Sensitivity on the Body and Health:Experience of Body Feeling, Disease and Medicine in the Zhegong Manlu (1635)
Resource
臺大歷史學報, 51, 001-080
Journal
臺大歷史學報
Journal Issue
51
Pages
1-80
Date Issued
2013-06
Date
2013-06
Author(s)
Abstract
Zhegong Manlu (Random Notes on Broken Limbs, 1635) is a rare first-hand report by a patient, Huang Chenghao, a middle-ranking official from a well-known family in Zhejiang in late Ming. Huang was susceptible to disease throughout his life, and often was the victim of ineffective treatments. He then trained himself to be a physician mainly by studying medical and pharmaceutical texts. In the Zhegong Manlu, he recorded his experience of body feeling, disease, depression, anxiety, and medicine as well as his relationship with healers in detail. Unlike most medical texts composed by physicians, Zhegong Manlu takes the perspective from both the patient’s and the physician’s points of view. Unlike most of his peer literati’s notes and diaries on disease, Huang applied medical terminology to build up his authority as a medical expert.
Huang Chenghao plays three roles in the Zhegong Manlu. As a patient, apart from describing pain, suffering, and body feeling, Huang also expressed his skepticism and distrust of the medical establishment. As a physician, he taught his readers proper ways of treating disease and nurturing (yangsheng) their bodies. As both a patient and physician, he revealed his own experience to his fellow patients and physicians to reach the goal of social responsibility.
After accumulating experience and becoming a medical expert, he found that he needed the warm and replenishing treatment. He soon became a follower of the warm and replenishing school, and used his own experience to participate in the medical disputes between the cold and cool school and the warm and replenishing school in the Ming dynasty.
Huang’s concern about body, health and life span impacted his life style and way of thinking. By taking a closer look on the Zhegong Manlu, we can not only explore a literati’s private life but also delve into the characteristics of his contemporary medical establishment and the medical market.
Zhegong Manlu (Random Notes on Broken Limbs, 1635) is a rare first-hand report by a patient, Huang Chenghao, a middle-ranking official from a well-known family in Zhejiang in late Ming. Huang was susceptible to disease throughout his life, and often was the victim of ineffective treatments. He then trained himself to be a physician mainly by studying medical and pharmaceutical texts. In the Zhegong Manlu, he recorded his experience of body feeling, disease, depression, anxiety, and medicine as well as his relationship with healers in detail. Unlike most medical texts composed by physicians, Zhegong Manlu takes the perspective from both the patient’s and the physician’s points of view. Unlike most of his peer literati’s notes and diaries on disease, Huang applied medical terminology to build up his authority as a medical expert.
Huang Chenghao plays three roles in the Zhegong Manlu. As a patient, apart from describing pain, suffering, and body feeling, Huang also expressed his skepticism and distrust of the medical establishment. As a physician, he taught his readers proper ways of treating disease and nurturing (yangsheng) their bodies. As both a patient and physician, he revealed his own experience to his fellow patients and physicians to reach the goal of social responsibility.
After accumulating experience and becoming a medical expert, he found that he needed the warm and replenishing treatment. He soon became a follower of the warm and replenishing school, and used his own experience to participate in the medical disputes between the cold and cool school and the warm and replenishing school in the Ming dynasty.
Huang’s concern about body, health and life span impacted his life style and way of thinking. By taking a closer look on the Zhegong Manlu, we can not only explore a literati’s private life but also delve into the characteristics of his contemporary medical establishment and the medical market.
Subjects
身體感
疾病
憂鬱
壓力
養生
body feeling, disease, depression, body nurturing (yangsheng), medicine
Type
journal article
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