Northern Purgatives, Southern Restoratives: Ming Medical Regionalism

Abstract

Physicians during the Ming dynasty (1368-1644) understood that the Chinese empire was geographically diverse. They observed that their patients were corporeally and physiologically heterogeneous. They interpreted this ecological and human diversity within the reunited Ming Empire according to both an ancient northwest-southeast axis and a new emphasis on north versus south. The geographic distinctions-northern and southern (nanbei ) as well as northwestern (xibei ) and southeastern (dongnan )-similarly helped explain doctrinal and therapeutic divergences within the literate sector of Chinese medicine. They thought about ecological, climatic, and human variation within the framework of a uniquely Chinese northwestsoutheast polarity with roots in Chinese mythology and the Inner Canon of the Yellow Emperor. They also thought in terms of a north-ern and southern split in medicine, which the Yuan scholar Dai Liang (1317-1383) explicitly mentioned in his writings. The Ming physicians who discussed medical regionalism mostly asserted, however, the opposite; namely their own impartiality as medical authorities for all of China. Nevertheless, their essays on regionalism reveal considerable tensions, fissures, and conflicts in the literate sector of Ming medicine.

The Integration of Medicine and Confucianism in the Late Yuan Period: Focusing on Neo-Confucian Physician Zhu Zhenheng

“…실제 무주를 기반으로 한 강력한 지역 엘리트들의 네트워크를 바탕으로 전제국적 더 나아가 국제적 명성을 얻음으로 이를 실현한 대표적 인물이 주진형과 송렴이다. 32) 주진형의 의학은 인간의 질병과 체질에 환경이 미치는 영향을 점차 중시하면서 지역적 특색을 강조하는 경향을 보였던 원대의 의학 담론과는( Hanson, 2006; 2011 ) 달리 보편성을 보다 강조함으로써 그의 의학은 광범하게 전파되었다( Simonis, 2015 ). 이후 그의 의학이 중국 전역과 동아시아에까지 전파될 수 있었던 기반은 그가 궁극적으로 보편적 영향력을 추구했기 때문으로도 보이며 이는 무주의 사인 네트워크와 금화학파의 도학의 지향점과 일맥상통한다.…”

“…민병희 : 원말 의학과 유학의 결합 양상: 단계 주진형을 중심으로 을 보였던 원대의 의학 담론과는 (Hanson, 2006; 달리 보편성을 보다 강 조함으로써 그의 의학은 광범하게 전파되었다 (Simonis, 2015). 이후 그의 의학 이 중국 전역과 동아시아에까지 전파될 수 있었던 기반은 그가 궁극적으로 보편 적 영향력을 추구했기 때문으로도 보이며 이는 무주의 사인 네트워크와 금화학 파의 도학의 지향점과 일맥상통한다.…”

The Construction of the Medical Writer’s Authority and Legitimacy in Late Imperial China through Authorial and Allographic Prefaces

“…At first glance, they appear secondary in comparison with the insects and species they identify, but they are in fact necessary to give the collection its scientific entomological identity. 31 Hanson (2001Hanson ( , 2006 analysed the development of medical regionalism in late imperial China and shows that the argument that people in the south had particular bodies that suffered specific diseases and required special treatments was often expressed in the prefaces to some Jiangnan books in the nineteenth century. 32 See Cai Minyu's preface to Huang 1909 and the publishing house director's preface to He 1918.…”

The Dangers of ‘Warming and Replenishing’ (wenbu 溫補) during the Ming to Qing Epistemic Transition

“…16b–17a. See also Marta Hanson’s discussion on Li Zhongzi’s ideas on regionalism: ‘Commercial transformation of Chinese society between the time of Xue Ji in the 1550s and Li Zhongzi in the 1620s, increased the chasm between the rich and poor to such an extent that economic status became a newly resonant marker of even corporeal difference.’ (Hanson 2006, p. 164).…”