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Plain Questions: Yellow Emperors Internal Canon of Medicine
Huangdi Neijing Su Wen (Plain Questions:
Yellow Emperor's Internal Canon of Medicine
), is the earliest medical book available in China. Legend has it that
it is a record of discussion between the Yellow Emperor and his six ministers,
including Qi Bo and Lei Gong. But actually it is a reflection of medical science
accomplishment in China in the Warring States Period (476-221 BC), not a product
of any single person in any single period. Based on the many incomplete versions
of the book full of errors then, Wang Bing of the Tang Dynasty (618-907)
took great pains in supplementing and proofreading, classified the contents, and
added many notes, as a result. It took him 12 years to complete his new version
of the book in the first year of the Baoying reign (762 AD). The whole book is
in 24 volumes, containing 81 chapters, offering a great convenience to learners
of later generations, and making a great contribution to the collation of
ancient medical classics.
The book expounds many principles of harmony between human and nature,
physiology, anatomy, pathology, diagnosis, regimen, prevention , treatment of
diseases, and son on materialistically and dialectically. It has become
the footstone of Chinese medical science,the source of the theoretic system of
traditional Chinese medicine, and the basis for clinical diagnosis of various
diseases. Thus, later generations regard it as the "classical medical book", a
necessary book for learners of traditional Chinese
medicine.
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