Medieval Chinese Medicine: The Dunhuang Medical Manuscripts

by Christopher Cullen, Vivienne Lo

Overview

In recent decades various versions of Chinese medicine have begun to be widely practised in Western countries, and the academic study of the subject is now well established. However, there are still few scholarly monographs that describe the history of Chinese medicine and there are none at all on the medieval period.

This collection represents the kind of international collaboration of research teams, centres and individuals that is required to begin to study the source materials adequately. The first book in English to discuss this fascinating material in the century since the Dunhuang library was discovered, the text provides a unique and fascinating interpretation of Chinese medical history.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780415342957
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	04/06/2005
Series:	Needham Research Institute Series
Edition description:	UK ed.
Pages:	476
Product dimensions:	6.12(w) x 9.19(h) x (d)

About the Author

Vivienne Lo researches and lectures on the early and medieval history of Asian medicine at the Wellcome Trust Centre for the History of Medicine, University College London.
Christopher Cullen is Director of the Needham Research Institute, Cambridge.

Table of Contents

1. The Dunhuang Collections and International Collaboration 2. Introduction Part 1: The Manuscripts 3. Manuscripts as Sources in the History of Chinese Medicine 4. A General Survey of Medical Works contained in the Dunhuang Medical Manuscripts 5. Comments on the Problem of 'Transcription' 6. Han Bamboo and Wooden Medical Records discovered in Military Sites from the North Western Frontier Regions Part 2: Divination, Iatromancy and Related Arts 7. Mantic Texts in their Cultural Context 8. Dunhuang Iatromantic Manuscripts: P.2856 V°and P.2675 R° 9. Love Charms among the Dunhuang Manuscripts 10. From Prognosis to Diagnosis of Illness in Tang China Part 3: Self-Cultivation and the Popular Medical Traditions 11. Introductory Essay 12. Quick and Easy Chinese Medicine: The Dunhuang Moxibustion Charts 13. Art of the Bedchamber 14. Daoism and the Dunhuang Regimen Texts Part 4: Pharmacology 15. The Dunhuang Manuscripts and Pharmacology in Mediaeval China 16. The Three juan Edition of Bencao Jizhu and Excavated Sources 17. Canonical Methods for Brews and Decoctions: A Lost Text Recorded in the Hanshu Bibliography 18. Wind Malady as Madness in Mediaeval China 19. A Treatment for Cardiovascular Dysfunction in a Dunhuang Medical Manuscript Appendix 1: Materia Medica Abstracts of 73 manuscripts containing medical information held in the British Library and the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris, Institute for Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, St Petersburg and Ryukoku University Library

Editorial Reviews

'This book is among the few in English to tackle this eclectic period in Chinese History, and the only one to deal with Dunhuang medicine. For this reason alone, it is an invalueable contribution to the field.' - Medical History, January 2007

From the Publisher