Did the Song Dynasty
(960-1279CE) provide us with arguably the biggest dichotomy in Chinese Medicine
history?
NOTE: error in Jing Luo magazine article
Under the heading of 'Treat the Disease or Treat the Person' i said that pharmacists started to play the game of 'I Spy'. This was incorrect as it was actually the physicians that did this. With any luck you were able to work that error out based on what i wrote later in the article. I apologise for any confusion this mistake may have caused.
Do you treat your patient or do you treat their disease? Do you establish an underlying pattern of disharmony or do you use a tried and true formula for different disorders? Regardless of your opinion, this is the dichotomy that the Song dynasty physicians found themselves in. This blog will look at the reasons for why this occurred, during a dynasty that experts suggest was the ‘Golden Age’ of China (Hinricks & Barnes 2013; Unschuld 1985; Cotterell 1990).
Under the heading of 'Treat the Disease or Treat the Person' i said that pharmacists started to play the game of 'I Spy'. This was incorrect as it was actually the physicians that did this. With any luck you were able to work that error out based on what i wrote later in the article. I apologise for any confusion this mistake may have caused.
Do you treat your patient or do you treat their disease? Do you establish an underlying pattern of disharmony or do you use a tried and true formula for different disorders? Regardless of your opinion, this is the dichotomy that the Song dynasty physicians found themselves in. This blog will look at the reasons for why this occurred, during a dynasty that experts suggest was the ‘Golden Age’ of China (Hinricks & Barnes 2013; Unschuld 1985; Cotterell 1990).
In order for us to answer this question we need to look at
two key historical events that contributed to this dichotomy – wood block
printing and the rapid expansion of pharmacies throughout China. Having said
that, a lot of other fascinating things were happening during the Song that I
will also discuss.
How the Song Dynasty
came into Power
Prior to the Song dynasty there was a period of disunity
called the Five Dynasties (907-960CE). Before the Five Dynasties there was a
peaceful period of harmony in China called the Tang dynasty (618-907CE). When
the Tang fractured there was essentially 53 years of civil war, along with
neighbouring countries invading and claiming large slices of China’s fringe
regions.
The Five Dynasties has been named because there were five
separate ruling houses that controlled the northern parts of China during that
53 years (Cotterell 1990, p. 164). Interestingly, there were actually ten
separate states scattered throughout southern China that had no affiliation
with any of the five northern dynasties during this period.
Eventually a very smart army general named Zhao Kuangyin (he changed his name to Tai Zu when he became emperor) managed
to wrestle control of the northern states. He celebrated by getting totally
tanked and when he woke in the morning his army crowned him the new emperor of
the unified northern China. He then did four things that secured his position
and that of the new Song dynasty (Cotterell 1990, pp. 169-171):
1) He demanded that the current imperial family
(and the officials in the palace) were spared their lives.
2) That the royal treasury wasn’t pilfered.
3) His soldiers were encouraged to resign from the
army and retire to ‘large house and land packages’ and told they (and their
future ancestors) would be looked after for generations to come.
4) He convinced the majority of the southern states
to unite with the northern states, thereby reuniting China.
These four key decisions ensured that he came into power
with less enemies (and more friends). It obviously also meant he had money to
spend on new infrastructure throughout China; and he took the power away from
the army, and instead of employing army generals to important regional
outposts, Tai Zu hired intelligent scholarly
civil officials instead.
The Song were never expansionist in design and instead tried
to shore up what they had. This was relatively successful during the period of
960-1126CE until Northern invaders pushed the Song into the South. There they
remained strong from 1126 until the Mongols invaded all of China and officially
took power in 1279. More on that later.
Wood Block Printing and
Medical Text Publishing
Wood block printing was established in China around 600CE,
but it wasn’t particularly popular until around 1050CE when movable block
printing was invented. The reason for block printing’s popularity was because
it allowed for a lot of texts to be produced quickly. Prior to block printing,
every text was laboriously hand written, which negatively impacted on the
spread of literary information throughout China.
