H421
History of Medicine in China 中國醫史
(Graduate students must enroll in H521 # 30807)
13107
3:00 – 5:40
Tuesday
CA-235
Luesink, David 魯大偉
Office Hours: Tuesday 1:00-2:30, or by appointment.
Course Description:
Just how traditional is Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM)? How did medicine in China
develop so differently from medicine in Europe? What social, religious and political
factors have defined medicine in China? How can we best understand the relationship
between Traditional Chinese Medicine and biomedicine today? Finally, what kind of
unity and variety do we find in medical theory and practice in the region now identified
with the People’s Republic of China?
This course will begin in the recent past with the role of Traditional Chinese Medicine in
the SARS epidemic of 2003. With this striking example, completely overlooked in the
Western media, we will question common understandings of mainstream biomedicine
and alternative medicine. We will then look back at the origins of Chinese healing in
antiquity, examining the points of divergence between Chinese and Greek (Western)
medicine. We will examine the differences in touching, visualizing, and experiencing the
body on the two ends of the Eurasian continent in antiquity that led to such remarkably
different ways of conceptualizing health, healing and sickness.
With this comparative basis of present and past, West and East, we will trace the
political and religious developments in China which led to the systems of therapeutics of
the various eras, from the early Confucian-era and the unification of China under the
Qin and Han empires, through the input of Taoist ideas and the translation of Buddhism
and Indian therapeutic ideas, through Song Dynasty splendor to developments in the
early modern Ming and Qing Dynasties when influence from Europe expanded. We will
re-visit early twentieth century deprecation of China’s native medicine by prominent
intellectuals and examine the specific system of imperialism and unequal treaties under
which Western medicine was introduced to China. We will examine the clash between
the two main medical systems in China which came in waves in the twentieth century,
as practitioners of both organized themselves into professional associations and
attempted to align themselves more closely with state power. The result has been an
uneasy alliance for some physicians, and an attempt to completely merge the two
systems of therapeutics for others.
Format:
This course will be two-thirds seminar-style discussions, and one third lectures and
teachings by the instructor. Seminars encourage active student participation and
preparation through the reading of course textbooks by leading scholars of medicine in
China, as well as translations of primary texts into English.
1
Guest Lectures:
We will also have guest lectures by experts including University of Chicago
anthropologist Judith Farquhar, Ph.D. (Chicago), and our own Palmer MacKie, M.D.
(Chicago), Assistant Professor of Clinical Medicine, and Wendy Wei-Hua Lee, M.D.
(Beijing), Ph.D. (Indiana), Associate Professor of Pediatrics and of Anatomy and Cell
Biology.
Textbooks
Paul U. Unschuld 2010 (1985). Medicine in China: A History of Ideas. Berkeley:
University of California Press.
This is your basic text, and attempts to provide a grand narrative of Chinese medicine from start to finish. Professor
Unschuld is an eminent scholar of Classical Chinese medical texts (a philologist), and has published many translations
beyond these. His text is strong on the earlier periods and gets weaker toward the present. What I like about it is his everpresent focus on the content of the texts set against the political and social developments. In other words, medicine is
always a product of human values, priorities and power relations. Over the term we will read the Introduction, Chs. 2, 3, 4,
5, 6, 7. The Unschuld Readings (UR) of primary source texts are located in the Appendix beginning on page 263. We will
read UR 1, 2, 5, 6, 12, 13, 14 as per the Course Outline below.
Volker Scheid. 2007. Currents of Tradition in Chinese Medicine, 1626-2006. Seattle:
Eastland Press.
Volker Scheid is perhaps the most eminent scholar-practitioner of Chinese medicine now alive. He has helped established
university-level TCM education in the UK and helped organize practitioners there. He has been practicing for decades,
and if that was not enough, he is also is an anthropologist (Ph.D.) of contemporary Chinese medicine, and with this book,
a historian as well. This book describes a particular “current” of traditional Chinese medicine that exists to today. As such,
he might disagree fundamentally with Unschuld’s judgment on p. xi. that “Chinese medicine is no more a living tradition
than is the society of imperial China.” Professor Scheid has a very different project from Unschuld: “this book marks a
departure from the focus on texts and ideas that has dominated Western engagement with Chinese medicine to date.”
