China Yi Medicine Literature And Analysis

The Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is well known for much reduced side effects in the world. As one part of TCM, Yi Medicine, which is one of Minority Medicines in Southwest China, has attracted increased attention at home and abroad. Yi Medicine has had a history of several thousand years and played an important role in taking care the Yi people's health. Among of the minority medicines in China, the Yi medical literature is one of the richest and covers a wide variety of medical subjects. However, research into the Yi medical literature thus far has been very scant, with only a few scholars looking into it and the understanding limited. No more than 30 publications are found after the establishment of the new China, including both ancient literature discovered and modern publications. This is hardly acceptable considering the richness of the bulk of the Yi medical literature in existence. Since there are no books and articles of general introduction and analysis written on the Yi medical literature, I undertook three fieldwork trips to collect and sort materials relating to Yi medicine in the southwest minority regions in past three years. The trips yielded some valuable data, of which analysis sheds light on the Yi medical literatures.The article is divided into five parts. Part one is a brief introduction of the Yi medical literature and the ideas behind the thesis project. Part two describes the present situation in Yi literatures that includes published books and collections in the folk distributions. Part three is the main part of the thesis, which demonstrates the main concepts and ideas of the Yi medicine based on the literatures ranging from the basic theory , the category of herbs and the clinic departments and points the merits and faults by the comparative study in medical literatures between the Yi medicine and TCM. Part four introduces the research institutes and researchers in the field at present. And finally, the last part presents the obstacles encountered in the literature and presents suggestions in preserving the heritage of the Yi literature.