“As a consequence of advances in printing, scholars were able to
communicate as never before” (Cotterell 1990, p. 180).
In 1057CE, the Song emperor Renzong (Chia & De Weerdt 2011, p. 220) took advantage of the
new movable block printing advancements and established the ‘Bureau for Editing
Medical Treatises’ (jiaozheng yishu ju).
In the space of twelve years (1057-1069CE) the Bureau collected, compared and
then produced definitive editions for 11 of their medical classics. Among the
list were the Yellow Emperor Basic Questions (Huangdi neijing suwen), Canon of the Yellow Emperor’s Eighty-One
Difficult Issues (Huangdi bashiyi nanjing),
Zhang Ji Treatise on Cold Damage
Disorders (Shanghan lun), and the
most famous texts from Sun Si Miao
‘Priceless and Essential Formulae worth 1000 Pieces of Gold’ (Qianjin yaofang) and ‘Priceless
Supplemental Formulae worth 1000 Pieces of Gold’ (Qianjin yifang).
By the end of the Song dynasty (1279CE) the Bureau had 16
definitive editions of the classics written/printed, and had also written/printed 18
brand new medical texts (Hinrichs & Barnes 2013, p. 104). To put that into
context, in the entire recorded history of China, only five medical texts were
printed in an official capacity prior to the Song dynasty.
“The recensions that we have today date to those Song imprints”
(Hinrichs & Barnes 2013, p. 107).
Pharmaceutical Trade – Medicine
Distribution to the Population
Apart from the ‘Bureau for Editing Medical Treatises’
(Bureau), the Song were also the first dynasty to establish a Governmental
policy for distributing medicines to the Chinese population in times of need.
Previous dynasties had done it on occasion but it was very inconsistent and
unplanned. The government also established medical schools, hospitals,
pharmacies/apothecaries (Unschuld 2009, pp. 115-117), and hospices.
The apothecaries were controlled by the ‘Pharmacy Service’.
They were responsible for founding new branches outside of city centres. By
1150CE they totalled 70 outlets (Hinrichs & Barnes 2013, pp. 101-102).
These pharmacies had two main responsibilities.
1) Donating herbal concoctions to the wider Chinese
population in times of epidemics.
2) Selling medicinal drugs to the general
population via patented herbal pills, powders or pastes (Hinrichs & Barnes
2013, p. 102). In 1107CE, the Bureau wrote a Pharmacy Service patent formula
text titled ‘Formulary of the Pharmacy Service for Great Peace and for the
Benefit of the People’ (Taiping huimin
hejiju fang).
What this essentially meant was that virtually every Chinese
person could now gain access to herbs anytime they needed/wanted them. This was
unprecedented in all of Chinese history prior to the Song dynasty. A census
taken in 1083CE suggested over 100 million people were living in China at the
time (Cotterell 1990, p. 182). By having access to pharmacies, as well as the specialist
physicians that were scattered throughout China, the Chinese people had
healthcare like never before.
What it also meant was:
1) A person could go into a pharmacy and advise the
pharmacist that they had a complaint, such as a bad cough. The pharmacist would
then consult the ‘Formulary’ and prescribe a patent formula to treat the cough.
This would lay the seeds for ‘treating the disease and not the person’.
2) A person didn’t necessarily need to see a specialist
physician anymore. They could now, essentially, cut out the middle man
(physician). This would save the average Chinese person time and money. The
physicians were seeing their livelihoods disappearing so they needed to do
something about it, and quick!! This would lay the seeds for ‘treating the
person and not the disease’. More on this later.
Prior to the Song, medical schools were primarily dedicated
to training practitioners to treat the imperial family and for government
service. At its peak the Tang dynasty (618-907CE) had 40 spots available for
training medical students. In less than 200 years that number had grown to
around 1000 (1113CE) (Hinrichs & Barnes 2013, p. 102). In addition, the
curriculum had expanded from nine subjects to 13. Included in the new
curriculum were women’s and children’s disorders. Graduates started to
specialise in different areas of Chinese medicine (Hinrichs & Barnes 2013,
pp. 100-102). Having said that, the Song didn’t open up additional clinical
placements (within government circles) for these trained physicians so these
new, and highly trained, physicians started to apply their trade within the
community (more to follow).