Instead, Scheid aims to “locate medicine within the concrete lives of physicians and their patients, restoring an agency to
their actions that easily gest lost in our search for the global forces or structures that shape historical process.” (p. 2). We
will read a section of Ch. 2 (pp. 35-44) as a summary of early imperial medical developments to contrast with the picture
portrayed by Unschuld. Then we will read 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 and 12.
Angela Ki Che Leung and Charlotte Furth, eds. 2010. Health and Hygiene in Chinese
East Asia: Policies and Publics in the Long Twentieth Century. Durham, N.C.:
Duke University Press.
Professors Leung and Furth are two of the best historians of medicine in China (compare to Unschuld who is more of a
philologist-scholar, historian; and Scheid who is a practitioner-anthropologist-historian). Angela Leung has overseen much
of the development of the field of the history of medicine in East Asia especially in Taiwan, where she was professor at
that country’s highest research institute: Academia Sinica, and now in Hong Kong. Her writings have primarily been in
English, however, and so her influence extends broadly in North America and Europe also. Charlotte Furth began her
th
career examining the life of Ding Wenjiang, one of 20 century China’s most influential scientists and politicians, but in her
later career redirected the study of Chinese medical history toward gender and women’s medicine, or fuke.
The contributors to this volume primarily represent the very best Taiwan-based and PRC-based scholars writing
on medicine in East Asia. I chose this book partly for this reason, but also because it combines so many issues of public
health with the practice of biomedicine and TCM in China. The book also introduces how public health is a matter of
political power, as much as individual health, whether this power is colonial (as in Japanese colonialism in Taiwan and
Manchuria, or European concessions in the treaty-ports) or part of a party-state mobilization as in early PRC China, or
part of current global WHO attempts to control SARS.
Other Readings marked with  will be available on Oncourse under “resources.”
These include some of the most exciting new work on medicine in China. Read on for details!
2
Assignments:1
Weekly Responses:
50%
10 total (5 pts each), typed, minimum 2, maximum 3 pages, double-spaced, and
proofread. You can choose 10 of 14 reading days, but you should be familiar with the
readings on other days also.
Quiz on basics of Chinese medicine and Chinese History, January 17
5%
Attendance and participation in all discussions.
15%
Each student should volunteer twice during the term to present the readings in class.
We will have two students volunteer each week. Students should summarize the
content briefly (be selective), the argument, and find outside material related to the
readings.
(Final Exam Option:
For students who prefer exams to papers, you may do a shorter paper worth 15% (6-8
pages, instead of 30% and 10-12 pages) and write a take-home exam based on essay
questions distributed on the last day of class. It will be due online on the day of the
scheduled final exam. The exam should be submitted in the Dropbox on Oncourse.)
Research Paper/Final Project:
Due April 24
30%
Writing is the primary way that historians study history—when we read, we read to write.
It is often only after we have written that we know what we know (and what we do not).
Therefore, writing is a cycle of drafts, and a conversation between ourselves, secondary
readings, primary sources, and our audience.
2500-3000 word paper (10-12 page) research paper engaging one of the topics covered
in class in greater depth, or a comparative review of two books (at least one read in
class); analysis of a Chinese medical text (in translation);
OR another option:
Students may also choose to do a non-traditional final assignment which may
include an ethnography of a Chinese medical practitioner, a short documentary
about medicine in China, or a group project that results in one of the above
(paper, ethnography, or documentary). Please talk to the instructor BEFORE the
end of January if you wish to choose one of these options. Students should have
background knowledge of the technology and methodology of these methods or
be willing to gain them during the term. The instructor has no experience with
social science methods, but is willing to work with students and relevant faculty
and IUPUI resources to ensure a successful project.
Guidelines for final paper or project:
1. Submit a 2-page proposal for your project January 31. This should include
your research question, your preliminary findings, thesis/argument, proposed
1
Extra information on assignments will be posted to Oncourse under the Assignments tab.
3
methodology, and source list (interviews, secondary writings, translations of
primary texts). Students should make an appointment with the instructor the
week of January 23-27 to discuss this.
2. Submit a 1-page project progress report February 28. (What sources have I
collected? which have I read? have these findings caused me to change my
thesis? Is my methodology working? Do I need to learn more about this
methodology? What help can the instructor give me at this time?)
