Chinese Medicine in Historical Classics - Read "Listening to History and Talking About Chinese Medicine"

【Readers Say】

Author: LIU Peng (Dean of the Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine History and Philology, Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine)

Recently, I read Professor Xiong Yiliang of the School of Chinese Medicine of Beijing University of Chinese Medicine and his former master supervisor Professor Lin Nan's new book "Listening to History and Teaching Chinese Medicine", which reminded me of CCTV's hit "China in the Classics" some time ago. Traditional Chinese medicine, presumably everyone is not unfamiliar, but when it comes to what is traditional Chinese medicine, I am afraid that the traditional Chinese medicine in everyone's mind is different. It is true that "for a thousand readers there are a thousand Hamlets", but about what Chinese medicine is, it is relatively reliable and accurate to first read the records in historical texts.

"Listening to History and Teaching Chinese Medicine", by Xiong Yiliang and Lin Nan, Tsinghua University Press

The origin of historiography and traditional Chinese medicine

Speaking of the name of "traditional Chinese medicine", it can be seen as early as the historical book "Hanshu Art Wenzhi", and its cloud: "As the saying goes: 'If there is a disease that cannot be treated, you often get traditional Chinese medicine.'" Of course, the term "Chinese medicine" here is different from today's connotation and refers to a medium-level doctor. The so-called "if there is a disease that is not treated, often get Chinese medicine" roughly refers to not treating after getting sick, and its self-healing rate may be roughly equivalent to the treatment effect of medium-level doctors, emphasizing the self-healing ability of life itself. This concept runs through the whole process of TCM's understanding of life and disease, and is completely consistent with the neutralizing path pursued by TCM health preservation and treatment. Therefore, if you don't read the Chinese medicine in the history books, how can you find the correct understanding of Chinese medicine? Although his original intention is not explicitly stated in the book, my above speculation is probably one of the important reasons.

Sima Qian once said that when the heavens and people are studied, the changes of ancient and modern times have become the words of a family. Without reading history, it is not enough to know the past and the present, and to observe the rise and fall. Ancient China had a good tradition of governing history, and in addition to the officially compiled "Twenty-Six History", since the Sui and Tang Dynasties, private history has become a trend, and the number of historical documents has increased sharply. For example, the Siku Quanshu divides the documents of the Department of History into 15 categories: official history, chronicle, chronicle, miscellaneous history, other history, edict recital, biography, historical banknote, record, seasonality, geography, officials, political documents, catalogs, and historical commentaries. What is historiography? Ancient no historiography, six classics are history, no study outside history, etc., the previous sages and scholars have different discussions. In the introduction to the first chapter of "Listening to History and Teaching Chinese Medicine", on the basis of a brief analysis of the basic concepts and categories of historiography, the "Twenty-six History" chronicle historical books, "Zizhi Tongjian" and other chronicle historical books, and "Ten Tong" and other political historical books are concisely introduced. The above-mentioned historical books have recorded many medical-related contents, such as medical figures, medical systems, medical education, medical literature, etc., which have become more reliable first-hand information for us to understand the historical outlook and development of Chinese medicine. For this reason, many senior scholars have paid a lot of attention to it, such as Mr. Chen Bangxian in 1982 wrote "Twenty-Six History of Medical Historical Materials".

Taking medical figures as an example, the "Shiji" is the biography of Bian Que and Canggong Chun, creating a precedent for the official history to be a series of medical scholars. Sima Qianyun: "As of today, the one who has spoken is also by Bian Queye." "Bian Queyan is a doctor, for Fang Shizong." Today, when a large number of Bian Que's medical literature has disappeared, Sima Qian's words are of great enlightening significance for our comprehensive understanding and reasonable evaluation of Bian Que's coordinates and status in the history of Qin and Han Chinese medicine. In 2013, the discovery of medical documents unearthed such as the medical literature of the Bian Que School in the tomb of the old official Shan Han in Chengdu also corroborated Sima Qian's record and definition. Taking medical literature as an example, the study of historical texts such as art and literature and scripture records is an important basis for us to understand the survival, classification and origin evolution of Chinese medicine literature throughout the ages. For example, the Hanshu Yiwen Zhi divides Fang Technique (including but not limited to Chinese medicine as mentioned today) into four categories: medical scripture, jingfang, fangzhong and immortal, and the name of the "Yellow Emperor's Internal Classic", which is regarded as a classic by today's people, first appeared in the medical scripture category. I have analyzed Sima Qian's relevant statements on Bian Que in combination with the summary of the four categories of content of Fang Ji in the Hanshu Art Wenzhi, as well as the medical literature unearthed by Ma Wangdui and other unearthed medical literature, and wrote a small article "Bian Que Yan Medicine, for Fang Shi Zong": Interpretation from the Perspective of Fang Ji (Journal of Traditional Chinese Medicine, No. 19, 2019). Without the enlightenment given by the above-mentioned historical books, it would be completely impossible. The medical content recorded in the book is very rich, it is a very reliable medical history record, and it is also an important document for studying and learning the inheritance and development of traditional Chinese medicine, especially for constructing the history of Chinese medicine and exploring the historical development law of Chinese medicine. Honestly!

Showcasing the history and inheritance of Chinese medicine

Based on the relationship between historiography and Chinese medicine mentioned in the above introduction, the main content of "Listening to History and Talking about Chinese Medicine", that is, chapters 2 to 5, shows the face of ancient Chinese medicine and the historical inheritance and development of Chinese medicine from four aspects: medical system, medical education, famous doctors and Chinese medicine literature.

