune to prevent smallpox.
Later, in the process of continuous practice, the ancients found that it would be safer to vaccinate multiple acne scabs. The Qing Dynasty's "Method of Planting Pox Hearts" records: "The longer its seedlings are planted, the cleaner the promotion of medicinal power, the more mature the artificial selection, the exhaustion of fire and poison, and the survival of the essence, so it is perfect and harmless." "The principle behind this is the same as today's targeted attenuated selective vaccines.
Qing Zhu Yiliang"Seed Pox Heart Method Seed Pox Finger Palm"
"It's better to ask for warmth than to make a huge amount of money"
While implementing medical isolation, providing free medical and medical services is a direct means for the government to control the public epidemic. This kind of means is also the need of the feudal imperial court to establish the image of "benevolent government", so it is called "giving medicine". Moreover, at the same time as "giving medicines", there are also "prescriptions", which is one of the most practical and reliable means of treatment for the ancient Chinese to control and prevent public epidemics.
In ancient China, since the era of the Southern and Northern Dynasties, the imperial court has provided free medical books and prescriptions to the people. The best dynasty to do it was the Song Dynasty. The fang zi contained in the famous Chinese medicine classics "Shenghui Fang", "Qing Li Shan Salvation Fang", "Brief Ji Zhongfang", "Ji Zhi Fang", "Four Hours of Life Theory" and so on, are all recommended by the Northern Song Dynasty government, and many of them are still used in modern Chinese medicine. In the twenty-sixth year of Shaoxing in the Southern Song Dynasty (1156), a plague occurred in the capital city of Lin'an (present-day Hangzhou), and Emperor Zhao Zhuo (Emperor Gaozong of Song) launched the "Chai Hu Pharmaceutical", which is similar to the modern proprietary Chinese medicine "Chai Hu Drinking Powder", which is quite effective and "very popular".
In May of the 20th year of Jiajing (1541) of the Ming Dynasty, there was an outbreak of "disease and boiling" in the capital, and Emperor Zhu Houxi (Ming Shizong) personally tested and created the "Ji Epidemic Small Drink" formula and distributed it to the residents. In the Eastern Han Dynasty "Medical Saint" Zhang Zhongjing's "Treatise on Typhoid Fever and Miscellaneous Diseases", many prescriptions for the prevention and treatment of epidemic diseases are included. For example, "Ephedra almond licorice gypsum soup" treats respiratory tract infections and lobular pneumonia; "white tiger soup" and "bamboo leaf gypsum soup" treats Japanese encephalitis and brain flow; "kudzu skullcap huanglian soup" treats acute enteritis and bacterial dysentery; "fungal Artemisia soup" cures jaundice and infectious hepatitis; "white head soup" cures bacterial dysentery and amoebic dysentery.
Southern Song Dynasty Li Tang "Burning Ai Tu" Collection of the National Palace Museum in Taipei
"Portrait of Zhang Zhongjing of the Medical Saint" by Jiang Zhaohe
"On Typhoid Fever and Miscellaneous Diseases", Jilin Provincial Museum of Traditional Chinese Medicine
07
Did the ancients have a good way to prevent the outbreak of the epidemic?
Of course, some of them are experiences summarized through practice, and some are even "unintentional willows". As early as the Qin and Han dynasties, there was the habit of washing hair once every three days and bathing once every five days. So much so that the government gives officials a day off every five days, also known as "rest mu". This is what we now call preventing the multiplication of bacterial viruses from the perspective of personal hygiene.
In his book "Golden Essentials: Animals, Animals, Fishes and Insects Taboos and Cures the Twenty-fourth Chapter", many of them are dietary taboos: "Those who have such as Zhu Dian in meat are inedible", "Six animals die of self-death, all of which are infected, they are poisonous and inedible.".
Ge Hong of the Jin Dynasty, in his "Elbow Reserve Emergency Fang: Cure Miasma Plague, Temperate Poison, Fifteenth Party", said, "If a family combines medicines, there is no disease in one mile"; and believes that "those who have cholera for so much eat and drink more".
In xu guangqi's "Complete Book of Agricultural Administration" in the Ming Dynasty, the so-called "power (cover) anti-wear and tear, but also anti-unclean", refers to the protection of drinking water sources.
Li Shizhen wrote in the "Compendium of Materia Medica": "Where the well water comes from afar, there is a person who seeps from a nearby river and lake, and the sewage in the near ditch of the city becomes alkali, and it is fried and rolled with whiskers, stopped for a while, and the alkali is used." "This practice of boiling, clarifying and then drinking water is a measure to treat drinking water to ensure health, which greatly reduces the probability of infectious diseases."