3. Submit a 1-page project progress report March 27. As above.
4. Submit final paper/project on last day of class.
Extra credit:
due April 17 for discussion April 24
+3%
Description and analysis of a visit to an Asian medical clinic, herb shop, or extra lecture
on the subject (can be online lectures, but must be approved in advance by instructor).
Grading chart:
Excellent and
refreshing
非常好！
Soooo Good!
很好！
Okay
还好
Horse-horsetiger-tiger
马马虎虎
Oops! See you
next term…
怎么回事？
A+ 97-100
B+ 85-88
C+ 73-76
D+ 61-64
F 52
A 93-96
B 81-84
C 69-72
D 57-60
A- 89-92
B- 77-80
C- 65-68
D- 53-56
ABCs of Essay Grading
A
means that the essay is written with grace and clarity. The student has demonstrated mastery in
writing clearly and organizing ideas methodically on a given topic. Ideas are not randomly thrown
here and there but are complementary and cohesive elements of a well- organized paper.
B
is above average. Ideas flow well. Grammatical errors are minimal.
C
is for an average essay that complies with the topic assigned or chosen. The student has done just
what I asked for. Grammar is fair and content is intelligible.
D
is for an essay written with a level of grammatical errors that sometimes hinders the
comprehension. Ideas exist but are arranged without a clear logic. Some of them are obscure and
unintelligible. Sentences are confusing...
F
is for an essay quickly and poorly written, with incomplete sentences, and often off- subject. This
grade signifies an unacceptable performance in writing a specific assignment. Usually the content
can hardly be grasped because of a lack of clarity and organization.
4
Course Outline
After the introductory class, each session will follow a basic outline.
1) Beginning Jan. 24 the instructor will introduce a news article (or other artefact)
on medicine in China, and class will discuss. Students are welcome to contribute
articles or items and lead discussion (3 minute presentation, 7 minute discussion)
2) 10 minute presentation and one hour discussion on each days’ readings, led
by 2-3 students.
3) 10 minutes break
3) Each class will finish with a 30 to 40 minute introductory lecture/exercise to the
next week’s topic matter.
January: The Classics and the basics
10
The Basics of History: Reading, Researching, Writing and Discussing
What is Medical History?
Chinese History in 15 minutes: from the Shang to the present
Introduction to medicine in China2
1
Yin-Yang 陰陽 and the five phases 五行
2
Fundamental Textures:
Qi 氣, Blood 血, Essence 精, Spirit 神, Fluids 津液
3
The Organs of the Body (zang-fu 臟腑)
4
The Meridians (Channels) 經絡:
and on acupuncture and herbology
5
Origins of Disharmony: when a cause is not a cause
6
The Four Examinations 四診: signs and symptoms
17*
SARS and TCM: Super virus and classical texts
Marta Hanson. 2010. “Conceptual Blindspots, Media Blindfolds: The
Case of SARS and Traditional Chinese Medicine,” in Leung and
Furth, eds, pp. 228-254.
Unschuld, Medicine in China, 2010, Intro, Ch. 3, “Unification of the Empire,
Confucianism, and the Medicine of Systematic Correspondence,” Ch. 4,
“Taoism and Pragmatic Drug Therapy: From antifeudal social theory to
individualistic practices,” Ch. 5, “Religious Healing: The Foundation of
theocratic rule.” (pp. 51-131)
Unschuld Readings, Ch. 1 Huangdi neijing (Yellow Emperor’s Classic) taisu 太素
(Grand Basis, c. 660s CE, pp. 263-275) and
Quiz on basics of Chinese medicine and Chinese history
24*
Styles of Touching (diagnosing): Pulse Reading 切脈 qièmài； 把衇 bămài
 Shigehisa Kuriyama, The Expressiveness of the Body: and the divergence of
Greek and Chinese Medicine, 1999: 1-108 (lots of pictures!)
2
These titles and ideas are shamelessly stolen from Ted J. Kaptchuk. 2000. The Web that has no
weaver: Understanding Chinese Medicine. New York: McGraw Hill which I recommend to anyone wishing
to understand the basics of Chinese medicine.
5
 Charlotte Furth. 1999. Ch. 1, “The Yellow Emperor’s Body,” pp. 19-58 in A
Flourishing Yin: Gender in China’s Medical History, 960-1665. Berkeley:
University of California Press. (also lots of pictures!)