‘Treat the Disease’ OR ‘Treat the Person’?
For the average Chinese person, the new healthcare system
that was established during the Song dynasty, was a dream come true. But for
the Chinese medicine practitioners it became a battle between pharmacist and
physician. As the pharmacies were gaining traction, the physicians started
losing ground. In order to rectify this significant issue, the physician
started to play the game of ‘I Spy’, or, “We see something you don’t see”
(Unschuld 2009, p. 117). It was a truly brilliant game-changer and it went something
like this:
Option 1
Pharmacy and
Pharmacist
Two patients, Joe and Mary, visit the pharmacy and both
complain of a mild sore throat. The pharmacist consults the ‘Formulary’ and
prescribes Gui Zhi Tang.
Physician
Joe and Mary visit the physician instead. He asks a series
of questions and determines that Joe has an acute wind heat invasion and is
therefore prescribed Yin Qiao San and
needles are inserted into LI4 (Hegu),
TE5 (Waiguan), and LU10 (Yuji); Mary, however has a wind cold
invasion so is prescribed Gui Zhi Tang
and needles are used on LI4 (Hegu),
LU7 (Lieque) and GB20 (Fengchi).
Option 2
Pharmacy and
Pharmacist
Joe and Mary visit the pharmacy. Joe is suffering from
fatigue and Mary has abdominal bloating. The pharmacist consults the
‘Formulary’ and prescribes Si Jun Zi Tang
for Joe and Li Zhong Wan for Mary.
Physician
Joe and Mary visit the physician with the same complaints.
After the physician asks his questions he determines that both Joe and Mary are
suffering from Spleen and Stomach Qi Xu and both are prescribed Bu Zhong Yi Qi Tang and are needled at
SP6 (Sanyinjiao), ST36 (Zusanli), BL20 (Pishu), BL21 (Weishu),
CV12 (Zhongwan), and LR13 (Zhangmen).
Summary
As you have no doubt worked out, option 1 indicates that
just because Joe and Mary have the same complaint, this doesn’t automatically
mean they have the same internal disharmony. Option 2 suggests that Joe and
Mary can have different complaints but could actually have the same underlying
diagnosis. In the end, neither the pharmacist nor the patient knows; only the
physician knows! That’s the game of ‘I Spy’ that the physicians played; and
they played it beautifully.
Divide Between North
and South
When the Han dynasty came into power in China (206BCE-220CE)
they set about to streamline and systematise everything in their external
environment; and since the Chinese believed that their internal environments
were a microcosm of their external surroundings, they did the same with their
medicine. This resulted in the Huangdi
neijing suwen being born and from it came a distinct fracturing of
traditional medicine. Those that didn’t adhere to the new medical model could
still practice their style of medicine on the quiet, or by moving to remote
rural areas.
The physicians that transitioned into this streamlined
medicine tended to remain in urban areas in the northern areas of China. They
also referred to themselves as the elite, so by the time the Song dynasty came
along nearly 1000 years later, this elitist model had built itself into a
distinct entity. As a result, the Chinese elite would refer to themselves as Han
Chinese (being descendants of the great Han dynasty). And seeing as they were
elite, then the people not living in northern regions (such as those from southern
China) were often referred to as barbarians. They also concluded that barbarian
medicine must be noxious and the people that practiced this medicine were
termed shamans or witch-doctors (wu).
Their deities were also considered demonic! The southern people were even considered
to be responsible for contagion, epidemics or plagues.
The medical care provided in northern and southern China was
certainly different. Let’s look at epidemics as a case in point. The treatment
for epidemics in the south was often isolating the patient to reduce the risk
of the contagion spreading. However, in the north, they believed that the
physician (and the ill patient’s family) should still help the contagious
individual, even at the risk of their own health, because to do so was an
ethical duty of care (Hinrichs & Barnes 2013, p. 112).