The Qing Dynasty Jia Shanting's "Xianfang Collection and Anti-Plague All Directions" pointed out the method of disinfection by fumigation: "When the epidemic is transmitted during the heavenly journey, any family that suffers from the epidemic and steames the patient's clothes on the koshiki is not stained." ”
Xiong Lipin put forward the "four don'ts" principle during the epidemic season of plague in the "Complete Book of Epidemic Control": "When the plague is prevalent, when the contagion is contagious... Do not go near the bed of the sick and stain them with filth; do not touch the stench of the coffin of the dead; do not eat the sick's dishes; do not pick up the clothes of the dead. ”
Chen Gengdao mentioned in "Epidemic Grass": "Anyone who enters the epidemic family should be full and not hungry, it should not be long, it should be noon and not morning and evening, and it is advisable to sit far away and not be close to each other." That is, to diagnose the pulse and look at the larynx, it is not appropriate to face the patient, it is advisable to save gas and say less, and do not stay at the sick home at night. "Special emphasis is placed on the fact that even doctors should avoid close contact during the spread of the epidemic.
Yu Botao proposed in "Plague Selection and Avoidance of Epidemics": "When there is nothing to do, the court house sprinkles the light. Kitchen ditch, tidy up clean. Room windows, airy and breathable. ”
Wang Shixiong's "Treatise on Cholera" warns people: "In ordinary times, it is advisable to pay attention to or dredge the river channel, without accumulating pollution, or sinking a well and a spring, without drinking turbidity." It is most prudent to live in a house, no matter how big or small, it is necessary to open the ventilation and sweep away the cleanliness. "By improving sanitation to drive out the spread of diseases."
Portrait of Li Shizhen Jiang Zhaohe
"Compendium of Materia Medica" book shadow
08
Did the ancients have any examples of scientific control of the epidemic?
There was also a very scientific control of the outbreak. On November 9, 1910, the Harbin area suddenly broke out into plague, and the first plague was in Fujiadian (present-day Daowai District). After the emergence of the plague, the Qing government ordered strict prevention everywhere.
In December 1910, Wu Liande, deputy supervisor of Tianjin Beiyang Army Medical College, was appointed as the chief medical officer of plenipotentiary power to go to Harbin and start large-scale plague epidemic prevention work, under the advice of Wu Liande and other experts, the Qing government and various local authorities adopted scientific and effective epidemic prevention measures against the epidemic, formed epidemic prevention organizations at all levels, promulgated various epidemic prevention regulations, and adopted specific epidemic prevention measures such as cutting off traffic, isolating patients and suspected patients, incinerating corpses, and strictly disinfecting the epidemic areas. This prevented the further deterioration and spread of the epidemic, and eventually successfully calmed the epidemic. This is also the only thing that the decaying Qing Dynasty did for the people to do for the people.
Late Qing Dynasty Binjiang First Suspected Hospital
In the late Qing Dynasty, the fujiadian first district epidemic prevention enforcement office served as a staff member
In the late Qing Dynasty, Fujiadian was the first disinfection station to prevent epidemics
Late Qing Dynasty Harbin Epidemic Prevention Bureau
Although ancient medical technology is not as developed as it is today, there are many incomplete points in the prevention and control of the epidemic, although there are parts that rely on "magic", we must also see that the ancient people's fight against the epidemic is still quite civilized.
Epidemic prevention flow chart Source: CCTV News
I believe that we can definitely defeat the epidemic
The warmth between people is no longer separated by masks
hereon
To those who are fighting on the front lines of the fight against the epidemic
salute!!!
Primary references
Li Hai, "On the Plague Epidemic at the End of the Eastern Han Dynasty and the Three Kingdoms Period"
Wu Peng, "How the Tang Dynasty Treated the Epidemic According to Law"
Wang Shengduo, Hu Yu, Measures to Deal with the Plague in the Song Dynasty
Chen Xu, "Social Assistance Activities of Ming Dynasty Doctors in the Time of Plague"
Plague of the Ming Dynasty and the Society of the Times
Zeng Xun, "How Ancient Governments Responded to Sudden Plagues"
Shi Chen, "Response Measures of the Government and All Sectors of Society to the Plague in the Early Qing Dynasty"
Wang Yude, "On the Epidemic situation and countermeasures in ancient China"
Dong Wei and Hongwei, "Analysis of Epidemic Prevention Measures in Ancient Chinese Society"
Meng Qingyun, "Plague and Chinese Folk Culture"
Wang Wenyuan, "Ancient Chinese Thoughts and Methods of Epidemic Prevention and Its Modern Application"
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This article only represents the views of the author and does not represent the position of the literary circle