31*
Zhēnjiŭ 針灸: Acupuncture and moxibustion
Pharmacopeia and Herbal Prescriptions: The Bĕncăo tradition 本草
Ted Kaptchuk. 2000. The Web That Has No Weaver: Understanding Chinese
Medicine. Ch. 4, “The Meridians: The Warp and Woof and on acupuncture
and herbology, pp. 105-142.
 Liu Yanchi. 1995 (1988). The Essential Book of Traditional Chinese Medicine,
Volume 2, Clinical Practice. New York: Columbia University Press. Chs. 2
and 3. “Chinese Medicinal Herbs: Basic Concepts and Common
Examples,” and “An Introduction to Traditional Chinese Prescriptions.” pp.
1-147 (49-147 is a chart of a long list of medicinal herbs, read 30-40 and
pick 5 to discuss in your writing and class)
(Possible date for Dr. Palmer MacKie guest lecture on acupuncture).
February: Medicine in Imperial China
7*
Buddhist Medicine, Demonic Medicine, Minority Medicine
Unschuld Ch. 5, “Religious Healing: The Foundation of Theocratic Rule,” and Ch.
6, Buddhism and Indian Medicine,” pp. 117-153.
Scheid 2007: “Setting the Stage: Classical Medicine before the Song,” 35-44.
Unschuld Readings: 2, Huangdi neijing suwen 黃帝內經素問 (Basic questions,
1st-2nd C. CE, pp. 276-295); 6 Taishō Tripitaka, pp. 309-320.
14*
The Song Dynasty Efflorescence of Chinese Medicine,
 Marta Hanson. 2011. Speaking of Epidemics in Chinese Medicine: Disease
and the geographic imagination in late imperial China, 2011, Ch. 2, “A
deep history of the Chinese geographic imagination: The five directions,
northwest-southeast dichotomoy, and southern shift,” pp. 25-45.
Unschuld Ch. 7, “Song Neo-Confucianism and Medical Thought: Progress with
an eye to the past,” pp. 154-188.
21*
The Ming Dynasty: Birth of the Wujin and Menghe Current of Chinese
Medicine, and Li Shijen’s Bencao Gangmu
Volker Scheid. 2007. Currents of Tradition in Chinese Medicine, 1626-2006:
Ch. 1, “Economy and Society in Late Imperial China,” Ch. 2, “The
Scholarly Medical Tradition in Late Imperial China,” Ch. 3, “The Origins of
Menghe Medicine,” pp. 17-84.
 Carla Nappi. 2009. “Prologue,” “Interlude: Here Be Dragons,” and Ch. 3
“Transformation: Elements of Change,” in The Monkey and the Inkpot:
Natural History and Its Transformations in Early Modern China, pp. 1-11;
50-82.
28*
The Qing Dynasty Transformations
6
 Marta Hanson. 2011. Ch. 6, “Matters of Place: Epistemological divisions,
genealogical divergence,” and Ch. 7, “Emergence of traditions: The
nineteenth-century genealogy and geography of Warm diseases,” (pp.
105-150)
Volker Scheid. 2007: Ch. 4, “The Flourishing of Menghe Medicine,” Ch. 5, “The
Eastward Spread of Menghe Medicine,” Ch. 6 “Fei Boxiong and the Development
of the Menghe Medical Style,” pp. 85-172.
One page project progress report due.
March: Medicine in Twentieth-Century China
6*
Weisheng, public health and biomedicine in China to 1928
Yu Xinzhong. 2010. “Night Soil and Waste in Modern China,” pp. 51-72.
Sean Lei. 2010. “Sovereignty and the Microscope: Manchurian Plague,” 73-108.
Shang-Jen Li. 2010. “Eating Well in China: Diet... in the Treaty Ports,” 109-131.
Ruth Rogaski. 2010. “Vampires in Plagueland: Weisheng Manchuria,” 132-159.
All in Furth and Leung 2010.
13
Spring Break
20*
Conflict and co-existence between Chinese and biomedicine in China
Volker Scheid. 2007: Ch. 7, “Chinese Medicine in Shanghai at the Dawn of the
Modern Era,” Ch. 8, “The Modernization of Chinese Medicine in
Republican China,” pp. 173-222.
