| This dissertation examines the intersection between the culture of knowledge and socio-economic conditions of late Ming and Qing China (1550-1800) through the lens of materia medica. I argue that medicine in China during this time developed new characteristics that emphasized the centrality of drugs as objects of pharmacological knowledge, commodities valued by authenticity and efficacy, and embodiment of medical skills and expertise. My inquiry contributes to a deeper understanding of the materiality of healing as a basic condition in early modern societies: on the one hand, textual knowledge about drugs and the substances themselves became increasingly available via the commoditization of texts and goods; on the other hand, anxiety arose out of the unruly nature of potent substances, whose promise to cure remained difficult to grasp in social practice of medicine.;Drawing evidence from medical texts, local gazetteers, court statutes and commercial records, my findings suggest three major realms of change associated with medical substances that have greatly shaped what is known as modern Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) today. First of all, bencao ( materia medica) texts were no longer primarily standard reference compiled under state patronage, but became a heterogeneous genre for authors and publishers with distinct political, commercial, and intellectual agenda. Secondly, harvest and transportation of crude drugs ceased to be directed by the central state by the end of the seventeenth century, but increasingly relied on regional and interregional trade run by merchant groups. Importantly, the notion of place-based authenticity (Ch: daodi) came out of the long distance trade and shaped popular imagination of value, efficacy, and authenticity beyond the context of medicine. Lastly, individual physicians gradually lost their control over the pharmaceutical processes, lacking the capital and access to wholesale market of materia medica. A new type of eclectic pharmacy began to dominate urban scenes in the eighteenth century, combining service to fill regular prescriptions with preparation of standard and proprietary remedies. In the end, the advertisement of material efficacy came to eclipse the value of experience and expertise in the medical marketplace. |
