| | | TCM Classics Historical Perspectives
A number of .pdf papers are available for viewing or download on this web-page, deriving from the references referred to below. The majority of these papers deal with the historical context of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), whether general or specific, but some deal with what might be referred to as the history of the ‘Western’ medical tradition. Others deal with the comparative historical context of particular ideas and eras.
Paul U. Unschuld (1998) Chinese Medicine. Paradigm. [trans. N. Wiseman].
In this slender volume Professor Unschuld provides an informative overview of the general historical (and contemporary) context of traditional Chinese medicine, including outlining its pathway to the West. It is written from the perspective of an historian rather than someone who is clinically active in the field of TCM, but none-the-less, Prof. Unschuld gives an excellent overview and introduction, albeit at times somewhat challenging, to particular aspects of Chinese medical thought. Chapter:
1. Introduction.
2. The Early Formative Phase.
3. The Doctrine of the Five Periods and Six Qi.
4. Ophthalmology.
5. Use of Drugs and Pharmacology.
6. Chinese Medicine in China in the Modern Era and Present.
7. The Long March West.
Stephen J. Birch, Robert L. Felt (1999) Understanding Acupuncture. Churchill Livingstone. [Forword by C. David Lytle].
This book gives a thorough and comprehensive overview of Acupuncture, although it is not a training manual. It is a very worthwhile and informative read and is divided into two major sections:
Section 1: What Acupuncture Is
Section 2: How Acupuncture is Practiced. Chapter 1: History, reproduced here in two parts together with related diagrams, is the first of four chapters in Section 1. Compared to Paul Unschuld’s History of Medicine below, this chapter by Birch & Felt is introductory and abbreviated, but covers similar territory.
B&F History 1, B&F History 1 Diagrams
B&F History 2, B&F History 2 Diagrams
Paul U. Unschuld (1985) Medicine in China: a history of ideas. University of California Press.
This book is an important contribution to the understanding of the historical context of traditional Chinese medicine. It is much more detailed and scholarly than the above two references. The text itself is reproduced here together with the relevant footnotes, but the major appendix “Primary Texts in Translation” is reproduced only in part (see below).
The interested reader is urged to refer to the original text for the complete Appendix, the extensive Bibliography, and the List of Chinese Characters. Chapter:
1. Illness and Healing in Shang Culture
2. The Chou Period and Demonic Medicine
3. Unification of the Empire, Confucianism, and the Medicine of Systematic Correspondence: 3aSysCorr & 3bSysCorr
4. Taoism and Pragmatic Drug Therapy: from Anti-Feudal Social Theory to Individualistic Practices of Longevity
5. Religious Healing: The Foundation of Theocratic Rule
6. Buddhism and Indian Medicine
7. Sung Neo-Confucianism and Medical Thought: Progress with an Eye to the Past
8. Medical Thought During the Ming and Ch’ing Epochs: the Individual in Search of Reality
9. Medicine in Twentieth-Century China
Appendix: Primary Texts in Translation
1. Huang-ti nei-ching t’ai-su
2. Huang-ti nei-ching su-wen
6. Taisho Tripitaka: Canon of Buddhist Writings in Chinese
Needham, Joseph & Lu Gwei-djen (1980) Celestial Lancets. A History and Rationale of Acupuncture and Moxa.
Cambridge University Press. Cambridge.
The Ching-lo (Jingluo) system and its classical theory; Historical Growth; Moxibustion; Therapy and Analgesia, physiological interpretation;
Influences on other Cultures; Vital Spots; Conclusions; Bibliographies.
Need1, Need2, Need3, Need4, Need5, Need6, Need7, Need8, Need9a, Need9b, Need10, BibliogA&B, BibliogC. This is an early volume of Joseph Needham’s monumental series ‘Science and Civilisation in China’, which eventually ran to more than 20 volumes. It is a thorough and scholarly look at acupuncture and moxibustion through western eyes up until the 1970’s. It uses the modified Wade-Giles system of romanisation, not Pinyin. A genuine modern classic, although the proffered physiological explanation for acupuncture’s therapeutic impact is a bit old fashioned and insufficient. But good honest genuine scholarship.
Sivin, Nathan (1987) Traditional Medicine in Contemporary China. A Partial Translation of, Revised Outline of Chinese Medicine (1972). Center for Chinese Studies, The University of Michigan.
INTRODUCTORY STUDY
Introduction, Preface, Appendices, BibliogA; Bibliography B; Traditional Medicine in Contemporary China; Theoretical Concepts; Health & Disorder; Contents of the Body; Clinical Concepts, Conclusion.
Sivin1, Sivin2a, Sivin2b, Sivin3a, Sivin3b, Sivin4a, Sivin4b. TRANSLATION: Revised Outline of Chinese Medicine (1972)
Yin-Yang & 5 Phases; Visceral Systems; Ch’i, Blood, Ching, Body Fluids; Circulation Tract System; Causes of Medical Disorders; Four Methods Examination; Determination of Manifestation Type; Visceral Systems; Heat Factor Disorders; Therapeutic Principles.
Sivin5a; Sivin5b; Sivin6a; Sivin6b; Sivin7a; Sivin7b.
This is something of a minor modern classic. Sivin’s translation represents quite a milestone in the transmission of TCM to the West. It remains at least as interesting for his excellent Introductory Study as for the Translation itself.
Kim Taylor (2005) Chinese Medicine in Early Communist China, 1945-63. A medicine of revolution. RoutledgeCurzon (Taylor & Francis Group), London & New York.
Taylor’s research reveals the extent to which the establishment and consolidation of communism in China played a significant role in the creation of what is known these days, especially outside China, as ‘traditional’ Chinese medicine. She shows that the standardisation of Chinese medicine during this period resulted as much from important political and economic considerations as from therapeutic ones, and that the promotion of Chinese medicine by the communist regime arose from a fortuitous , and perhaps serendipitous, correlation with communist party ideals. Introduction
1. A new, scientific and unified medicine.
2. Pathway for the new medicine. Part 2.1. Part 2.2.
3. Modernising the old: creating a ‘traditional’ Chinese Medicine. Part 3.1, Part 3.2
4. Establishing a national treasure trove of TCM. Part 4.1, Part 4.2.
Conclusion.
Appendices I, II.
A Light Interlude: LI 9
A Not-So-Light Interlude: NSL 9 |
