Lead:
Since the dawn of humanity, we have struggled with disease. In ancient times in feudal society, people called diseases plagues, and they believed that it was a punishment for ghosts and gods. At that time, people could only ask God to cure the plague. Later, after painstaking research, the healers began to try to fight the plague. Historian Deng Tuo counted the number of plagues in the history of the mainland.
Since records began, there have been 2838 large-scale plagues on the mainland, only once in the Zhou Dynasty, 13 in the Qin and Han dynasties, 17 in the Wei and Jin dynasties, and 17 in the Sui and Tang dynasties. Thirty-two times in the Two Song Dynasty, twenty times in the Yuan Dynasty, sixty-four times in the Ming Dynasty, and as many as seventy-four times in the Qing Dynasty. It can be seen that plagues were everywhere in ancient times.
Nowadays, in the modern age of advanced technology, plagues still exist, most of them are just dormant in our lives, and they will choose to stand out at the right time. In the face of these problems, the ancients did not choose to retreat, but rose to the occasion. Today, we will take a closer look at the three major plagues of ancient times, and the anti-epidemic methods of the ancients were no worse than those of modern people.
Typhoid fever at the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty
At the end of the Eastern Han Dynasty, there was a 50-year-long plague that killed 30 million people. The cause of this plague is no longer known. According to relevant records, Cao Zhi's "Speaking of Epidemic Gas" probably knows that the time when the epidemic first appeared was about 22 years after Jian'an. At that time, there were people in every household of ordinary people who were sick.
When night falls, the wails of every household are terrifying. It can be seen that the epidemic has tormented people. After consulting the classics, the doctors defined the plague as typhoid fever. Typhoid fever is characterized by high fever, persistent cough, and breathlessness. The speed of the onset is unimaginable, and many patients die before they can be treated.
At that time, the emperor was Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty, and Emperor Ling of the Han Dynasty was addicted to pleasure and ignored the government, which led to the reason why the emperor's doctors did nothing when the plague spread. During the Jian'an period, the Han Dynasty came to an end. The war made life more and more difficult, and the people had to flee for their lives, and typhoid fever spread to all parts of the country.
At the time of the fall of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the remaining population of the Han Dynasty was less than 15 million. Doctor Zhang Zhongjing did not want to see this situation, so he secretly decided to fight with typhoid fever. Zhang Zhongjing used cotton cloth as a mask and led by example into the epidemic area to comfort and treat patients. At the same time, Zhang Zhongjing consulted a large number of ancient books, combined with his own experience, and created the book "Treatise on Typhoid Fever and Miscellaneous Diseases".
Books have survived to this day, saving tens of thousands of lives. At the same time, it also lays a solid foundation for Chinese medicine in mainland China. In addition to Zhang Zhongjing, there are also Hua Tuo, Dong Feng and others who walk among the people to treat diseases and save people. According to records, Zhang Zhongjing was the first person in mainland history to use cotton masks to block the transmission of viruses from the respiratory tract, and cotton masks have now become our epidemic prevention means to deal with the new crown.
2. Smallpox in the Qing Dynasty
Smallpox is one of the oldest infectious diseases in human history. At the same time, it is also the only infectious disease that has been conquered by humans. It first appeared more than 2,000 years ago, and its incubation period is very long, and after seven days, smallpox patients will develop headaches, fevers, and weakness, and these patients will eventually have a rash all over their bodies. Those who are lucky enough to survive will also leave traces of rashes on their bodies.
Very few people were able to escape from smallpox. Of the twelve emperors of the Qing Dynasty, four fell ill with smallpox, and two died of smallpox. In order to overcome smallpox, the emperors of the Qing Dynasty instituted a pox protection system. When smallpox was rampant, people who had not had smallpox were allowed to choose not to attend any meetings in order to prevent the spread of smallpox.
Anyone who came into the city from other places had to be screened at all levels, whether it was the royal family or the common people, and the soldiers had the right to drive them out of the city if smallpox was detected. For this reason, the Qing emperor also built a pox shelter. If the people of the city had symptoms of smallpox, they had to take refuge in a shelter immediately. According to records, the Shunzhi Emperor went to the pox shelter many times to avoid smallpox.
Even so, Emperor Shunzhi was recruited. After Concubine Dong E died of smallpox, Emperor Shunzhi was sad and forgot to take refuge, and he died of smallpox soon after. The emperors of the Qing Dynasty, in order to completely eradicate smallpox, tried to experiment on the palace people. Their experimental method is to grind the scabs of smallpox patients into a powder and let others smoke them to form antibodies.
As a result of the experiment, seventeen out of twenty survived. This method is also known as pox, and smallpox was brought under control. Smallpox was completely eradicated in the last century, and Qi Changqing, a disciple of the Eight Banners, extracted the Temple of Heaven strain from animals, and its appearance brought hope to smallpox patients. It can be seen that the anti-epidemic measures of the Qing Dynasty have provided us with rich experience in fighting the new crown.
3. Pneumonic plague in Northeast China
In the last years of the Qing Dynasty, due to the corruption of officials, the Qing Dynasty was indirectly destroyed. The news of the outbreak of the plague in the three northeastern provinces completely pushed the Qing Dynasty into the abyss. At this time, the Northeast became a sweet spot in the mouths of Russia and Japan due to its abundant resources. In Harbin, the three northeastern provinces, more than 30 countries have established embassies here.
At the beginning of the epidemic, medical experts declared that the virus was the plague. The bubonic plague, also known as the Black Death, originated in Europe in the 14th century and killed 25 million people. The bubonic plague in Europe spread to the three northeastern provinces along the railway. The Chinese people, who were suffering from the plague, began to try all kinds of strange remedies in order to survive.
Wu Liande, vice president of the mainland's medical hall, was ordered to go to the three northeastern provinces to direct epidemic prevention. When he arrived in the Northeast, Western scholars instructed the people in the city to stop the spread of the virus by killing rats, which Wu Liande questioned. He had done a lot of research on the plague, and he believed that the plague in the West was different from that in the Northeast.
The plague in the West survived in hot and humid conditions, which was very different from the weather conditions in the Northeast. Western methods could not cure the plague in the northeast, and Wu Liande then proposed to lock down the city and isolate it, and Wu Liande's method was ridiculed by Western scholars. A French expert, Meni, who had died, decided to treat four patients suffering from the plague, and within six days Meni died.
Meni used death to prove that Wu Liande's method was right, and then Wu Liande used a double layer of gauze and cotton medicine soaked in medicine to make masks and distribute them to the citizens to cover their mouths and noses. Wu Liande stopped the spread of the virus, but he was unable to deal with the mountains of corpses. In order to completely eradicate the virus, Wu Liande finally decided to incinerate thousands of corpses. After the bodies were burned, the epidemic in the three northeastern provinces was brought under control.
So far, only two months have passed since Wu Liande arrived in the northeast. The appearance of Wu Liande not only saved the people of the three northeastern provinces, but also indirectly saved the crumbling China. In the process of fighting the plague again, Wu Liande's method of wearing masks and isolating the city is still applicable today.
Epilogue:
In this regard, I would like to say that in the face of natural and man-made disasters, we should not be afraid, and only by facing difficulties can we have infinite vitality. The dedication of Zhang Zhongjing, Wu Liande and many other doctors has allowed us to continue our lives, for which we are grateful. I believe that in the near future, with our joint efforts, the disease and plague will eventually be overcome, and when that day comes, it is destined to be the time when flowers are in full bloom.