| ObjectiveHistory of Chinese Medicine (first edition published in 1932) written by K. Chimin Wong and Lien-teh Wu is the first academic work on Chinese medical history written in English, while Medical History of China (first edition published in 1919) by Bangxian Chen, the outstanding medical history expert in China, can be regarded as the pioneering work and the first systematic general history work of Chinese medicine. The two books have made unmeasurable contribution in introducing the brilliant Chinese medical history to readers home and abroad and won their recognition.Based on the research material collected, however, the author finds there are only around 50 research articles on the two great medical history works. Research material on K. Chimin Wong and Lien-teh Wu’s History of Chinese Medicine are even scarce. In the recent century, most articles are on the introduction about the writers and the writing background. In-depth discussions on their content, features and academic value are hardly found.By collecting, sorting out and digging the connotation of the two brilliant medical history works, the author intends to introduce their content, compare their features, and carry forward the essences. Just as the inscription written to the Teaching Office of Medical History and Theories of Different Academic Schools of Guangzhou University of Chinese Medicine in 2012 by the 96-year-old Chinese Medicine Master, Professor Deng Tietao goes:"without the knowledge of medical history, we know nothing about the source stream of Chinese Medicine; without the knowledge of theories of various academic schools, there will be no heritage and development. " Chinese Medicine has a long history. If we don’t learn medical history, we can hardly understand the achievement and development accumulated in the past thousands of years. Based on this concept, the author conducts this research in order to help Chinese Medicine learners and medical history researchers get more knowledge of the academic status and value of K. Chimin Wong and Lien-teh Wu’s History of Chinese Medicine and Bangxian Chen’s Medical History of China.MethodsTaking History of Chinese Medicine and Medical History of China and related articles as the research objects, the author adopts literature review method and theoretical commenting method in the research. Literature review method includes the library literature searching, material collecting, differentiating, translating, sorting, classifying and compiling. Theoretical commenting method is to summarize, induce-deduce, interpret and compare some academic views, analyze the features, advantages and disadvantages of the two works and give objective comments.In order to preserve the valuable literature and ensure the first-hand material, the author pays emphasis to the digging and searching of the original works and relative material by means of reading, making extracts, sorting out, scanning, photocopying and photography. Store and classify the collected material with computers. Forming the WORD documents, image data, PDFs and EXCEL documents is the necessary first-stage work for the thesis writing.Theoretical commenting method is to form one’s own academic views or theoretical proposals. Medical history needs to be commented by the late generations, just as the saying goes:"For merits and demerits, who is going to give his comments?" In this research, the author adopts comparison, view analysis, history interpretation and induction-deduction methods, taking the theory summarization method used in the Chinese Journal of Medical History and Journal of Traditional Chinese Medical Literature as the standard. According to the writing standard of two journals, the author summarizes the relative academic views, compares some parts with similar counterparts, gives comments on the basis of fact writing, discovers the common points and individual features of the two works, and explores their academic value in Chinese Medicine development history.ResultsWith the two research methods mentioned above, the author finishes the thesis which includes 5 parts.First part:Search, collect and analyze the relative literature and briefly introduce and compare the life background of K. Chimin Wong, Lien-teh Wu and Bangxian Chen. Knowledge about the writers’life and education background helps us to know their academic attitudes and even the academic features of their works.Second part:Introduction and comparison about the writing background and versions of History of Chinese Medicine and Medical History of China. After the first edition being published, the two works are modified and republished several times. In order to give the medical history learners a clear and correct knowledge about the two works, it is very necessary to introduce their different editions. Especially about the publication sites of the first and the second editions of History of Chinese Medicine, some research articles have made wrong introductions. Therefore it is quite necessary to make a clarification in this thesis.Third part:This part serves as an introduction and comparison about the content and chapters of History of Chinese Medicine and Medical History of China in order to provide a general and comprehensive understanding of the two works to the medical history learners and researchers.Fourth part:Compare the features of History of Chinese Medicine and Medical History of China and analyze the reasons. Besides the difference in writing languages, the two works have different features and emphases in content. For example, History of Chinese Medicine possesses abundant medical history material while it lacks of theoretical views; Medical History of China possesses better theoretical views and perspectives, while the content is too simple. These features are closely related to the writers’language and medical history research background as well as the social environment where they lived.Fifth part:Compare the similarities and differences between History of Chinese Medicine and Medical History of China. Make objective comments on two books’academic value and influence. As the first Chinese medical history work written by Chinese experts in English language, History of Chinese Medicine opens a window to the world to get access to the treasure house of Chinese medicine. Being the first general history work of Chinese medical history, Medical History of China has profound influence and guiding significance. Due to limited number of research on these two works, people have little knowledge about them. The author believes it is necessary to give impartial and objective comments on the two works in order to lead people to give correct understanding and attention on them.ConclusionAmong the numerous research works on Chinese Medicine history, History of Chinese Medicine by K. Chimin Wong and Lien-teh Wu and Medical History of China by Bangxian Chen are regarded as the most representative pioneering works in recent China. They can be regarded as the model for later generations to write medical history works, no matter in terms of language level, historical material collection or compiling concepts. The two great works present very strong features.Medical History of China by Bangxian Chen, as an innovative medical history work, sets up the writing style of Chinese medical history works. It records and comments the famous Chinese physicians, medical works and events from ancient to Bangxian Chen’s time in the style of general history. Therefore it is recognized as a pioneering work, providing the later generations with research model. As Bangxian Chen had a high level of theoretical state, his compiling concepts are superior to others at the beginning of 20th century. He has paid much emphasis on medical history material collection, stressing speaking with historical facts, therefore in this book, he has adopted a large number of accurate medical materials. He valued the research on disease history and united the names of diseases in different dynasties. This is another special strong point of this book.History of Chinese Medicine by K. Chimin Wong and Lien-teh Wu is the first Chinese medical history work written in English in China, spreading to the West the traditional Chinese Medicine which has a long history of 5,000 years and which has made enormous contribution to human civilization and health. It’s quite praiseworthy for two authors who lived in a semi-feudal and semi-colonial society. It has quite distinctive features:while introducing Chinese Medicine history, it also talks about the abundant Chinese culture, embodying the color of science popularization and humanity; the carefully compiled appendix and indices provide much convenience for reading. Also, because two authors both had Western Medicine education background, this book values recent times more than the ancient ones, puts emphasis on the development course of Western Medicine in China and has collected numerous first-hand materials about church medicine and customs; it boasts rich content with precious pictures and photographs; it places particular emphasis on science popularization,Bangxian Chen, K. Chimin Wong and Lien-teh Wu can be regarded as the masters of language. Born in a scholarly family, Bangxian Chen began learning ancient Chinese classic works from a very young age and has accumulated profound knowledge of ancient Chinese civilization. In Medical History of China, readers can enjoy his accurate and concise language. K. Chimin Wong and Lien-teh Wu received English education from a child and finished their Western Medicine education in Hong Kong and Great Britain respectively. Therefore they were proficient in English language and had a good command of English literature and they could adopt English classic works in an accurate and idiomatic way. When reading History of Chinese Medicine, readers can enjoy their smoothing writing and concise and genuine language feature.History of Chinese Medicine by K. Chimin Wong and Lien-teh Wu and Medical History of China by Bangxian Chen are both famous Chinese Medicine works. Though they have different academic features and styles, their great academic value and contribution can not be denied. In this pioneering job, the three writers endured great hardship. Their academic works serve as a link between the past and the future and now still enjoy a large number of followers. The two great works represent the 100 years’history of foundation and development in Chinese medical history as a subject. |
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