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Research Article

To be canonic or scientific: a study of knowledge innovation of acupuncture and moxibustion in the Republican period of China

 

ABSTRACT

Reconstructing the body of acupuncture and moxibustion knowledge was seen as an important measure to prove the effectiveness of traditional Chinese medicine in the Republican period of China. Many physicians, such as Cheng Dan’an and Huang Zhuzhai in particular, made efforts to promote innovation in the field of acupuncture and moxibustion. Cheng Dan’an wrote textbooks, in which he made a reasonable choice between the traditional knowledge of acupuncture and moxibustion and modern biomedicine in accordance with the clinical efficacy, and the textbooks were widely circulated. Huang Zhuzhai in his monographs, however, persisted in the orthodoxy of the fundamental doctrines stemmed from the Inner Cannon of the Yellow Emperor (known in Chinese as Huangdi neijing), and adopted the method of textual criticism to collate and annotate various theories of acupuncture and moxibustion. Huang’s work was approved by the Institute of National Medicine as an accredited textbook nationwide, but the response was not as good as originally expected. Considering the academic perspectives per se, the two representative patterns of the knowledge transformation of acupuncture and moxibustion in the Republican period of China had distinct endings. It identified that refining the traditional knowledge of acupuncture and moxibustion based on empirical rationality was critical in the knowledge modernization of this treatment.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Glossary