 Sean Hsiang-Lin Lei. 1999. “Chinese Medical Revolution versus the National
Medical Movement—Medical Group Formation in the Field of the State.”
Ch. 3 in “When Chinese Medicine Encountered the State: 1910-1949.”
University of Chicago Ph.D. Dissertation, pp. 67-120 (in pdf pp. 80-133)
27*
Medicine in Maoist China: Mass Mobilization and Public Health
Li Yushang. 2010. “Elimination of Schistosomiasis ... 1948-58: Public Health as a
political movement.” In Leung and Furth, eds., pp. 204-227.
Volker Scheid. 2007: Ch. 12, “The Institutionalization of Chinese Medicine and its
Discontents,” pp. 297-318.
Unschuld Reading 12, Ziran bianzhengfa (Nature-Dialectic, c. 1973-76) “The
Struggle for and against a belief in fate in the medicine of our land,” pp.
340-352.
One page project progress report due
April: Medicine today in China (and out)
3*
Knowing Practice 實踐／实践: The Clinical Encounter of Chinese Medicine
Guest Lecture (noon) and discussion (in class):
 Judith Farquhar. 1994. Introduction and Ch. 1 “Chinese Medicine as
Institutional Object and Historical Moment.” Knowing Practice, pp. 1-22.
Judith Farquhar. 1992. “Time and Text: Approaching Chinese Medical Practice
7
through Analysis of a Published Case.” In Paths to Asian Medical
Knowledge. Charles Leslie and Allan Young, eds. Berkeley: University of
California Press, pp. 62-73.
10*
Epidemic Control, Chuánrăn 傳染 Contagion and Tibetan Medicine
Angela Ki Che Leung. 2010. “The Evolution of the Idea of Chuanran Contagion in
Imperial China,” pp. 25-50, in Leung and Furth, eds.
Lin Yi-ping and Liu Shiyung. 2010. “A Forgotten War: Malaria Eradication in
Taiwan, 1905-65,” pp. 183-203, in Leung and Furth, eds.
 Craig R. Janes. 2001. “Tibetan Medicine at the Crossroads: Radical modernity
and the social organization of traditional medicine in the Tibet
Autonomous Region, China.” In Healing Powers and Modernity:
Traditional Medicine, Shamanism and Science in Asian Societies. Linda
Connor and Geoffrey Samuel, eds. Wesport, Conn.: Bergin & Garvey, pp.
197-221.
Unschuld Readings 13 Tuan Chen-li, “How to Overcome Chronic Illnesses,”
1978, pp. 352-360; and 14 “Keng Hsi-chen and T’ao Nai-huang, “The
Evaluation of Acupuncture Anesthesia Must Seek Truth from Facts” in
Wenhui bao, Oct. 22, 1980, pp. 360-366.
17*
SARS and Epidemics
Tseng Yen-fen and Wu Chia-Ling. 2010. “Governing Germs from Outside and
Within Borders: Controlling 2003 SARS Risk in Taiwan,” pp. 255-272.
REREAD, Marta Hanson. 2010. “Conceptual Blindspots, Media Blindfolds: The
Case of SARS and Traditional Chinese Medicine,” pp. 228-254.
24*
Last day of Class. Roundup discussion.
Charlotte Furth. 2010. “Hygienic Modernity in Chinese East Asia,” pp. 1-24.
Warwick Anderson. 2010. “Biomedicine in Chinese East Asia: From Semicolonial
to Postcolonial?” pp. 273-278.
Volker Scheid. 2007. Ch. 14, “Wujin medicine remembered,” and epilogue,
“Currents of Tradition Revisited,” pp. 357-388.
Final Paper or Project Due
8
Chronology
Huang Di (Mythical Yellow Emperor)
2698-2599
Xia
2200-1700 BCE
Shang
1700-1100
Zhou
1100-221
Western Zhou
1100-771
Eastern Zhou
770-256
Spring & Autumn Period
770-256
Kongzi (Confucius)
551-479
Warring States Period
476-221
医 Zou Yan (c. 350-270) Yin/Yang and five
phases theory
医 Suwen compiled. 4th-2nd C. BCE
医 Lingshu compiled. c. 2nd C. BCE
Qin
221-207
Han
206 BCE-220CE
Western Han
206 BCE-24 CE
医 Imperial Academy established
124
医 Divine Husbandman Classic of Pharmacopoeia
1st-2nd C.
