Disclaimer: The content of this article is written with authoritative information combined with personal opinions, and the source of the literature and screenshots have been marked at the end of the article, please be aware.
In 2017, an exchange meeting on ancient books of traditional Chinese medicine was quietly held in a certain city. I thought it was just an ordinary party, but because of the appearance of a manuscript, everyone's enthusiasm was instantly ignited.
This manuscript, from a Qing Dynasty imperial physician - Wang Bichang, is densely recorded with his years of hard work in the court, and what is even more shocking is that it contains more than 540 kinds of prescriptions for the treatment of incurable diseases.
As soon as the news came out, the entire Chinese medicine community was boiling, and experts gave an astonishing assessment of its value - 216 million yuan. What kind of manuscript is this that is so valuable? What kind of legend is hidden behind this?
The importance of traditional Chinese medicine
As the old saying goes, "People are iron, rice is steel, and if you don't eat a meal, you will be hungry." What if I get sick? Seeing a doctor and taking medicine, just like eating, is the top priority of our people, and we have a treasure left by our ancestors since ancient times - Chinese medicine.
What is Traditional Chinese Medicine? To put it simply, it is to use our traditional Chinese methods to treat diseases, focusing on "looking, hearing, asking, and cutting" and "harmonizing yin and yang". Don't underestimate this traditional Chinese medicine, it has a history of thousands of years, and the miracle doctors such as Hua Tuo and Bian Que all started with traditional Chinese medicine.
Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) treats diseases, focusing on "prescribing the right medicine", but it is not like Western medicine, which treats the head with a headache and the feet with a sore foot. The TCM doctor is very meticulous in seeing a doctor, and he has to "see, hear, and ask" first. See how your face looks, whether your tongue is thick, listen to your heartbeat, ask you where you are uncomfortable, and finally feel your pulse, and then start prescribing.
Not only that, there are many ways to treat diseases in Chinese medicine, and the most common is to take Chinese medicine. Those Chinese herbs look inconspicuous, but they are all gifts from nature.
Of course, in addition to taking medicine, there are many other treatment methods in Chinese medicine, such as acupuncture, massage, cupping, etc., which can help us regulate our body and restore our health.
But then again, although Chinese medicine is broad and profound, it is not easy to learn it well. There are thousands of kinds of Chinese herbal medicines alone, and the taste and efficacy of each medicine are different, and they have to be used according to different conditions and physiques.
Therefore, those old Chinese medicine doctors with superb medical skills, they don't know how many secret recipes for curing diseases and saving people are hidden in their hands.
In 2017, there was a major discovery in the field of traditional Chinese medicine, which turned out to be the manuscript of Wang Bichang, an imperial physician of the Qing Dynasty, which recorded more than 540 treatment options for incurable diseases.
Is this true or false? Who is Wang Bichang?
Wang Bichang: The legendary life from a folk doctor to a Qing imperial doctor
Wang Bichang was born in a family that had practiced medicine for generations. Since he was a child, watching his grandfather and father use miraculous herbs and acupuncture to relieve the pain of patients, a seed that hangs the pot to help the world was planted in his heart early.
Wang Bichang is gifted and intelligent, and has an extraordinary passion for medicine. He read the medical books collected by his family with hunger, from "The Yellow Emperor's Neijing" to "Treatise on Typhoid Fever and Miscellaneous Diseases", from the Compendium of Materia Medica to Qianjin Fang, he carefully studied and pondered carefully.
During the day, he followed his father up the mountain to collect medicines, identify the characteristics of various herbs, and learn how to prepare them, and at night, he studied medicine under the oil lamp.
In this way, in the study and practice day after day, Wang Bichang's medical skills have improved by leaps and bounds, and he has accumulated rich clinical experience at a young age. He often went alone to provide free medical treatment for the poor people, and won the unanimous praise of his neighbors with his superb medical skills and noble medical ethics, and everyone said that he was the reincarnation of "Little Huatuo".
Time flies, and in a blink of an eye, Wang Bichang has grown up and become a well-known young doctor. At this time, far away in the imperial palace in the capital, a huge selection of imperial doctors was underway. When the news reached Jiangnan, it immediately caused a sensation, and countless doctors were eager to enter the Tai Hospital and serve the royal family.
After Wang Bichang heard the news, he also moved his mind. Becoming an imperial doctor is not only the supreme honor, but also means being able to get in touch with more precious medical classics and famous doctors, which is undoubtedly of great benefit to improving one's medical skills.
So Wang Bi embarked on the long road to the capital. After layers of selection, he finally stood out with his superb medical skills and extraordinary courage, and successfully entered the Tai Hospital and became a full-time imperial doctor.
Wang Bichang, who had just entered the palace, couldn't help but feel a little apprehensive in the face of the splendid palace and the strict hierarchy. However, he was soon attracted by the vast number of medical classics and famous doctors from all over the country.