bufa 补法

Dongfang zhenjiu xueshe 东方针灸学社

dumai 督脉

Gaodeng zhenjiuxue jiangyi 《高等针灸学讲义》

Guangdong zhongyiyao zhuanmen xuexiao 广东中医药专门学校

Guoyi zhoubao 《国医周报》

Gu Mingsheng 顾鸣盛

Hua Shou 滑寿

Huangdi neijing 《黄帝内经》

Huangshi yixue congshu 黄氏医学丛书

Huang Zhuzhai 黄竹斋

Jiao Yitang 焦易堂

Jingwai qixue 经外奇穴

Jissyū Shinkyūka Zensyo 実習鍼灸科全書

Kampo 漢方

Kohōha 古方派

Kōkan’igaku 黄漢医学

Okamoto Aio 岡本愛雄

pangzhu 旁注

qijing bamai 奇经八脉

renmai 任脉

Shanghan lun 《伤寒论》

Shanghan lun jizhu 《伤寒论集注》

Shenbao 《申报》

Shi’erjing 十二经

Shi’erjing bamai 十二经八脉

Shi’erjing guatu 《十二经挂图》

Shisijing shuxue 十四经腧穴

Shisijing fahui 《十四经发挥》

Sun Xianglin 孙祥麟

Sun Yanru 孙晏如

Taiyiyuan 太医院

Teishitsu Hakubutsukan 帝室博物館

Wenjiuxue jiangyi 《温灸学讲义》

xiefa 泻法

Xu Dachun 徐大椿

Yang Jizhou 杨继洲

Yinyang 阴阳

Yixue gangmu 《医学纲目》

Yixue rumen 《医学入门》

Yizong jinjian 《医宗金鉴》

Yu Youren 于右任

Yunmenxue 云门穴

Zengding Zhongguo zhenjiu zhiliaoxue 《增订中国针灸治疗学》

Zhang Shibiao 张世镳

Zhang Zhongjing 张仲景

Zhao Ji’an 赵缉庵

Zeng Tianzhi 曾天治

zhengzhu 正注

Zhenjiu chuanzhen 《针灸传真》

Zhenjiu dacheng 《针灸大成》

Zhenjiu jingxue tukao 《针灸经学图考》

Zhenjiu yixue dagang 《针灸医学大纲》

Zhenjiu zazhi 《针灸杂志》

Zhenjiuxue jiangyi 《针灸学讲义》

Zuixin shixi xifa zhenjiu 《最新实习西法针灸》

Zhongguo zhenjiuxue jiangyi 《中国针灸学讲义》

Zhongguo zhenjiu xueshe 中国针灸学社

Zhongguo zhenjiu zhiliaoxue 《中国针灸治疗学》

Zhongguo zhenjiuxue jiangxisuo 中国针灸学讲习所

Zhongyang guoyiguan 中央国医馆

Zhou Zhongfang 周仲房

Notes

1 Leung, “Medical Learning,” 374–398.

2 Bridie J. Andrews was among the first to focus on the modern transformation of acupuncture and moxibustion. In her monograph The Making of Modern Chinese Medicine, 1850–1960, she particularly examined the history that Chinese physicians drew experience from Japanese studies on acupuncture and moxibustion, and attempted to rationalize their own body of knowledge and put them into practice during the Republican period in the chapter “From New Practices to New Practices.” See Andrews, The Making of Modern Chinese Medicine, 197–205. In recent years, scholars such as Zhang Shujian and Zhao Jing have attracted much interest in the knowledge transformation of acupuncture and moxibustion in the Republican period. Their studies placed particular emphasis on revealing the innovation of acupuncture and moxibustion by the view of the institutionalization of education and the scientific transformation of knowledge. The variety of knowledge production, and the reasons to cause the variety in the Macro transformation, however, have not been analyzed. For more details about these researches, see Zhang Shujian, “Xueshu tiaoshi yu tuoxie,” 31–34; and Zhao Jing and Zhang Shujian, “Cong jiaoyu tizhihua dao zhishi tizhihua,” 147–157.

3 Hua Shou, Shisijing fahui, 1.

4 Xu Lingtai, Yixue yuanliulun, 56–58, 92–95.

5 Sun Yanru, “Zhenxing guoyi,” 2.

6 It should be noted that Zhao Ji’an was the actual author of The True Cannon of Acupuncture and Moxibustion (Zhenjiu chuanzhen). However, he listed Sun Xianglin as the first author of the monograph for Sun’s help in solving some critical issues about learning acupuncture and moxibustion.

7 Zhao Ji’an, “Zhenjiu chuanzhen xu.”

8 Mayanagi, “Gendai Cyui Shinkyu Gaku,” 605–615.

9 For more details about the various editions and the discrepancy in texts of Zuixin shixi xifa zhenjiu, see Zhang Jianlan and Zhang Shujian, “Minguo zhenjiu yizhu,” 1131–1135.

10 See “Bianyan” of Gu Mingsheng’s Zuixin shixi xifa zhenjiu, particularly the page 3 of its first chapter.

11 Zhang Shibiao, “Wenjiushu yanjiufa,” 1–2.

12 Li Jianmin coins the term “canon” when describing traditional medicine. In his opinion, “canon” means the exemplary text of a subject or discipline. He believes that although the documents on traditional Chinese medicine are numerous, there are only a limited number of must-read monographs with normative and authoritative features recognized by the medical community. The process of their production, maintenance and transformation involves the role that these monographs play in establishing the professional status of the subject members, delineating the discipline boundaries, and establishing the academic traditions. Li further proposes two clues to the narratives of the canonic medical development in China. First, it is the narratives continuously recompiled according to the same batch of texts, in which the texts related to the Inner Canon preserve their dominate position over a long period of time. Second, it is the formation of the tradition in the study of traditional Chinese medicine to annotate the medical classics. For more details about the “canon” in traditional Chinese medicine, see Li Jianmin, “Zhongguo yixueshi yanjiu,” 203–225.

13 See Huang Zhuzhai, “Gongzuo renyuan lülubiao,” 7–9.

14 Pi Kuo-li, Qi yu Xijun, 61.

15 For more details about how the Treatise on Febrile Diseases won undivided admiration of Japanese Kampo medical community, see Pi Kuo-li, Qi yu Xijun, 80; and Liao Yuqun, Yuantiao huanghan yixue (Kōkan’igaku), 130–131.