nd
医 Nanjing Classic of Difficulties
2 C. CE
医 Zhang Zhongjing (150-219) writes
Treatise on Cold Damage Disorders ,c. 220 CE
Eastern Han
25-220 CE
Three Kingdoms Period
220-280
Wei
220-265
Shu Han
221-263
Wu
222-280
Jin
265-420
Western Jin
265-316
医 Classic of the Pulse
280
Eastern Jin
317-420
Southern & Northern Dynasties
Southern
420-589
Song
420-479
Qi
579-502
Liang
502-557
Chen
557-589
Northern
Northern Wei
386-534
Eastern Wei
534-550
Western Wei
535-556
Northern Qi
550-577
Northern Zhou
557-581
Sui
581-618
医 Yellow Emperor’s Classic: Grand Basis,
Ed. by Yang Shangshan
605-617
Tang
618-907
医 Wang Bingci version of Yellow Emperor’s
“Basic Questions”
762
Five Dynasties
907-960
Later Liang
907-923
Later Tang
923-936
Later Jin
936-946
Later Han
947-950
Later Zhou
951-960
Liao
916-125
Song
960-1279
Northern Song
960-1127
Southern Song
1127-1279
Zhu Xi and Neo-Confucianism
医 Separation of Shanghanlun (Treatise on Febrile
Diseases) and Jingkui yaolue (Essential Treasury
of Medicine)
Western Xia
1038-1227
Jin
1115-1234
医 Treatise on Spleen and Stomach
1249
Yuan (Mongol)
1271-1368
医 Hua Shou’s Meaning of Classic of Difficulties 1361
Ming
1368-1644
医 Li Shizhen writes Great Pharmacopoeia
1578
Qing (Manchu)
1644-1911
医 Discussion on Women’s disorders
1689
医 Golden Mirror of Medicine
1742
医 Medical Missionaries in Guangzhou 1834-1949
Qing defeated in Opium War
1839-1842
Taiping rebellion, 20 million dead
1851-1864
Japan forced to open to foreign trade
1854
nd
Qing defeated in 2 Opium War
1856
Treaty of Tianjin opens Shanghai and
other treaty ports
1858
医 German Staatemedizin to Japan
1867
医 Japan public health transferred to police
1893
医 Bubonic plague S. China, HK, Taiwan1894-1895
China defeated by Japan, cedes Taiwan 1895
医 Japan prohibits traditional medicine 1895
医 Pneumonic Plague Manchuria and first officially allowed
autopsies
1910-1911
Republic of China
1912-1949
Sun Yatsen’s Presidency
1912
医 Anatomy Law established
1912-1913
医 Rockefeller Foundation Report
1914
Yuan Shikai’s Presidency
1912-1915
医 National Medical Association
1915-present
Yuan Shikai’s New Dynasty
1915-1916
Beiyang Period
1916-1927
Nationalist China (KMT)
1927-1949
Nanjing Decade
1928-1937
医 Ministry of Health attempts
to abolish Chinese Medicine 1929-1931
Chongqing War Government
1938-1945
Yan’an Period of CCP
1936-1945
Civil War (CCP/KMT)
1945-1949
Republic of China on Taiwan
(Japanese colony of Taiwan
Martial Law
Chiang Kai-shek
Chiang Ching-kuo
Multi-party democracy
医 Universal Health Care est.
1949-present
1895-1945)
1947-1987
1987-present
1995-present
People’s Republic of China
1949-present
Maoist Era
1949-1976
Korean War
医 Beginning of patriotic hygiene movement
Sino-Soviet Split
1960-1989
Anti-rightist movement
1956
Great Leap Forward
1957-1959
Reforms of Liu Shaoqi/Deng
1961-1966
医 Mao’s critique of urban-focused
Ministry of Public Health
1965
Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution
Red Guard Period
1966-1969
医 Physicians (and students),
down to the countryside,
barefoot doctor movement
1968-1976
Deng Xiaoping Era
1978-1992
Economic Reforms
1980
End of Sino-Soviet split,
Tianmen Square Protests
1989
Jiang Zemin
1993-2003
Hu Jintao
2003-2011
医 Neoliberal Medical Reforms,
health care dismantled
2000s
9