What is interesting here is that the Song dynasty Bureau’s
block printing of Zhang Ji’s Shanghan lun, reminded physicians about
the six divisions discussed in the Huangdi
neijing suwen. Namely, that external pathogenic factors could spread from a
sick person to a healthy person, but only if the healthy person has poor Qi or Jing energies. So as long as the physician remained healthy, then
they would be able to treat a diseased patient without the risk of getting sick
themselves (Hinrichs & Barnes 2013, pp. 113-115; Unschuld 1985, pp. 171-172).
When the Northern Song was defeated (1126CE) a lot of
northern Chinese people fled to the south; this merging of northern and
southern Chinese people created a significant melting-pot for transferral of
information. But it also contributed to the increase in epidemics as the north
merged with the south (Hinrichs & Barnes 2013, p. 119). By the 1100’s the
cultural centre – previously being in the North had moved its centre to
Hangzhou (roughly 200km south west of Shanghai).
Even though the Northern view of medicine was aligned more
with structured Confucian processes (from which the Han text Huangdi neijing suwen was derived), the
south had continued to use Daoist traditional medicine dating from pre-Han
dynasty times. This included demonological therapy, exorcism movements, and
plague spirit cults (not all of these were Daoist). Wu soothsayers or shamans were often responsible for demonic
exorcisms or magical healing; this included black contact magic or homeopathic
magic (Hinrichs & Barnes 2013, p. 119; Unschuld 1985, p. 163).
Whilst the northern Chinese would have liked to believe that
the old medical ways used by the Daoists had ceased way back in 200BCE, in
actual fact it had not. As I mentioned briefly above, it simply moved out to
rural centres and into southern China and not only survived, but actually
thrived. So when the north met the south and discussed their medicines they
were obviously not exactly the same.
Physicians and the
Elite Literati
As I touched on earlier, the Song government allowed for
more of the population to sit the exams for government positions, including
healthcare. Approximately 30 000 men were sitting the exams at the start of the
Song dynasty; by the end of the dynasty this number had risen to roughly 400
000 (http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/song/).
Unfortunately for the majority of the men that sat the exam, the number of
positions available in the government remained the same, resulting in more
people failing the exams and therefore searching for a career in the wings of
the government – often that of a physician. This resulted in a much closer
association amongst the elite literati and middle class physician. It was
during this time that the two words were merged leading to ruyi, literati physician, or scholar physician. Interestingly, the ruyi were of the view that you had to
‘treat the person and not the disease’.
“Although most healing skills continued to be transmitted within
families, increasing numbers of aspiring doctors studied from purchased books
and travelled to study with renowned physicians … In the Jin [Southern Song],
however, on the model of contemporary Neo-Confucian practice, some physicians
began apprenticing exclusively with a single teacher and formed medical
lineages” (Hinrichs & Barnes 2013, p. 117).
Confucianism, Daoism
and Buddhism
Confucianism was still the state’s philosophy of choice but
Daoism and Buddhism were definitely gaining in popularity.
From a medical perspective each of these three philosophies
needs a brief discussion:
Daoism
As mentioned above, Daoism medicine was located in the more
rural and southern parts of China. The medicine included demonological therapy,
exorcism movements, and plague spirit cults. Wu soothsayers or shamans were often responsible for demonic
exorcisms or magical healing; this included black contact magic or homeopathic
magic (Hinrichs & Barnes 2013, p. 119; Unschuld 1985, p. 163).
Daoist inner alchemy (neidan)
continued to gain traction. It emphasised meditative breathing and
visualisation, rather than the original external alchemy (waidan), which had emphasised concocting certain elixirs for
consumption with the goal being to gain immortality (Hinrichs & Barnes
2013, p. 121). What’s fascinating is that one of the original ingredients of these
famed elixirs of immortality was cinnabar (dan);
fascinating because cinnabar is actually deadly mercury sulfide.