The medical affairs system, that is, the official medical administration, involving medical administration, medical sub-disciplines, assessment and promotion, etc., was established at the latest in the Zhou Dynasty, such as the division of labor between food doctors, disease doctors, ulcer doctors and veterinarians, as well as the method of physician assessment. Subsequent dynasties continued to evolve, gradually completing the Tang and Song dynasties, and adjusting during the Ming and Qing dynasties, which is carefully sorted out in the second chapter of this book. Although the focus of ancient medical administration was court medicine, as stated in the book, its significance was far more than limited to court medicine. For example, the Song Dynasty's official Correction Medical Book Bureau was the first special medical book collation institution established by the government in Chinese history, and many well-known Chinese medicine classics today, such as "Huangdi Neijing Suwen", "Typhoid Fever", "Jin Kuang Essentials", "Pulse Sutra", "Acupuncture and Moxibustion A and B Jing", "Emergency Thousand Gold Essentials", "Thousand Gold Wings", "Outer Taiwan Secrets", etc., have been sorted out and handed down to this day. This is a major event related to the inheritance of Chinese medicine, and its significance is self-evident.

Ancient medical education can be roughly divided into two categories: official medical education and folk medical education. Mr. Liao Yuqun once took the metaphor of "Prosperity Dew" (the jade string suspended on the crown of ancient emperors and aristocrats), and used the title of "Qi Huang Chunqiu under the Prosperity of Dew" as a monograph on official medical education. The imperial dew, the common grass, is also an appropriate metaphor and contrast. Folk medicine education, or teacher inheritance or private shu, was the main form of ancient Chinese medicine education. The largest, but relatively fragmented, although covered in some biographies of famous doctors contained in the historical books, the focus of the records is on official medical education. The establishment of government-run medical education in the mainland is not too late, the imperial physician in the Liu and Song dynasties of the Southern Dynasty ordered Qin Chengzu to set up "medicine", which was the first of its kind, and in the Tang Dynasty, the imperial medical department was established, which was the earliest official medical education institution, and the government-run medical education system of successive dynasties was basically improved and perfected on this basis. Although the scale of government-run medical education is limited and it is difficult to "fly into the homes of ordinary people", its division of subjects, academic system, teaching materials, assessments, examinations and other setting methods can still be used as a mirror for today's higher Chinese medicine education, I think this is an important reason why the third chapter of "Listening to History and Teaching Chinese Medicine" has sorted out the government-run Chinese medicine education in previous dynasties.

The last two chapters of this book are devoted to medical scholars and medical books, and although they are listed at the end, they are the most important in the writing and research of the history of Chinese medicine. As mentioned above, the "Shiji" created a precedent for the establishment of the official history as a medical family, and successive official history books inherited its example. Not only that, the "Shiji" also profoundly influenced the compilation of ancient medical history books, such as Tang Dynasty Gan Bozong's "Famous Medical Biography", Ming Dynasty Li Lian's "Medical History", Ming Dynasty Xiong Zongli's "Medical Origins", Qing Dynasty Wang Honghan's "Ancient and Modern Medical History", etc., all of which are based on the biography of medical doctors. The fourth chapter of "Listening to History and Teaching Chinese Medicine" makes a statistical list of doctors who have been biography of the "Twenty-Six History", and selects 21 of the most famous doctors for special introduction, and attaches the original biography of the history book for readers' reference. These 21 doctors, from the pre-Qin to the Ming and Qing dynasties, not only the well-known Bian Que, Hua Tuo, Ge Hong, Sun Simiao, and Li Shizhen, but also many well-known doctors who have profoundly influenced the development of traditional Chinese medicine and the rich system of clinical differentiation and treatment, such as Qian Yi, the "originator of pediatrics", Liu Wansu, Zhang Congzheng, Li Qi, Zhu Zhenheng, the founder of the "Yishui School", Ye Gui, the founder of the "Weiqiying Blood" discrimination and treatment of Wen disease, and so on.

According to the General Catalogue of Ancient Books of Chinese Medicine (published by Shanghai Dictionary Publishing House in December 2007), there are 13,455 ancient books of Chinese medicine published before 1949. Zeng Yun in Wang Mingsheng's "Seventeen Historical Discussions" of the Qing Dynasty: "The study of catalogs, the first important thing in learning, must ask the way from here, in order to get into the door." "Whoever reads books most essentially, the study of catalogs." The table of contents is clear before you can read the book; Unclear, finally read indiscriminately. The fifth chapter of "Listening to History and Teaching Chinese Medicine" mainly lists the Chinese medicine literature recorded in the "Twenty-six History", Tongzhi and Tongkao historical works mainly from the perspective of bibliography. For the average reader, these catalogues may be a bit boring to read, but they may wish to be used as "accounts" for future reference.

In 1919, Mr. Chen Bangxian wrote "History of Chinese Medicine", which has pioneered the study of modern and modern Chinese medical history in the true sense, and has been for more than 100 years. At present, the research on the history of Chinese medicine is becoming more and more diversified, and the introduction of research horizons and methods such as medical history, social history, cultural history, and knowledge history has also made "traditional Chinese medicine" as history more detailed, three-dimensional and full. In my personal opinion, the world of elite ideas is as important as the world of ideas of ordinary people, and grand narratives and small narratives are indispensable, and there is no difference between high and low. From this point of view, Yi Liang and Professor Lin Nan's "Listening to History and Talking about Chinese Medicine" attempts to present Chinese medicine in historical books through the ages, although it seems a bit "old-fashioned" on the surface, it is still the "right way" for us to understand the history of Chinese medicine. It should not be replaced, nor should it be forgotten.

Guang Ming Daily (November 26, 2022, version 12)

Source: Guangming Network - Guangming Daily