Hello, everyone. Previously we have discussed about the pros and cons of Chinese traditional medicine (TCM). From this class, we are going to talk about the origin and development of TCM. Three topics will be covered. The first topic goes to the ancient legends. The second is devoted to the foundations of medical theories. The third and last one will be the development and inheritance of TCM. In today's class, we will focus on the ancient legends. Jiaguwen (Oracles\inscriptions on bones or tortoise shells) is a type of written language used in the Yin Dynasty and Shang Dynasty, the characters of which are not completely decoded. Before Jiaguwen there witnessed few written languages, so that events were passed orally from generations to generations at that time. Languages and characters increased with the start of Chunqiu period (Spring and Autumn period), leading to the appearance of books and schools. Therefore we call the era before Chunqiu period "ancient times", which is without adequate languages and characters. There are no exact written records of the origin of TCM in the ancient times. That is why we call them legends of the origin. Let's start with the legend of Fuxi inventing the Jiuzhen (nine classical needles). As we have discussed in the former parts about the legends of acupuncture and moxibustion, you might have some initial impressions of its efficacy. Then who indeed invented the acupuncture and moxibustion? In former classes, you have come to know the magic effects of acupuncture and moxibustion. The question here is who was the inventor? When was it invented? And what materials made the needle so magic? It is said that Fuxi invented the tools for acupuncture and moxibustion: stone-grinding needles. The legend of needle originates from “The Age of King”, which recorded the saying "Fuxi tasted hundreds of medicine and invented the nine classical needles". Inventing the tools for acupuncture and moxibustion is only one of Fuxi's legendary stories. Fuxi is also known as Fu Xi, Paoxi and Taihao. He lived around the early Neolithic Age and was said to have a human head with a snake body, namely the descendant of long. His birthplace was not very clear, what we know now is that he appeared in the northwest and central plains. And that is also the range of activity for the tribes of Huangdi (Yellow Emperor) and Yandi (Yan Emperor). Tianshui city in the Gansu province named itself "hometown of Fuxi" in honor of him. Huaiyang county (known as Wanqiu and Chenzhou in ancient times) of Zhoukou city in Henan province is inferred to be Fuxi's capital and resting place. Fuxi's mausoleum, the so-called first mausoleum in China, is said to be located there. Fuxi had a great range of cultural influence. As remote as in the northwest Xinjiang, there has excavated a silk picture of Fuxi and Nuwa. The interesting thing is that Fuxi married his sister Nuwa, and today's Chinese people are all said to be their descendants. Even more miraculous is that Fuxi is regarded as the inventor of Bagua (The Eight Diagrams). And we'll detail that in the section of Yi-culture (Changing-culture) and Traditional Chinese Medicine. Fuxi used the Eight Diagrams to understand the changes of everything, thus he is considered as the primogenitor of Chinese civilization. Since Fuxi is also said to invent the hundreds of drugs and the treatment of acupuncture and moxibustion, he is also called the originator of TCM. Though such a legend could not be proved true, the excavated stone needles do prove that in the Neolithic Period, Chinese ancestors have grasped the technology of grinding stone into needle. We can also surely infer that the needles are tools for acupuncture and moxibustion. After stone needles, people invented bone needles made up of animals' bones. Of course, now we mostly use stainless steel needle. What this story implies is that Chinese ancestors, like Fuxi, had invented tools for acupuncture and moxibustion as early as in the ancient times. We are moving to another legend of "Shennong tasting a hundred kinds of herbs". Shennong, also known as "Yan Emperor" or "Chi Emperor", belongs to Jiang family of the Xirong tribe. His tribe took cow as the totem, so he was often portrayed as a figure with horn tasting herbs. He lived in the northwest China, today's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, to the range of Gansu, Qinghai and Shanxi province. Yandi's tribe came to the central plains before Huangdi's tribe, and then moved south towards today's Hunan province. Shennong fought against Jiuli tribe led by Chiyou when his tribe entered the central plains, and together with Huangdi, they defeated Chiyou. Though finally, Yandi (namely Shennong) and Huangdi fought against each other, and Shennong moved to south to maintain the culture of Yandi after the failure in the war. Whether Yandi is really existed or not still remains controversial. But according to archaeology, 5000-10000 years before present is China's early and middle stages of neolithic age, the legendary Shennong period. Well then, 5000-6000 years before present is a transitional period from neolithic age to bronze age, the legendary Huangdi period. Therefore Shennong and Yandi can be called our ancestors, nd they represented two great ages, I personally think Shennong and Yandi may not be specific individuals, instead, they may be the two representative giant and prosperous tribes. Tribe represented by Shennong had a mastery of agriculture, animal husbandry and handicraft such as potting and textile. People in that tribe could use bow and arrow, and they bartered for goods. Zax, bone-made hoe and stean have been found in the room relics in the Shanxi Banpo site, and ceramic pot have been found in the tombs as sacrificial objects. Similarly, more than 20,000 grains of rice have been found in Bashidang Site in the Li county of Hunan province. That