Buddhism
Had become very popular with the middle to lower class
Chinese that found it a philosophy that was more manageable in their day to day
lives than Confucianism was. Therefore a divide started with the elite Chinese
society as they continued to embrace Confucianism. A census showed that
Buddhism in the year 1221CE could count 400 000 monks, 60 000 nuns and 40 000
temples as part of their philosophical cause. Having said that, what’s
surprising is that Buddhism was actually on the decline (Unschuld 1985, pp.
163-164); this was primarily because a new philosophical system termed
Neo-Confucianism was emerging (discussed briefly below).
Buddhist medical practices were not necessarily confined to
individualist healthcare. It also considered the wider implications of communal
healthcare; and for this, they included some of the Daoist shaman practices.
These comprised, but were not limited to, rain making, predicting the outcome
of wars/military operations, and even divinations (which had long since ceased
being an exclusive tool of the Emperor/Tianzi/Son
of Heaven) (Unschuld 1985, p. 156).
Buddhist priests from China started visiting Japan (and vice
versa) and, because of the explosion of block printing texts into the
marketplace, took medical texts with them. As a result Japanese traditional
medicine, which had remained fairly stagnant for the previous 300 years, once
again was thrust into the spotlight. Japanese traditional medicine would never look
back and would also never be the same again (Hinrichs & Barnes 2013, pp.
123-126).
Confucianism
Neo-Confucianism emerged as the philosophy/orthodoxy of
choice for Song emperors. It merged traditional Confucian thought with Buddhist
doctrine, and in so doing, changed the face of traditional medicine (Cotterell
1990, pp. 176-177; Unschuld 2009, pp. 113-114).
Confucian ideals/principles were also central to the civil
service exams that thousands of Chinese sat each year. If you didn’t know the
‘Four Books’ (‘The Great Learning’ – Daxue;
‘The Doctrine of the Mean’ – Zhongyong;
‘The Analects of Confucius’ – Lunyu;
‘The Mencius’ – Mengzi) and, to a
lesser extent, the ‘Five Confucian Classics’ (‘Classic of Poetry’ – Shijing; ‘Classic of History’ – Shujing; ‘Classic of Changes’ – Yijing; ‘Record of Rites’ – Liji; ‘Chronicles of the Spring and
Autumn Period’ – Chunqiu) then you were
not going to pass the exams (http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/song/).
“This differentiated development of Confucianism [Neo] soon radiated a
great intellectual vigor and appeal. The study of the classics once more became
a vital topic. The impulse to investigate carefully individual phenomena of
nature and in so doing to understand one’s own position in the larger scheme of
the universe, culminated in the scientific activities of the period” (Unschuld
1985, p. 166).
In the end, all three philosophies contributed to the
development of traditional medicine during the Song dynasty, typically as
separate entities, but occasionally with similar ideals and treatment protocols
(Unschuld 1985, p. 167).
Other Song Dynasty Inventions/Achievements
Apart from inventing movable block
printing, the Song dynasty also gave us gunpowder (Unschuld 1985, p. 163), rockets,
flame-throwers, cannons, bombs, mines, fireworks, the compass, porcelain/china,
paper money, coal, rainbow bridges, foot binding, and even
the dreaded examination. A Song academic Shen Gua (1031-1095CE) hypothesised
that the ocean tides were affected by the cycles of the moon. The Song also
dramatically increased the number of tea houses and restaurants available to
the general population, particularly in the urban centres of China (www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/ancient/song-dynasty.html;
http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/song/).
Interestingly,
movable block printing was eventually used by Johannes Gutenberg for the
printing of the Bible (www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/ancient/song-dynasty.html). This didn’t occur until the 1450’s, almost 400 years after the Chinese
Song government started using it.
Trade also blossomed throughout China as new inland
waterways were built to enhance, and more efficiently, move materials around.
New ships were also built to improve trade with foreign lands (Unschuld 2009,
p. 113), particularly throughout south-east Asia. Having said that, the Chinese
also traded with a lot of other countries outside of south-east Asia. These
included, but were not limited to, India, Persia, Arabia, and even Africa
(east coast).
