Epidemics and Medicine during the Northern Song Dynasty: The Revival of Cold Damage Disorders (Shanghan)

Goldschmidt, Asaf

doi:10.1163/008254307x211106

Cited by 6 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 19 publications

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“…non-major disease disasters is therefore key to interpret the content of the catalogue. Goldschmidt [24] found in dynastic histories 37 ‘large scale epidemics which could conceivably have affected the course of life in the empire’ during the Northern Song dynasty (960–1127). Fifteen of the 37 outbreaks are mentioned in Cha's catalogue.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Epidemic and population patterns in the Chinese Empire (243b.c.e. to 1911c.e.): quantitative analysis of a unique but neglected epidemic catalogue

Morabia

2009

Epidemiol. Infect.

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A catalogue of dates and places of major outbreaks of epidemic diseases, that occurred in the Chinese Empire between 243 B.C.E. and 1911 C.E., combined with corresponding demographic data, provides a unique opportunity to explore how the pressure of epidemics grew in an agrarian society over 2000 years. This quantitative analysis reveals that: (1) the frequency of outbreaks increased slowly before the 12th century and rapidly thereafter, until 1872; (2) in the first millennium of our era, the people of China lived for decades free of major epidemics; in the second millennium, major outbreaks occurred every couple of years, but were localized; (3) in the more recent centuries, these outbreaks were as common, but disseminated to more places. This evolution, closely matching the demographic growth, was similar in the north and south of China, and therefore may have been similar in other regions of the world.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Epidemic and population patterns in the Chinese Empire (243b.c.e. to 1911c.e.): quantitative analysis of a unique but neglected epidemic catalogue

Morabia

2009

Epidemiol. Infect.

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“…Furthermore, the increase in population especially in the south, the increase in urbanization, and the increase in long-distance trade volume facilitated the spread of epidemics. 19 Nevertheless, all these changes did not prompt the government to take large-scale actions designed to enhance public health until the end of the 11th century.…”

Section: The Changing Epidemiological Environment During the Northern...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Reacting to Epidemics: The Innovative Imperial Public Health System during the Late Northern Song Dynasty

Goldschmidt

2023

Chinese Medicine and Culture

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Song China was a period in which China experienced a great increase in its population. Concurrently, the Song dynasty also experienced a rise in the frequency of epidemics and two major wars with the Western Xia and Liao dynasties during the 1000s and 1040s. The consequences of these changes were exacerbated by the increased geographical mobility of certain social groups such as traders and examinees attending civil service examinations. Thus, casualties of wars, epidemics, or disease, especially of people whose families were far away and could not care for them were left without care and "their corpses often lay bare along the roads." This new social environment created a need for general relief. The Northern Song government (960-1127 CE), especially during the reign of Emperor Huizong, established an innovative public health system to address this issue. The public health system included poorhouses, public hospitals, and pauper's cemeteries. The first were more of charity organizations, whereas the latter two promoted public health by providing medical services for the poor and burial for those that nobody cared for. In terms of rationale behind these institutions, on the one hand, they constituted an attempt to get the poor and homeless off the streets while providing them relief or burial. On the other hand, it seems that Huizong's deep concern with medicine propelled him to design and implement a comprehensive public health system oriented to prevent contagion and outbreak of epidemics. This article depicts the background, the organization, and the functions of the system. The article also discusses the conditions and reasons that gave rise to such a unique undertaking by the Northern Song government.

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“…Epidemics may have also played a role in the establishment of the Pharmacy. Epidemics had been a continuous issue for the Song government, ever since a wave of ten epidemics erupted over fifteen years from 1045 to 1060 (Goldschmidt 2007; idem forthcoming). Initially, the Northern Song government reacted by providing food and medications for the affected regions.…”

Section: The Song Dynasty Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The Pharmacy was not only a profitable imperial institution, it also enabled the government to claim benevolence since it aided people in dire times and demonstrated the emperor's concern about the welfare of the population. This was especially true given the increase in epidemics during the eleventh century (Goldschmidt 2007). Indeed, according to various government records, the Pharmacy played an active role in battling epidemics by compounding and manufacturing large quantities of specific formulas, according to directions issued by the Imperial Physician's office.…”

Section: The Imperial Pharmacymentioning

confidence: 99%

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

Goldschmidt¹

2008

Sci Context

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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.

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Epidemics and Medicine during the Northern Song Dynasty: The Revival of Cold Damage Disorders (Shanghan)

Cited by 6 publications

References 19 publications

Epidemic and population patterns in the Chinese Empire (243b.c.e. to 1911c.e.): quantitative analysis of a unique but neglected epidemic catalogue

Epidemic and population patterns in the Chinese Empire (243b.c.e. to 1911c.e.): quantitative analysis of a unique but neglected epidemic catalogue

Reacting to Epidemics: The Innovative Imperial Public Health System during the Late Northern Song Dynasty

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

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