历史学最新文献

The core issue of the New Fourth Army in their health work was the shortage of doctors and medicine and the enemy blockade during the full-scale War of Resistance against Japan (1937-1945). The New Fourth Army implemented the policies of 'integrated Chinese medicine with Western medicine' and 'scientificisation of traditional Chinese medicine', and developed systematic Chinese medicine practice based in the enemy-occupied rear areas controlled by China. The New Fourth Army started traditional Chinese medicine training classes and promoted the mentor- apprentice training model, making up for the shortage of medical staff. They also established pharmaceutical factories in Hua-Zhong area and developed pills, powders, ointments, and elixirs using locally available materials, combining Chinese and Western medicines to solve the problem of medicine supply. Clinically, they also employed herbal remedies and acupuncture to prevent and treat diseases and infectious conditions like influenza, malaria, and dysentery, effectively reduced morbidity and mortality rates among both military soldiers and civilians. It was found that the New Fourth Army constructed the wartime emergency medical system with 'self-reliance and combined the military with civilians', and fostered the spirit of Red Medicine with 'saving lives and helping the wounded', providing crucial medical support for the victory of the War. Such practice left invaluable experience and profound insights for the inheritance and innovation of traditional Chinese medicine and the development of public health emergency systems.

This paper examines the development history of oral medicinal liquor before the Song and Yuan Dynasties and delineates its evolutionary trajectory parallel with the history of traditional Chinese medicine. The oral medicinal liquor turned from sacrificial offerings to medical applications, with excavated bamboo and silk manuscripts and medical texts corroborating its extensive clinical use in the pre-Qin and Han Dynasties. Its production process became increasingly standardized, as its separate dosage form evolved. Its formulation composition and scope of application were also expanded significantly with the compatibility principle of 'using medicine with the help of liquor' in the Jin and Tang Dynasties. The application of distillation technology as a core breakthrough in the Song and Yuan Dynasties enhanced its extraction efficacy and preservation capacity. The number of oral medicinal liquor formulas recorded in medical texts increased dramatically, with diversification of producing methods at that time. The distinctive use model 'taking pills and powders with medicinal liquor' emerged. The function of oral medicinal liquor was expanded from disease treatment to health and wellness, with particular attention on elderly care and recuperation. It was found that oral medicinal liquor is an important carrier of traditional Chinese medicine. Its future development should to adhere to the principles of inheritance and innovation, with the help of modern sciences and technology to promote its standardisation and scientification.

The national healthcare system was underdeveloped with weak medical technologies and outdated medical industrial norms, urgently requiring institutional reform in the early days of the New China. The Beijing-Soviet Union Red Cross Hospital built on the foundation of the Sino-Soviet friendship and alliance (1952-1957) became a model for comprehensive hospital development in China at that time, as the first landmark achievement of Sino-Soviet medical cooperation. It received full-spectrum Soviet support in medical facilities, core technologies and expert teams. It introduced scientific hospital management, standardized talent training and regular health education systems, and optimized medical staff's professional ethics and work styles, successfully treated numerous intractable diseases and reformed the outdated Republican-era medical system. The localised adjustment and reforms after it was officially handed over to the Chinese side in 1957 provided meaningful practice experience for the following Chinese medical development in terms of integrating the advantages overseas with specific national conditions and promoting the modernisation of hospital management. Examining the process and development of the Beijing-Soviet Union Red Cross Hospital helps improving current health care system with Chinese characteristics.

This paper examines the historical development and medical achievements of the Salerno School of Medicine. The paper focuses on its medical teaching system, explores the promoting effect of anatomical and surgical courses on the clinical practice of bloodletting, analyses the academic thoughts of Salerno physicians and the standardized bloodletting procedures recorded in Regimen Sanitatis Salernitanum, and clarifies the transformation process of Western European bloodletting therapy from empirical operation to standardized practice in the Middle Ages. It was found that the Salerno School of Medicine integrated classical humoral doctrine with empirical anatomical and surgical cognition, reconstructed the practical logic of bloodletting therapy, and improved the safety and standardization of clinical bloodletting. More importantly, it realized the systematic inheritance of relevant medical knowledge and operational techniques through standardized medical education.