A census taken in 1083CE suggested over 100 million people
were living in China; over 1 million of those in the capital of Hangzhou (by
1270CE) which is located roughly 200km south-west of Shanghai in Eastern China
(Cotterell 1990, p. 182; www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/ancient/song-dynasty.html; http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/song/). What’s interesting
about this is that from about 2CE until 742CE the population in China was
relatively steady at 50 million people. What that essentially meant is that in
the space of about 300 years, the population in China doubled (http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/song/). To further put that into context, London’s population at this time
was only about 15 000 people.
One of the main reasons for the population
explosion was the dramatic increase in rice production. Rice was grown in
southern China, whereas wheat, millet and sorghum were grown in the north.
“The elite of the city [Hangzhou] often formed clubs. A text
written in 1235 mentions the West Lake Poetry Club, the Buddhist Tea Society,
the Physical Fitness Club, the Anglers’ Club, the Occult Club, the Young Girls’
Chorus, the Exotic Foods Club, the Plants and Fruits Club, the Antique
Collectors’ Club, the Horse-Lovers’ Club, and the Refined Music Society.
Members gathered for lively discussions and socializing” (http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/song/).
Marco Polo supposedly visited China around 1275 and stayed
about 20 years. Initially, however, he went to Beijing, which had become part
of the Mongol empire. He became a friend and confidante of Kublai Khan, the
emperor of the Mongol empire, and soon to be first emperor of the Yuan dynasty
of China (1279-1368CE) (http://www.silk-road.com/artl/marcopolo.shtml).
Landscape painting and gardening were also particularly
popular:
“… the Song was the most active period culturally in Chinese history …
its greatest achievement lay in the visual arts … Chinese art found its perfect
mode of expression. That is the painting of the landscape … Interest in
gardening as an art ran parallel to that of landscape painting” (Cotterell
1990, pp. 178-179).
Collapse of the Song
Dynasty
The Song dynasty collapse didn’t happen overnight, and was
essentially set in motion in the first twenty years of the Song dynasty. After Tai Zu regained control of most of
southern China, in 979CE he tried to regain control of the northern parts of
China near Beijing. It was an epic fail and Tai
Zu had to agree to pay tribute to the ruling state (called Liao) to stop
them invading the Song territory (Cotterell 1990, p. 170). From that point
forward, the Song stopped its dreams of expansion and settled on strengthening
what they already had.
However, continued unrest in the northern regions of China
(and beyond), and the fact that the Song dynasties northern border wasn’t
defended by the Great Wall of China, meant that they were continually at threat
from those regions. In addition, the western regions were active against the
Song, so they had enemies coming from two different directions. So I guess it
wasn’t particularly surprising that by 1126CE (166 years after the Song came
into power) the northern and western invaders had driven the Song south and
east. With less land to defend, and with the aid of an extremely helpful
wartime item called gunpowder, the Song were able to hold on for a further 153
years as the Southern Song.
It’s impossible to predict the outcome of the Song had
Genghis Khan and his Mongolian horde not taken an interest in conquering China.
The Song may very well have thrived for several hundred more years, but of
course history doesn’t work that way. Genghis Khan was real and he was a
serious badass. He conquered a large chunk of the known world at the time (see
map below) before dying in 1227CE as he was heading into the northern parts of
China. Mystery abounds but apparently he died after falling off his horse;
sounds like a rather boring way for such a significant historical figure to
die. Wouldn’t it have been way more interesting had he died extremely
outnumbered 20-1; Injuries to his face, groin and abdomen; yet still standing
like an inhuman God? Wait, I have a better one, he could have died like the
black knight in the historical fiction piece from the Monty Python ensemble
called ‘The Holy Grail’. I should probably get serious again … haha!!
Genghis Khan started the invasion of Northern China before
dying in 1227CE. His people continued the invasion of the South but it took
them until 1279CE to conquer all of China. Kublai Khan (grandson of Genghis)
became emperor of China, moved the capital to Beijing and called his dynasty
the Yuan (Cotterell 1990, pp. 186-187).