However, Wang Bichang was not obsessed with the comfort of court life, he always cared about the suffering of the people, and was eager to use the medical skills he learned to help more people. During his medical practice in the palace, he often used his rest time to sneak out of the palace to provide free medical treatment for the poor people who could not afford to see a doctor, which also won him the reputation of "benevolent doctor".
Time flies, and after spending dozens of spring and autumn in the palace, Wang Bichang is gradually getting old. He knew that he was going to leave here after all, but he didn't want to just go into the ground with his medical skills.
So he decided to compile his years of medical experience into a book, and wrote the book "Liao Fu Ji", and also wanted to publish it, hoping to pass on his medical skills and benefit more people.
In addition, Wang Bichang also recorded the medical experience, miraculous recipes and secret techniques he had accumulated over the years, as well as the precious medical cases collected in the palace, in a thick pile of manuscripts. These manuscripts contain great medical value, and if they can be passed on, they will have a profound impact on future generations of doctors.
In this way, on the occasion of returning to his hometown, Wang Bichang took this precious manuscript and left the palace where he had lived for many years and returned to his hometown.
More than 540 kinds of prescriptions have reappeared in the world
After returning to their hometown, the villagers came to welcome them. But Wang Bichang knew in his heart that he was not coming back to enjoy happiness, and he still had a big event in mind.
What's the big deal? He wants to write all the housekeeping skills of practicing medicine in his life into a book for the benefit of future generations. This book, Wang Bichang has already thought of it, is called "Collection of Strange Diseases", which is dedicated to the treatment of those incurable diseases.
Wang Bichang couldn't be idle when he got home, he locked himself in the study all day long, flipping through the large pile of medical books and notes he brought back, just like that, Wang Bichang relied on tenacity and spent several years to write "Strange Disease Collection".
In this book, there are densely recorded treatment options for more than 540 kinds of incurable diseases, from headache and brain fever to incurable diseases, which is called an all-encompassing, which is simply an ancient version of the "medical encyclopedia".
Wang Bichang was very excited when he took the written manuscript, and he couldn't wait to find someone to engrave it immediately, so that everyone in the world could see it. But there were unforeseen circumstances, and just when Wang Bichang was about to find someone to publish, a sudden change occurred at home, which forced him to temporarily shelve his publishing plan.
This shelving has been shelved for hundreds of years. During this period, Wang Bichang's descendants have always regarded this precious manuscript as a treasure and passed it on from generation to generation. They know that this manuscript not only embodies the painstaking efforts of their ancestors, but also is a precious wealth of traditional Chinese medicine, which must be well preserved and not allowed to be lost.
Fast forward to 2017, and Wang Bichang's descendants feel that it is time for this precious manuscript to see the light of day. Therefore, they decided to donate this manuscript so that more people can have the opportunity to understand the breadth and profundity of Chinese medicine.
When this manuscript, which had been sealed for many years, reappeared in front of the world, everyone was shocked by the great value it contained. With more than 540 treatment options for incurable diseases, this is a treasure trove of medicine.
And these prescriptions are written very neatly, although so many years have passed, they are still very intact, and there is no major damage at all, which makes everyone feel extremely shocked.
What is the future of Chinese medicine?
The birth of this manuscript has brought a lot of new discoveries to the Chinese medicine community, and it has also brought a lot of shock to those who question Chinese medicine.
Of course, some people don't buy it, thinking that this is hype and "cutting leeks". "What age are you now, and you are still superstitious about Chinese medicine?" "Those prescriptions from hundreds of years ago can still be used today? Don't make a mistake with eating. ”
This is true, and it really pierces the heart. After all, we can't deny that there are indeed some problems in the development of traditional Chinese medicine, such as the lack of scientific verification, the uneven quality of medicinal materials, and so on.
But we can't kill a boatload of people with a stick, Chinese medicine has been passed down for thousands of years, there must be a reason for it.
There are some diseases that cannot be explained clearly by Western medicine, and they have to rely on traditional Chinese medicine to regulate. There are also those incurable diseases, Western medicine is helpless, maybe Chinese medicine can cure the disease.
Therefore, whether there is a need for the existence of traditional Chinese medicine, and whether those prescriptions that have been circulated for thousands of years can still be used, the question really has to be viewed dialectically.
epilogue
Traditional Chinese medicine and Western medicine, like the yin and yang poles in Tai Chi, each has its own advantages and limitations. We should learn from each other's strengths, learn from each other, and jointly contribute to the cause of human health.
Just like Wang Bichang back then, regardless of personal gains and losses, he was bent on teaching his medical skills to more people, isn't this kind of spirit worth learning from?
Resources:
Baidu Encyclopedia Wang Bichang
Guangming Daily——2018-10-16——It is also the inheritance value of the four unpublished manuscripts of "Talking about the Restoration of · Strange Diseases".