is the place where the largest number of prehistoric grains were found worldwide. Of course there have also found many instruments of production. The book "Shizi" in the middle stage of Warring States period recoded that Shennong tribe had ever dominated certain areas. Acccording to “Xu Sanhuang Benji" (Biographic sketches of the Three Emperors Ex), Yandi had been emperor for 530 years. In recent years, based on the stylobate structures found in Bashidang Site, archaeologists concluded that Bashidang Site is the centre of Shennong tribe 6500 years ago. Shennong tribe represented the creator of not only agriculture civilization, but also medicine of herbs. These legends were recorded in later centuries' books. For example, in the book "Huainanzi·Xiuwuxun" in the Western Han Dynasty, it said that "Shennong started to teach people, taste a hundred of herbs and try the spring. At that time, he encountered 70 kinds of poison within one day and hereafter the medicine began to rise." Liushu in the Song Dynasty also said in his "Tongwaiji", that "When people got sick they didn't know what herbs to eat. Yandi thus began tasting different herbs and was poisoned 70 times in a day, but he finally recovered." All these facts tell us that Chinese ancestors, represented by Yandi, through human experiments, they managed to summarize the effects and virulence of different herbs, though at the cost of numerous sacrifice of lives in testing the poisonous herbs. Shennong is said to die of eating gelsemium elegan in the Chaweizhixiang in Changsha. People in Han Dynasty named their renowned pharmacy book "Shennong Bencao Jing" (Divine Farmer's Materia Medica), which is an expression of medical philosophy as well as commemoration of ancestors' discovery of medicinal herbs. Mr Yu Muming from Taiwan had delivered heartfelt remarks when in a commemoration of Yandi. He said, ”I studied pharmacy back in university, and hence have a deeper understanding of the difficulty of Shennong's tasting a hundred herbs. Not all of us can do that". I think his remarks actually expressed his respect for Shennong. But for the ancestors' risking experience of tasting herbs, we would not have the later "Bencao Jing" and consequent flourishing of TCM. OK. We are now going to the third story, Yiyin's invention of "tangyao", a decoction of medicinal ingredients Yiyin is a legendary figure in the Chinese history, who lived in late Xia Dynasty and early Shang Dynasty 3700 years ago. He was said to born near the river of Yi, and was the slave of the King of Youxin Country. When he heard Shangtang (or simply Tang, as Shang is the tribe name) is "virtuous and of righteousness", he showed strong yearning for Shangtang. After Youxin's girl married into Shangtang's family, Yi Yin came together as "dowry" to Shangtang's domain and became a small official there. Yiyin himself is a cook. So he took the metaphor of cooking to advise Shangtang to "invade Xia and save people there". According to "Hanfeizi", Yi Yin's advice was rejected 70 times by Shangtang, showing how patient his persuasion was. Later on, Yi Yin was appreciated by Tang and took part in the state management. He helped Shangtang defeat the last Emperor Jie of Xia Dynasty and established Shang Dynasty. He had assist rulers of sequent generations in governing the country and made brilliant contributions. Yi Yin received grand worships in the Shang Dynasty. His high reputation and position could be seen in the oracle inscriptions worshipping him found in the Yinxu (Shang Dynasty ruins). He grew from a slave to the Zai Xiang (Prime Minister in feudal China), and had ever functioned as the acting monarch, which is even rarely seen in the world history. Yi Yin's major contribution to TCM is the invention of the treatment of decoction of medicinal ingredients. At the very beginning, represented by Shennong tasting a hundred herbs, the ancient people would gather and directly eat the herbs. Direct eating, though had some efficacy, was restrained by the growth cycle of the plants. It might not be in time to gather needed herbs for a urgent patient, and thus it was hard to be widely promoted. Yi Yin, as we said before, was a cook, who would often used prepared ingredients and seasoning to cook delicious meals. Besides, his soup might have occasionally healed some patients who got cold, making him attempting to heal more people by ingredients and or their decoction. Let's check a record that could prove this inference. "Lüshi Chunqiu" recorded Yi Yin and Shangtang's discussion of cooking, saying that "Yangpu's ginger and Zhaoyao's cinnamon [are of good flavour]". "Zhenjiu Jiayi Jing (The AB Canon of Acupuncture and Moxibustion)" mentioned that "Yi Yin, through his great talent, making decoction of the herbs." That is to say, Chinese people mastered the techniques of decoction at least as early as Yi Yin. The invention of decoction has two major advantages. The first one is decoction promotes the development of ancient Chinese pharmacology. As you may know, decoction is featured with fast absorption, so compared with other forms of bolus, powder, plaster and pellet, decoction can be applied to acute diseases. Modern medicine also found that absorption process finished within 30-60 minutes after drinking the decoction. So it took effect quickly. The second advantage of decoction is that it could make use of the dried medical material, making it easier to preserve the medical material. Therefore it is possible to dry the seasonal medical material for further use, instead of being restricted by the growth cycle. Today's three stories served to prove that numerous Chinese ancestors had sacrificed their precious lives in the emerging period of TCM, and that is why TCM is valued so much throughout the history. We'll stop here. Next class we are going to explore the foundations of medical theories of TCM.
