Paul Unschuld: Forgotten Traditions of Ancient Chinese Medicine

Dr. Unschuld’s translation of the I Hsu Yuan Liu Lun of 1757 written by Hsu Ta-chun is a text for scholars, for students of Chinese language and culture, and for clinicians who seek to advance their clinical skill by understanding Chinese medical thought. But most importantly, it is a text for anyone who has ever been inspired by the ideal of a scholar-physician. It is our first chance, and perhaps our last, to let a superior practitioner speak for himself. The author, Hsu Ta-chun, was a scholar and medical doctor who wrote in the eighteenth century immediately prior to the introduction of Western science and medicine to China. He influenced the history of medicine because the medicine he championed was pristine in method and logic. In any period, or any culture, Hsu would have been a remarkable thinker. A literate, broadly skilled scholar, he practiced medicine as an expression of personal and social responsibility. He could both recognize others for their accomplishments and express a calculated and literate anger for those he believed had corrupted the art of medicine. He was a conservative who understood the practical necessities of patient care, a literati capable of both compassion and indignation.