Commercializing Medicine or Benefiting the People – The First Public Pharmacy in China

Abstract

ArgumentIn this article I describe the establishment and early development of an institution that is unique to the history of Chinese medicine – the Imperial Pharmacy (惠 民 藥 局). Established in 1076 during the great reforms of the Song dynasty, the Imperial Pharmacy was a remarkable institution that played different political, social, economic, and medical roles over the years of its existence. Initially it was an economic institution designed to curb the power of plutocrats who were manipulating medicinal drug markets in their favor. A few decades later, I claim, the Imperial Pharmacy became a public-health-oriented institution focusing on selling readymade prescriptions in addition to simples. Various records, including local gazetteers and local maps, indicate that the Imperial Pharmacy expanded about a century after it was established to include dozens of branches throughout the empire. The Pharmacy's impact on the practices of physicians during these years is somewhat vague. It seems, however, to have posed an unwelcome addition to the medical scene, since it enabled uninitiated practitioners who relied on the Pharmacy's formulary to fit patients' symptoms to their own prescriptions and dispense medications with relative ease.

Collecting Knowledge about Medicinal Ingredients in Northwestern Sichuan in the 1950s

“…4 Apart from commissioning the complications of the Ben Cao literature, as Asaf Goldschmidt observes, during the Song Dynasty an Imperial Pharmacy was designed to monitor the drug markets and then transformed into a public-health-oriented institution. 5 From the 17th century onwards, with the “amateurization” of Ben Cao and the development of the long-distance trade of medicines, more people participated in the complication of Ben Cao texts, making it hard for any single text to claim authority and be “official.” 6 The transition from official commission to civic participation in the compilation of Chinese pharmacopeia paralleled the evolution of the medicine market in China. The commodification of medicinal ingredients during the Ming and Qing dynasties ushered in the emergence of merchants and medicine houses as the primary actors in the trade in Chinese medicines.…”

Case Records as Medical Stories: Narrating Medicine in Song-Dynasty China: A Song-dynasty Doctor’s Narration of His own Medicine – Xu Shuwei (1080-1154)

“…This is especially strange given the fact that during the 12th century, the Imperial Pharmacy had many local branches in every prefecture throughout the empire. 36 Moreover, even the painting mentioned above, “ Qingming on the River ”, depicts several pharmacies in the capital. 37 It would be reasonable to assume that at least a few case records would mention the patients or their family going to the pharmacy or to a market to purchase the medicines composing the prescriptions.…”

Complaining About Lived Spaces: Responses to the Urban Living Environment of Northern Song Kaifeng

“…100 The government did not deal effectively with these problems of medicine and health care until the establishment of the Imperial Pharmacy (huimin yaoju 惠民藥局) in the capital city in 1076, shortly after Ouyang Xiu's death. 101 Charity clinics for the poor began to operate in 1102. 102 However, even after this, the provision of these services was still quite limited in smaller cities.…”