THE ART OF MEDICINE IN EARLY CHINA - Assetsassets.cambridge.org/97811070/97056/frontmatter/9781107097056... · THE ART OF MEDICINE IN EARLY CHINA ... and the coauthor of A Brief History

THE ART OF MEDICINE IN EARLY CHINA

In this book, Miranda Brown investigates the myths that acupuncturists and herbalists have told about the birth of the healing arts. Moving from the Han (206 BC–AD 220) and Song (960–1279) dynasties to the twentieth century, Brown traces the rich history of Chinese medical historiography and the gradual emergence of the archive of medical tradition. She exposes the historical circumstances that shaped the current image of medical progenitors: the ancient bibliographers, medieval editors, and modern reformers and defenders of Chinese medicine who contributed to the contemporary shape of the archive. Brown demonstrates how ancient and medieval ways of knowing live on in popular narratives of medical history, both in modern Asia and in the West. She also reveals the surprising and often unacknowledged debt that contemporary scholars owe to their premodern forbearers for the categories, frameworks, and analytic tools with which to study the distant past.

Miranda Brown is an associate professor of Asian languages and cultures at the University of Michigan. She has published numerous articles on various aspects of Chinese medical and cultural history in both English and Chinese. She is the author of The Politics of Mourning in Early China (2007) and the coauthor of A Brief History of Chinese Civilization (2012, with Conrad Schirokauer). She is a coeditor of Fragments: Interdisciplinary Approaches to the Study of Ancient and Medieval Pasts , a journal that she founded with leading U.S. scholars.

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THE ART OF MEDICINE

IN EARLY CHINA

THE ANCIENT AND MEDIEVAL

ORIGINS OF A MODERN ARCHIVE

MIRANDA BROWN University of Michigan






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© Miranda Brown 2015

This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provisions of relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place without the written

permission of Cambridge University Press. First published 2015

Printed in the United States of America A catalog record for this publication is available from the British Library .

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Brown, Miranda, 1975–, author.

The art of medicine in early China : the ancient and medieval origins of a modern archive / Miranda Brown.

p. ; cm. Chapter 1 of this book was originally published in Medical History, volume 56, no. 3 (2012). Chapter 4 of this book was originally published in Chang'an 26 BCE : From

Dreams to Ditches (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2015). Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-107-09705-6 (hbk.) I. Medical history. II. Chang'an 26 BCE. III. Title.

[DNLM: 1. Medicine in Literature – China. 2. Medicine, Chinese Traditional – history – China. 3. Physicians – China – Biography. 4. History, Ancient – China.

5. History, Medieval – China. WZ 70 JC6] R 604. A 1

610.92′251–dc23 2014045601 ISBN 978-1-107-09705-6 Hardback

Cambridge University Press has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party Internet Web sites referred to in this publication and does not guarantee that any content on such Web sites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.






For J-Baobao






Chapter 1 of this book was originally published as “Who Was He? Refl ections on China’s First Medical ‘Naturalist,’ ” Med. Hist. 56.3 (2012): 366–89. Reproduced with permission from Cambridge University Press.

Chapter 4 of this book was originally published as “Looking Backward: Explaining the Rise of a Medical Tradition in Han China.” In Griet VanKeerberghen and Michael Nylan eds., Chang’an 26 BCE: An Augustan Age in China (Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2015). Reproduced with permission from University of Washington Press.






vii

TABLE OF CONTENTS

List of Illustrations page ix List of Tables x Acknowledgments xi Chronology xiii Author’s Note on Translations and Chinese Text xv

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1

PART I BEFORE MEDICAL HISTORY

1. Attendant He: Innovator or Persona? . . . . . . . . . 21

2. Bian Que as a Seer: Political Persuaders and the Medical Imagination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41

3. Chunyu Yi: Can the Healer Speak? . . . . . . . . . . . 63

PART II MEDICAL HISTORIES

4. Liu Xiang: The Imperial Library and the Creation of the Exemplary Healer List . . . . . . . . 89

5. Zhang Ji: The Kaleidoscopic Father . . . . . . . . . 110

6. Huangfu Mi: From Innovator to Transmitter . . . 130






TABLE OF CONTENTS

viii

Epilogue: Ancient Histories in the Modern Age . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151

Appendix: A Problematic Preface 167 Notes 179 Works Cited 209 Index 231






ix

ILLUSTRATIONS

1. A Page from Illustrations and Eulogies for Healers and Transcendents ( Yi xian tuzan 醫僊圖讃 ; 1599) page 4

2. Huangfu Mi’s List of Exemplary Healers 9 3. Major States during the Spring and Autumn Period,

ca. 771–453 BC 24 4. The Sickness of Lord Ping at a Glance (Zichan) 25 5. The Sickness of Lord Ping at a Glance (Attendant He) 25 6. Map of the Warring States Period, ca. 453–221 BC 44 7. Biography of Bian Que at a Glance 46 8. Map of the Han Empire and the Feudatories, ca. 195 BC 67 9. Map of Han Empire in 108 BC 68