16 Huang Zhuzhai, Shanghanlun jizhu, 3.

17 Huang Zhuzhai, Zhenjiu jingxue tukao, 43–45.

18 Ibid., 55–56.

19 See Huang Zhuzhai, “Gongzuo renyuan lülubiao,” 7–9.

20 See Lei, Neither Donkey nor Horse, 101–117.

21 For details about the Institute of National Medicine, see Deng Tietao, Zhongyi jindaishi, 296–322.

22 “Zhongyang dangbu daibiao,” 393.

23 Jiao Yitang, “Tian,” 395.

24 Huang Zhuzhai, Zhenjiu jingxue tukao, 1–5.

25 Ibid., 19–20, 21–27, 37–39.

26 Scholars usually regard Cheng Dan’an as a key figure in the scientific transformation of modern acupuncture and moxibustion, but few narratives reveal that Cheng constructed a new body of knowledge of acupuncture and moxibustion. For more details about the relevant research on the scientific transformation of acupuncture and moxibustion, see Andrews, The Making of Modern Chinese Medicine, 197–205; Zhang Jianbin et al, “Xiandai zhenjiu xueke tixi,” 249–252; and Zhang Jianbin et al., “Yijiuxue weigenju,” 199–202.

27 Cheng Dan’an, Zhongguo zhenjiu zhiliaoxue, 2.

28 Ibid., 3. More details about the influence of The Latest Work on Acupuncture and Moxibustion Practice based on Western Standards to Cheng Dan’an when he was writing Chinese Acupuncture and Moxibustion Therapeutics, see Wang Yong, Deng dan’an, 26–27.

29 Cheng Dan’an, Zhongguo zhenjiu zhiliaoxue, 193–194.

30 More details about the discussion on the scientific transformation of traditional Chinese medicine, see Zhao Hongjun, Jindai zhongxiyi lunzhengshi, 118–126.

31 Cheng Dan’an, Zengding Zhongguo zhenjiu zhiliaoxue, 36–38, 54.

32 Ibid., 238–468.

33 See Cheng Dan’an, “Dongdu Riben,” 571–577; and Cheng Dan’an, “Cong zhenjiu lichang,” 25.

34 “Cheng Dan’an riji,” 1934.

35 Cheng Dan’an, Cheng Dan’an zhenjiu xuanji, 179–180; “Yugao tongren jingxue tukao,” 146; and Cheng Dan’an, “Tongren jingxue tukao xu,” 289–290.

36 Cheng Dan’an, “Zhongguo zhenjiuxue jiangyi bianjizheyan,” 19.

37 Cheng Dan’an, “Jingxuexue jiangyi,” 95–96.

38 See the 1957 edition of Diagrams of Meridians and Acupoints published in Beijing.

39 See Xiao Shaoqing, Zhongguo zhenjiuxue shi, 509.

40 “Fakanci,” 7.

41 Zeng Tianzhi, Zhenjiu yixue dagang, 1–2.

42 “Wen banshenbusui,” 157–158.

43 “Zhenjiu wendaxu,” 551.

44 See Zeng Tianzhi, Zhenjiu yixue dagang.

45 Zhou Zhongfang, “Zhenjiuxue jiangyi.” 143–293.

46 Huang Zhuzhai, Zhenjiu jingxue tukao, 76–77.

47 More details about Huang cited the relevant contents of The Latest Work on Acupuncture and Moxibustion Practice based on Western Standards when describing the position of the acupoint of Yunmen (Yunmenxue) in his monograph Diagrams of Meridians and Acupoints, see Huang Zhuzhai, Zhenjiu jingxue tukao, 145–146.

48 Huang Zhuzhai, Zhenjiu jingxue tukao, 138.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Siyan CHEN

CHEN Siyan is assistant professor at the School of Humanities, Shanghai Normal University. Her research interests include medical history and the history of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

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