The Tang Dynasty Doctors Study

China is one of the four ancient civilizations and has a long history country. It enjoys dazzling tradition culture among which traditional medical science is most prominent.In ancient China, Tang dynasty represents the peak of the feudalist society. The development of political, economy and culture has reached unprecedented height. The ruling class attached great importance to the development of medicine and hygiene. They expanded the scale of the official medical organizations, improved related institutions and set up Taiyi Shu and Yao Cang Ju. Thanks to their unremitting efforts, Tang Dynasty was the first to extend medical education from the ruling class to common persons in the history, thereby forming a nationwide education system. The government has enacted strict system to select medical personnel. The Tang Dynasty not only had a good lead in medical system, but also built relatively perfect healthcare system for its subjects. The quality of healthcare concerns national welfare and people’s livelihood. Consequently, the advanced medical system has made significant contribution to the sound development of Tang Dynasty, the rapid growth of medical science and the expansion of foreign exchange. Nevertheless, those achievements can’t be separated from the active participation of doctors. The doctor is one occupation as well as specific crowds. In the thesis, the author will analyze doctors in the Tang Dynasty doctor in order to display their general picture. Meanwhile, the author will conduct studies on the phenomenon that both the literati and officials were proficient in medicine, thereby revealing their deep interest in medicine.Doctors in the paper refer to the professions who master medicine knowledge and devote themselves to disease prevention and treatment in modern sense. Besides, those, who have no comprehensive medical knowledge but practice medicine, still under the category of research subjects.The paper is divided into introduction, the main body and summary. The main body has three parts. Part I is about the medical education, examination, awards and punishment in the Tang Dynasty, which serves as a background for the following macroscopic researches into doctors. The Tang Dynasty has formed a rather complete medical education system ranging from the central authority to local places. Under the influence of the imperial examination system, the authority formulated special rules on examination, selection and appraisal, which shows their attention to medicine talents. The school systems vary from specialty to specialty. There are examinations every ten days, month and year as well as the graduation examination, which reflects the strictness and flexibility of medical education. The central government has grasped the features of medical education. There are several ways to select medical personnel, such as Shengtu, Zhiju, Gongju and Daizhao. And the rules on awards and punishment are strict too. These aspects have exerted active effects on future generations; and some of them are worth of acting as references for modern medicine education, examination, selection and appraisal of medicine personnel.Part Ⅱ introduces the general condition doctors in the Tang Dynasty, including their basic structure, roles, status and how they practice medicine. According to historical data, the personage relevant to medical science can be divided into three kinds. The first is doctors true to the name; the second is known for their medical works; the third is those who are proficient in medical knowledge but don’t take doctor as a career. The above three kinds show the components of doctors. From the perspective of their status and roles, doctors include officials, common persons, preachers, monks and scholars. Some are doctors for generations; some are learn from professional teachers; some are from themselves; some graduate from official schools. Thanks to the prosperity and openness in the Tang Dynasty, the medical science has witnessed great progress; the medical education is better than the previous dynasties; the number of doctors is more reasonable; their status is improved. However, the prosperity can’t compare with that in cultural and art filed, which deserves our deep thoughts.Part three mainly focuses on the phenomenon that both literati and officials are proficient in medicine. Their strong interest in medicine has made huge contribution to the development of the Chinese traditional medicine. those literati and officials have summarized the clinical experience in the Tang Dynasty and the previous ones. The unprecedented accumulation lays foundation for the theoretical breakthroughs in medicine in the following days. Their strong interest, in sharp contrast with the coldness in Wei-jin Period, lays foundations for the birth of the Confucian psyhcians in the Song Dynasty and the following ages and reserves talents for the breakthrough growth of medical theories. The emerging of Confucian physicians brings out rarely known changes in the medicine and the social status of doctors.In short, there are limitations in official medical establishment, medical education, healthcare system, official and common doctors in the Tang Dynasty. Nonetheless, we can neither deny its contribution to Chinese tradition medical science nor look down upon Chinese medicine.