Innovation in Chinese Medicine

Abstract

In the West, ideas about Chinese medicine are commonly associated with traditional therapies and ancient practices which have been in place, unchanging, since time immemorial. This volume demonstrates that this is far from reality. Twelve contributors, from a range of disciplines, explore the history of Chinese medicine and the transformations that have taken place during the course of that history from the fourth century BC to the present day.; Part I; Mai and qi in the Western Han; 13 --; 1; The influence of nurturing life culture on the development of Western Han acumoxa therapy /; Vivienne Lo; 19 --; 2; Pulse diagnostics in the Western Han: how mai and qi determine bing /; Elisabeth Hsu; 51 --; Part II; Correlative cosmologies; 93 --; 3; Iatromancy, diagnosis, and prognosis in Early Chinese medicine /; Donald Harper; 99 --; 4; The system of the five circulatory phases and the six seasonal influences (wuyun liuqi), a source of innovation in medicine under the Song (960-1279) /; Catherine Despeux; 121 --; Part III; Dietetics and pharmacotherapy; 167 --; 5; Dietetics in Tang China and the first extant works of materia dietetica /; Ute Engelhardt; 173 --; 6; A Song innovation in pharmacotherapy: some remarks on the use of white arsenic and flowers of arsenic /; Frederick Obringer; 192 --; Part IV; The canons revisited in Late Imperial China; 215 --; 7; The Bencao gangmu of Li Shizhen: an innovation in natural history? /; Georges Metailie; 221 --; 8; Robust northerners and delicate southerners: the nineteenth century invention of a southern medical tradition /; Marta Hanson; 262 --; Part V; Medical case histories; 293 --; 9; Yi'an (case statements): the origins of a genre of Chinese medical literature /; Christopher Cullen; 297 --; 10; From case records to case histories: the modernisation of a Chinese medical genre, 1912-49 /; Bridie J. Andrews; 324 --; Part VI; Medical rationale in the People's Republic; 337 --; 11; A new, scientific, and unified medicine: civil war in China and the new acumoxa, 1945-49 /; Kim Taylor; 343 --; 12; Shaping Chinese medicine: two case studies from contemporary China /; Volker Scheid; 370.