Speaking of Epidemics in Chinese Medicine (Needham Research Institute Series)

This book traces the history of the Chinese concept of "Warm diseases" ( wenbing ) from antiquity to the SARS epidemic. Following wenbing from its birth to maturity and even life in modern times Marta Hanson approaches the history of Chinese medicine from a new angle. She explores the possibility of replacing older narratives that stress progress and linear development with accounts that pay attention to geographic, intellectual, and cultural diversity. By doing so her book integrates the history of Chinese medicine into broader historical studies in a way that has not so far been attempted, and addresses the concerns of a readership much wider than that of Chinese medicine specialists. The persistence of wenbing and other Chinese disease concepts in the present can be interpreted as resistance to the narrowing of meaning in modern biomedical nosology. Attention to conceptions of disease and space reveal a previously unexamined discourse the author calls the Chinese geographic imagination. Tracing the changing meanings of "Warm diseases" over two thousand years allows for the exploration of pre-modern understandings of the nature of epidemics, their intersection with this geographic imagination, and how conceptions of geography shaped the sociology of medical practice and knowledge in late imperial China. Speaking of Epidemics in Chinese Medicine opens a new window on interpretive themes in Chinese cultural history as well as on contemporary studies of the history of science and medicine beyond East Asia. This Book Is The Biography Of A Chinese Disease. Born In Antiquity And Reaching Maturity During The Epidemics That Swept China During The Seventeenth-century Collapse Of The Ming Dynasty, The Ancient Notion Of Wenbing Warm Diseases Continued To Play A Role Even In The Response Of Traditional Chinese Medicine To The Outbreak Of Sars In 2002-3. By Following Wenbing From Its Birth To Maturity And Even Life In Modern Times This Book Approaches The History Of Chinese Medicine From A New Angle. It Explores The Possibility Of Replacing Older Narratives That Stress Progress And Linear Development With Accounts That Pay Attention To Geographic, Intellectual, And Cultural Diversity. By Doing So It Integrates The History Of Chinese Medicine Into Broader Historical Studies In A Way That Has Not So Far Been Attempted, And Addresses The Concerns Of A Readership Much Wider Than That Of Chinese Medicine Specialists--provided By Publisher. (publisher-supplied Data) Chapter One Medical History In Three Themes: Chinese Epidemiology, The Geographic Imagination, And A Biography Of Wenbing Warm Diseases 29 -- Chapter Two A Deep History Of The Chinese Geographic Imagination: The Five Directions, Northwest-southeast Dichotomy, And Southern Shift 76 -- Chapter Three The Geographic Imagination In Ming Medicine: Northern Purgatives, Southern Restoratives, And Conceptions Of North And South 130 -- Chapter Four Ming Medical Frontiers: Diseases Of The Far South, New Conceptions Of Contagion 179 -- Chapter Five Ming Medical Skepticism: Epidemiological Crisis, Cosmological Criticism 238 -- Chapter Six Matters Of Place: Epistemological Divisions, Genealogical Divergence 273 -- Chapter Seven Emergence Of Traditions: The Nineteenth-century Genealogy And Geography Of Warm Diseases 331. Marta E. Hanson. Includes Bibliographical References And Index.

This book traces the history of the Chinese concept of Warm diseases (wenbing) from antiquity to the SARS epidemic. Following wenbing from its birth to maturity and even life in modern times Marta Hanson approaches the history of Chinese medicine from a new angle. She explores the possibility of replacing older narratives that stress progress and linear development with accounts that pay attention to geographic, intellectual, and cultural diversity. By doing so her book integrates the history of Chinese medicine into broader historical studies in a way that has not so far been attempted, and addresses the concerns of a readership much wider than that of Chinese medicine specialists.

The persistence of wenbing and other Chinese disease concepts in the present can be interpreted as resistance to the narrowing of meaning in modern biomedical nosology. Attention to conceptions of disease and space reveal a previously unexamined discourse the author calls the Chinese geographic imagination. Tracing the changing meanings of Warm diseases over two thousand years allows for the exploration of pre-modern understandings of the nature of epidemics, their intersection with this geographic imagination, and how conceptions of geography shaped the sociology of medical practice and knowledge in late imperial China.

Speaking of Epidemics in Chinese Medicine opens a new window on interpretive themes in Chinese cultural history as well as on contemporary studies of the history of science and medicine beyond East Asia.