Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) has a long history. More than 2,000 years ago Canon of Medicine, the earliest of the extant medical classics in China was produced. It was known to later generations as two books: Plain Questions and Miraculous Pivot. The latter is also called Canon of Acupuncture or Nine Volumes. The book, Canon of Medicine,extensively summarizes and systematizes the Previous experiences of treatment and theories of medicine,deals at length with the anatomy, physiology and pathology of the human body, and the diagnosis,treatment and prevention of diseases, on the basis of the then achievements of other natural sciences, and under the guidance of the ancient naive materialism and spontaneous dialectics. It lays a primary foundation for the theories of TCM.The book The Herbal is the earliest extant classic on materia medica handed down from the Qin and Han dynasties (221 B.C--220 A.D.). It is the summary of pharmaceutical knowledge which was known before the Han dynasty. Not only does it discuss in great detail 365 kinds of drugs but also records and narrates the pharmacological theories of "Jun,chen,Zuo and Shi " (monarch, minister, assistant and guide) indicating the different actions of drugs in a prescription," Qi Qing He He " (seven conditions in making up prescriptions) " Si Qi " (four properties of drugs,) " Wu Wei " (five kinds of flavours: sour, bitter sweet, acrid and salty) and so on.
Zhang Zhongjing, a famous TCM doctor in the Eastern Han dynasty (300 A.D.), made thorough study of such classics as Plain Questions, Canon of Acupuncture, Classic on Medical Problems and the like. Meanwhile he collected extensively other effective prescriptions. At last he wrote a book by combining what he had learned with his own findings in clinical practice. The book's title is Treatise on Febrile Diseases and Miscellaneous Diseases. It analyses and differentiates febrile diseases according to the theory of six channels, miscellaneous diseases according to the pathological changes of viscera and bowels and their interrelations, and in so doing establishes Chinese medicine's theoretical system and therapeutic principle, i.e., diagnosis and treatment based on an overall analysis of signs and symptoms. It lays a foundation for the development of clinical medicine. Later generations divided it into two books. One is Treatise on Febrile Diseases in which there are 113 prescriptions (among them is one named " Yu Yu Liang Pill " which exists only in name). The other is Synopsis of Prescriptions of Golden Chamber. It introduces 262 prescriptions, some of which are the same as those stated in the former book. Hence, the number of the prescriptions from these two books is up to 269 in all. They contain, basically, the prescriptions often used in every department of clinical medicine and are known as the earliest ancestor of all the other books on the study of prescriptions.
Huang Fumi (215--282 A.D.), a noted medical man in the Western Jin dynasty ,compiled the book, A-B Classic of Acupuncture and Moxibustion by rearranging the basic contents of the three books: Plain Questions, Canon of Acupuncture and An Outline of Points for Acupuncture and Moxibustion. The book, A-B Classic of Acupuncture and Moxibustion, consists of 12 volumes, 128 chapters and is the earliest extant classic on acupuncture and moxibustion in China. Not only does it refer to viscera and bowels, channels and collaterals, acupuncture points, pathogenesis, diagnosis, acupuncture manipulation,puncture contraindication, indication of acupuncture points and so on, but also verifies the total number of the acupoints of that time and gives a list of 349 point locations (49 individual points and 300 double points). What is more, it also discusses the therapeutic properties of each point in each parts of the body and its prohibitions, and summarizes the methods of manipulation of needles. It has exerted a great influence upon the medicine of acupuncture and moxibustion all over the world.It was stipulated by the Japanese authorities as early as 701 A.D. as one of the required reading books for B.M. candidates.
In 610 A.D., Chao Yuanfang, together with others, compiled the book General Treatise on the Causes and Symptoms of Disease which is the earliest extant classic on etiology and syndrome in China. It is of 50 volumes, divided into 67 categories, and list 1,700 syndromes and expounds respectively the pathology, signs and symptoms of various diseases concerning internal medicine, surgery, gynaecology, pediatrics as well as the five sense organs. The book contains detailed and precise descriptions of the etiology and pathogenesis of certain diseases.