During the period of the Agrarian Revolutionary War, the war led to a sharp increase in the number of wounded and sick in the Central Soviet Area (Fujian) and the epidemic of infectious diseases. Therefore, the Red Army and the Soviet government needed to quickly establish a nursing team. Nursing staff are trained through various means, such as nursing schools, nursing training teams in Red Army rear hospitals, and training classes for female nurses. In order to make up for the serious shortage of nursing staff, local people were also widely mobilized to organize nursing teams to help the medical personnel of the rear hospitals to care for the wounded and sick. Among the students who graduated from the nursing school, outstanding students were selected to continue their studies in the Red Army Medical School, and gradually stepped into the medical front of the war. Some of these graduates dedicated their lives to the revolutionary cause, while others became key figures in the medical and health field of the People's Republic of China.

Withered Nose (Bi Gao) is a modern name for dry nose drawn from classical traditional Chinese medicine texts, for the condition atrophic rhinitis. Based on these texts before the Tang Dynasty, dry nose and its relevant symptoms were not identified as a single disease. Withered Nose was recorded in the Huangdi's Inner Canon (Huangdi Neijing) and Classic of Difficult Issues (Nan Jing), but referred to external nasal desiccation due to acute heat illness, having nothing to do with atrophic rhinitis. The symptoms such as "dry nose without nasal discharge" and "dry nose " were reduced to independent conditions in the Song Dynasty. "Foul-smelling nose" (Bi Chou) also became a distinct ailment in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. Almost all of these conditions showed partly features of atrophic rhinitis, but not relatively full characteristics of the disease. Since modern times, atrophic rhinitis in traditional Chinese medicine was named with successive descriptions, such as "blocked nose" (Sai Bi), "profuse turbid nasal discharge" (Bi Yuan), and "kong nao sha". Until the 1970s, "withered nose" was confirmed as the definitive term. This article proposed that "Bi Wei" is a more appropriate term than "withered nose", based on terminology theory and clinical practice in both traditional Chinese medicine and Western medicine, clarifying the conceptual origins and nomenclature evolution of atrophic rhinitis in TCM. This provides theoretical support for establishing a comprehensive history of the disease and future scientific investigations.

Human body diagrams of Zang-Fu organs and meridians are believed to be vehicles to visualise traditional Chinese medicine theories. Their drawing methods and content evolution indicate the interaction among anatomical knowledge, medical theories, and cultural cognition. This paper examined Chan Jing, Tong Ren Shu Xue Zhen Jiu Tu Jing, Cun Zhen Huan Zhong Tu, and Shang Han Lun Da Fang Tu Jie and explored their evolution process. It was found that the diagrams in Chan Jing focused on the "theory of fetal nourishment", influenced by the Five Elements theory and the concept of the interaction between heaven and humanity in the Han Dynasty. The diagrams in Tong Ren Shu Xue Zhen Jiu Tu Jing centered on the theory of meridians and explained acupuncture taboos with Zang-Fu organ metaphors. Cun Zhen Huan Zhong Tu was drawn based on execution of ground autopsies but revised according to classical texts. Shang Han Lun Da Fang Tu Jie, however, is oriented toward the application of formulas, with its illustrations rendered in a simplified and schematic manner. In the late Qing Dynasty, influenced by Western medical atlases, the illustrative style of traditional Chinese visceral diagrams shifted, and anatomical-style visceral diagrams became mainstream.. This study uncovered the characteristics of these diagrams. They preferred theoretical explication to morphological depiction, and constructed the underlying drawing rationale guided by interpreting classical traditional Chinese medicine texts and combining anatomical knowledge, providing new perspectives for understanding traditional Chinese medicine theories.