It might seem hard to believe that it took the Mongolian
horde 50+ years to defeat the Song dynasty. The main reason it was so difficult
for them was hinted at by me earlier – gunpowder! That one item, plus the
unfamiliar and unkind terrain for the Mongolian war horses, pretty much
guaranteed that the Song were going to hold firm. Unfortunately for them, some
of their gunpowder specialists were seized and then forced to use their
expertise against the Chinese. From that point on, the Mongolians were
irresistible and officially seized power in 1279CE.
“Although scholars often consider the Song Dynasty to have
been very weak, its use of gunpowder was the reason it was able to hold off the
Mongols for many decades. Eventually, the Mongols were able to capture Chinese
artisans and use the latest gunpowder technology against the Chinese. The
Mongols used those people who had a special knowledge of technology and employed
them in their own armies as engineers. They carried that technology to the West
very rapidly because it was very helpful in their conquests” (http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/ancient/song-dynasty.html).
Concluding Thoughts
I absolutely love history! I don’t care what culture or what
age, and Chinese medical history is one of my special interests, especially for
those eras when the medicine has been shaped by historical events.
When events occur in history that alter how people view
their health and well-being, well that’s where I want to be – fully immersed in
it. I want to feel like I was there, learning from the Chinese people, peeking
into all the nooks and crannies, searching for any heroes, or perhaps, some skeletons in closets. I want
to know what was happening in their world at the time because I feel like this
will help me to better understand the changes in their medicine.
I want to thank the Song Chinese (960-1279CE) for so kindly
inviting me into their lives. They were such polite guests who treated me with
the utmost respect. I also want to thank the editors of the Jing Luo magazine
for asking me to write an article on something historically significant in
Chinese medicine history. I was honoured and humbled by their offer and I
immediately thought of using some of my old presentations and researched works
I had on my computer. Pretty quickly however I decided to start afresh because
it would give me the opportunity (and the excuse … haha!) to research something
new.
It didn’t take long for me to get an idea from a student of
mine who was asking me about some of the original Chinese medicine texts such
as the Yellow Emperor Classic and the Shang
Han Lun. She asked me how old these texts were because she had been given a
variety of different dates from different lecturers, and her research had also
left her none the wiser. I told her that the Yellow Emperor Classic was
probably written somewhere around 100BCE and the Shang Han Lun somewhere around 200CE. This response seemed to be
well received by my student and we parted ways as we headed off to different
classes.
As I was walking to my next class my brain started to do its
funky memory recall thing and I was reminded about the Song dynasty and the
fact that they had written/printed definitive editions of a series of classical medical
texts. And that, as they say, was it!! When I got home that night I did a bit
of research on the Song dynasty and I was hooked. Initially I was going to
focus solely on moveable block printing but once the Song Chinese started
speaking to me it became apparent that they wanted you, the reader, to know
about something more important – which was, do you treat the person or do you
treat the disease?
I hope you enjoyed my blog even half as much as I enjoyed
researching/writing it. I hope to post a series of additional blogs (on a
variety of different topics) over the next couple of months while work is a
little quieter. I will be sure to let you all know when these are posted.
Love and light to you all
David Hartmann
“The Sung period thus
constitutes one of the pinnacles of technological and scientific progress in
Chinese history” (Unschuld 1985, p. 163).
References
Chia, L & De Weerdt, H (eds) 2011, Knowledge and text production in an age of print: China, 900-1400, Brill,
Leiden.
Cotterell, A 1990, China:
A history, Pimlico, London.
Hinrichs, TJ & Barnes, LL (eds) 2013, Chinese medicine and healing: An illustrated
history, The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, Cambridge.
Unschuld, PU 1985, Medicine
in China: A history of ideas, University of California Press, Berkeley.
Unschuld, PU 2009, What
is medicine? Western and Eastern approaches to healing, trans. K Reimers,
University of California Press, Berkeley.
