Medicine and Healing in Ancient East Asia

Abstract

This Element first discusses the creation of transmitted medical canons that are generally dated from early imperial times through the medieval era and then, by way of contrast, provides translations and analyses of non-transmitted texts from the pre-imperial late Shang and Zhou eras, the early imperial Qin and Han eras, and then a brief discussion covering the period through the 11th-c. CE. The Element focuses on the evolution of concepts, illness categories, and diagnostic and treatment methodologies evident in the newly discovered material and reveals a side of medical practice not reflected in the canons. It is both traditions of healing, the canons and the currents of local practice revealed by these texts, that influenced the development of East Asian medicine more broadly. The local practices show there was no real evolution from magical to non-magical medicine. This title is also available as Open Access on Cambridge Core.

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