This paper examines the early source and date of the term 'Bian Zheng Lun Zhi' (syndrome differentiation and treatment) in traditional Chinese medicine. It was believed that the earliest sources of this term came from Yi Men Bang He written by Zhang Xugu (1825) and Zheng Zhi Yao Yi by Chen Dangwu (1775). It was found that the phrase 'Bian Zheng Lun Zhi' was explicitly identified and used in the Volume 22 of the Jin Gui Yao Lüe Lun Zhu written by Xu Bin in the tenth year of the Kangxi Period in the Qing Dynasty (1671). This was 104 years earlier than it was believed. It was testified by comparing diverse versions of the book Jin Gui Yao Lüe Lun Zhu. This finding provides new literature reference for the study of traditional Chinese medicine terminology.

Treating Sixty diseases and the Qi Harmony Decoction Method (hereafter He Qi Tang Fa) in the Tian Hui Yi Jian presents abundant information on medicinal substances and formula construction, in particular, the fully-developed use of medicinal alcohols. This paper examines He Qi Tang Fa in this book, The Prescriptions for Fifty-Two Diseases and The Prescriptions for Nourishing Life from the Mawangdui tombs, analyses the various terms and types of fermented liquors recorded in the texts, explores their functional differentiation in medical practice from the perspectives of modes of application and producing techniques. It was found that the use of medicinal alcohols in He Qi Tang Fa was grounded in a sophisticated understanding of the nature of fermented beverages. The nature of different types of alcohol, such as its body, quality, or whether they have to be heated, were drawn on to fulfill multiple functions, including facilitating the effects of drugs, processing medicinal substances, and serving as a basis for compound formulas. It was found that the formula "Medicinal Fermented Mash for Treating Cold-Heat Cough" seems to be the most complete medicinal alcohol prescription preserved in excavated medical texts to date. Its production process shows notable continuity with later traditions of medicinal alcoholic beverage, demonstrating its foundational significance and its long-term influence.

A-B Classic of Acupuncture and Moxibustion was revised by the Beijing Medical Bureau in the Qing Dynasty, with the annotation and seal of Yu Yunxiu, and was kept in the library of Chinese Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences. Based on the preface and postscripts of the book, the main edition used by Yu Yunxiu for his proofreading was the version of the Song Dynasty reissued in the Jiajing Period of the Ming Dynasty (the Jiajing Version hereafter). The Jiajing version had been lost so the Yu Yunxiu's annotated version became the most important document to envision its original appearance. This paper compares the Yu Yunxiu's annotated version with the Six Classics of Medicine version of A-B Classic of Acupuncture and Moxibustion (the Six Classics of Medicine version hereafter) kept in the library in the China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, the Lan Ge version of A-B Classic of Acupuncture and Moxibustion in from the Ming Dynasty located in the Shiryokan Library of Japan, the incomplete version of A-B Classic of Acupuncture and Moxibustion from the Ming Dynasty now in the Library of the Imperial Cabinet of Japan, the Jigu Pavilion Manuscript version of A-B Classic of Acupuncture and Moxibustion in the Library of Life Sciences of Shanghai, and the Complete Library of the Four Treasuries version of A-B Classic of Acupuncture and Moxibustion (the Complete Library of the Four Treasuries version) in the National Palace Museum of Taipei. It was found that the version of Yu Yunxiu failed to strictly follow the editorial guidelines clarified before the formal text of the book, and its content looked different from other existing versions. It was found that the Yu Yunxiu's annotated version was close to the version of the Complete Library of the Four Treasuries. However, they were inconsistent in terms of content. This indicated that the Jiajing version might be the main edition used by the scholars of the Qing Dynasty for their proofreading of the Complete Library of the Four Treasuries version. Additionally, the discrepancy between the Yu Yunxiu's version and the Six Classics of Medicine version was more than that between the Yunxiu's version and the Complete Library of the Four Treasuries version. This indicated that the two versions did not come from the same source and they do not have a reprint relationship.