Zhang Zhongjing (c. 150-219), a man of the late Eastern Han Dynasty, was known as "Medical Saint" by later generations. He was a native of Nanyang, Henan, but was known as "Zhang Changsha" because he served as the Taishou of Changsha during the Jian'an period of the Eastern Han Dynasty. In 1981, a tombstone and tomb seat were excavated from the Medical Shrine in Nanyang City, Henan Province, and the front of the stele was engraved with nine characters of "Han Changsha Taishou Zhang Zhongjing Tomb".
Zhang Zhongjing has been fond of medicine since childhood, "Botong group books, subliminal Music Taoism". When he was ten years old, his compatriot He Yong appreciated his intelligence and expertise, and once said to him: "If you use your thoughts and are not high, you will be a good doctor later." Later, Zhang Zhongjing really became a good doctor. Of course, this is related to his "use of thinking", but it is mainly the result of his love for the medical profession and his good at "diligently seeking ancient training and absorbing all methods".
Zhang Zhongjing was in the late Eastern Han Dynasty, where there were years of chaotic battles, urban farms were mostly wilderness, the people were displaced, and they were hungry and cold. Plague outbreaks have occurred in various places, especially in Luoyang, Nanyang and other places, the epidemic situation is serious, "there is the pain of zombies in every house, and there is a cry of mourning in the room." He "felt the loss of the past, and the wounds could not be saved", angrily studied medicine, and was determined to be a doctor who could relieve the people's suffering.
At that time, there was a man named Zhang Bozu in Zhang Zhongjing's clan, who was a very prestigious doctor. Zhang Zhongjing worshiped him as a teacher. Zhang Bozu saw that Zhongjing was intelligent and studious, and had the spirit of hard work, so he taught him his medical knowledge and medical skills without reservation, and Zhang Zhongjing did his best to pass it on and was proficient in Bozu. Due to the great advance of medical skills, at the beginning of the Han Dynasty, Zhang Zhongjing was elevated to filial piety.
How Zhang Zhongjing became the Taishou of Changsha has to start from his predecessor Zhang Xian. During the Eastern Han Dynasty, Changsha County and Nanyang County were both subordinate to Jingzhou. During the Jian'an period of the Eastern Han Dynasty, the history of Jingzhou was Liu Biao. In the third year of Jian'an (198), Zhang Xian launched a rebellion, and Liu Biao sent troops to conquest, which lasted for several years, until Zhang Xian died of illness in the fifth year of Jian'an (200), and his son Zhang Yi succeeded him as The Taishou of Changsha. Liu Biao continued to send troops to attack, and the following year Zhang Yi was completely defeated, and Changsha County was returned to Jingzhou. After the defeat of Zhang Yi's army, Changsha Taishou was vacant, at which time Liu Biao's former friend and fellow villager Wang Yue, known as the head of the "Seven Sons of Jian'an" in the Eastern Han Dynasty, recommended Zhang Zhongjing to Liu Biao. It turned out that Zhang Zhongjing had diagnosed and treated Wang Cang's disease many times, and the two had been very close. In 202, Liu Biao appointed Zhang Zhongjing as the Taishou of Changsha. By 207 AD, Zhang Zhongjing had served as the Taishou of Changsha for a total of five years, and the Treatise on Typhoid Fever and Miscellaneous Diseases was completed during his tenure as Taishou of Changsha.
There is such a passage in the preface to "On Typhoid Fever and Miscellaneous Diseases": "The upper part is to cure the diseases of the king's relatives, the lower is to save the poor and the poor, and the middle is to protect the growth and perfection, in order to nourish his body", showing Zhang Zhongjing's benevolence and benevolence as a medical everyone. The important medical idea of "dialectical argument" embodied in this work is a brilliant pearl in the great treasure house of Chinese medicine and has played a major role in the development of traditional Chinese medicine in later generations, which is one of the important reasons why Zhang Zhongjing is admired.
Since the Sui and Tang dynasties, Zhang Zhongjing's writings have spread overseas. Since the Song Dynasty, many doctors have called the prescription in the "Treatise on Typhoid Fever and Miscellaneous Diseases" "Changsha Fang", and the book "Changsha Fang Song Kuo" has been handed down. There have been more than 200 works that have annotated or expounded their ideas for the Treatise on Typhoid Fever and Miscellaneous Diseases, and the Jinjian of the Medical Sect compiled by the Qing Dynasty evaluates it: "The ancient scriptures have laws and no prescriptions, and since then there have been laws and prescriptions... The Holy Book of Sincere Healing. From the Jin Dynasty to the present, Chinese and foreign scholars have sorted out, annotated, studied, and played more than 1,700 kinds of books written by "Treatise on Typhoid Fever and Miscellaneous Diseases" and "Outline of the Golden Plateau", which is rare in the history of world medicine.
Qing Qianlong's "Chronicle of Changsha Province" says: "During the Great Epidemic in Changsha during the Han Dynasty, the treatment methods were mixed, and Zhang Zhongjing wrote "On Typhoid Fever" and "Jin Kuifang" in the world, and lived countless lives. "In the Eastern Han Dynasty, Changsha City was the seat of the administration of Changsha County, which had jurisdiction over fourteen counties and a wide range. As the Taishou of Changsha County's highest administrative officer, Zhang Zhongjing naturally had a lot of official affairs to worry about. During his term of office, when there was an epidemic of disease, the official proverbs at that time stipulated that taishou was not allowed to enter the house without permission. Zhang Zhongjing then used his name as the "Doctor sitting in the hall" as the four characters, and chose to open the gate on the first and fifteenth days of the first month of each month, regardless of political affairs, and let the sick people come in. He asked the servants to post a notice to inform the people of the news. Over time, a routine was formed, and on the first and fifteenth day of the first lunar month, in front of his gate, there were people from all sides seeking medical treatment, and even some people came from afar with their luggage, and many critically ill patients were brought back to life through the treatment of Taishou. This is another reason why Zhang Zhongjing is admired.
Later, people called the doctors who sat in the medicine shop to diagnose people's pulses and prescribe prescriptions, commonly known as "zatang doctors". Many drug numbers are also named after a certain hall, such as Changsha JiuzhiTang, Beijing Tongrentang and so on.
At that time, Traditional Chinese medicine practitioners all over Hunan worshipped Zhang Zhongjing as their first teacher. In Changsha, the Zhang Zhongjing Ancestral Hall (now the location of the Second Affiliated Hospital of Hunan Traditional Chinese Medicine on Cai Yi North Road) was built for generations to worship.