10. Sima Qian’s Biography of the Granary Master 69 11. The Granary Master’s Record at a Glance 71 12. A Divinatory Record from the Baoshan Site (late fourth

century BC) 74 13. A Map of the Northern Song, AD 960–1127 114 14. A Map of the Southern Song Dynasty, AD 1127–1279 114 15. Map of the Three Kingdoms, ca. AD 250 134 16. Map of the Sixteen Kingdoms and Jin Dynasty, ca. AD 400 134 17. Wu Lien-teh 157 18. Joseph Needham 163 19. The Sequence of the Kangping Edition, ca. AD 1060 173 20. The Current Preface of the Cold Damage Disorders ,

ca. AD 1065 173






x

TABLES

1. Records of Medical Divinations page 36 2. Excavated Medical Manuscripts Cited in This Chapter 45 3. Classics of Persuasion Discussed in This Chapter 45 4. Sites with Administrative Documents Discussed

in This Chapter 70 5. Representations of Master-Disciple Clusters 103 6. Sources for the Appendix 168 7. Components of the Preface to the Cold Damage Disorders 170






xi

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Some ten years ago, I set out to write a book about medicine in early China. The book is overdue, because of the predictable turns of aca-demic life after tenure. But the book’s belated arrival also owes some-thing to happier turns of events. In the process of founding a journal with my colleagues at the University of Michigan and elsewhere, Fragments: Interdisciplinary Approaches to the Study of Ancient and Medieval Pasts , I discovered a new community and sense of camaraderie among scholars of the premodern. It is my hope that this sense of community – and our shared conviction that the ancient and medieval worlds remain relevant in the present – informs this book’s design.

Over the last decade, I have indebted myself to many parties: grant-giving organizations, colleagues, editors, and friends. Two grants made the early research for this project possible: the Chiang Ching-Kuo Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities (Ref. FA 52204–06). In addition, I infl icted draft chapters on scores of gradu-ate classmates, colleagues, former students, and friends: Bridie Andrews, Robert Campany, Ardeta Gjikola, Kevin Landdeck, Joshua MacDonald, Liu Yan, Pablo Mercado, Griet VanKeerberghen, Yi-Li Wu, Nicholas Tackett, Thomas Trautmann, and Vivian Nutton (who read an early draft of Chapter 1 and sent back encouraging feedback as the editor of Medical History ). This project also benefi tted from discussions with Micah Auerback, Saul Allen, and Nancy Florida.

In addition, I would like to thank Michael Nylan (my teacher) and Nathan Sivin (Michael’s teacher). Michael did more than off er her con-structive criticisms of an earlier version of Chapter 4 , a decade after I fi n-ished graduate school. She also off ered me her friendship during a trying period of my life. For his part, Nathan perused what are now Chapters 3






ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

xii

and 5 , proff ering some perspicacious observations that pushed my book in its current direction.

Three colleagues deserve medals – for their endurance. For four long years, David Spaff ord and Charles Sanft trekked through every draft chapter that I produced. They pondered the same passages multiple times, corrected translations and transcriptions, off ered advice about argumen-tation and style, and lent me their ear as the revisions spun out of control. For his part, Bill Baxter dug into the entire manuscript when it was least coherent and then read successive drafts of the introduction in the months to come. Without his input, I doubt that this book would have ever been fi nished.

Cambridge University Press also deserves special mention for the handling of this manuscript: Beatrice Rehl for taking on this project in the fi rst place and being patient as I struggled to locate a narrative thread; Asya Graf for making the review process a smooth one and e-mail pleasurable again; and Marc Anderson for talking me through the entire permissions process and answering my questions on weekends. I would also like to thank the two reviewers commissioned by the press for their candid and timely comments.

My students at the University of Michigan also played their part in making this book. I vetted introductions, translations, and chapters to successive cohorts of my Chinese medicine class. Sherley Wetherhold, a current undergraduate and a gifted writer, edited the manuscript with effi ciency and grace. Finally, a special word of thanks goes to one class in particular (Fall 2013). Just as my morale and energy fell to all new lows, my students, fl edgling hedge fund managers and physicians in training, pleasantly surprised me. Twice a week for a term, they argued about ancient sex manuals, pointed out Galen’s violation of HIPAA regula-tions, and analyzed the toxins in ancient preparations. Their boisterous-ness saved me loads of money on ginseng. It also reminded me why I was writing my book in the fi rst place (namely, that doing ancient history is fun ).

Finally, a word of appreciation for J-Baobao, my husband and best friend. He not only read every word of the book (out loud) but also tasted the meds. While I can’t promise that the next book will be any eas-ier to write, I am hoping that he will fi nd the next subject to be tastier!






xiii

CHRONOLOGY

Zhou dynasty 1045–221 BC Spring and Autumn 771–453 BC Warring States 453–221 BC

Qin dynasty 221–206 BC

Han dynasty 206 BC–AD 220 Western Han 206 BC–AD 9 Xin dynasty (or Wang Mang interregnum) 9–23 Eastern Han 25–220

Six Dynasties period 220–581 Three Kingdoms 220–65 Jin dynasty 265–420 Western Jin 265–316 Eastern Jin 317–420

Northern and Southern dynasties 385–589 Northern dynasties 420–589 Southern dynasties 386–534

Sui dynasty 581–618

Tang dynasty 618–907

Five Dynasties period 907–60






CHRONOLOGY

xiv

Song dynasty 960–1279 Northern Song 960–1127 Southern Song 1127–1279

Jin (Jurchen) dynasty 1115–1234

Yuan (Mongol) dynasty 1271–1368

Ming dynasty 1368–1644

Qing (Manchu) dynasty 1644–1911

Republic of China 1912–1949

People’s Republic of China 1949–






xv

AUTHOR’S NOTE ON TRANSLATIONS AND CHINESE TEXT

All translations are my own unless otherwise noted. When possible, Chinese text is transcribed as it appears in the original

edition. When I have substituted a character for the nonstandard graph that appears in the original text, the substitution is placed in parentheses (). When the character cannot be transcribed, or cannot be transcribed as a standard character, the notation [?] appears. Finally, the notation [. . .] is used to indicate a lacuna in the text.




