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

2008 ◽  
Vol 21 (3) ◽  
pp. 311-350 ◽  
Author(s):  
Asaf Goldschmidt

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.

Author(s):  
Jinhai YAN ◽  
Yanjie PENG ◽  
Yue YANG

LANGUAGE NOTE | Document text in Chinese; abstract also in English.東漢時代的張仲景是中醫歷史最重要的醫家之一,被稱之為中國的希波克拉底。其名著《傷寒雜病論》成為中華醫學最重要的經典。在該書的序言中,張仲景系統闡述了其醫學倫理思想和行醫原則。認為醫師行醫的前提是實踐對自我與族群生命的熱愛;行醫的橋樑是用人類理性去發現健康與疾病的規律及控制的手段;行醫的準則是對醫術的認真與創新的態度。就其醫學倫理思想而言,張仲景醫學倫理的基本框架與中國傳統的儒家思想相吻合,反映了醫儒同道的精神。其思想對宋代以後“醫學儒化”的風尚具有一定的影響。作者認為,張仲景醫學倫理學亦對構建當代中國生命倫理學的構建具有啟發意義。Zhang Zongjing (150-219), known as the Chinese Hippocrates, was one of the most eminent physicians in China during the Han Dynasty. In the Shanghailun, a famous treatise on cold pathogenic diseases, Zhang not only described past medicinal discoveries but provided regulations for contemporary medical practice. The Shanghailun is thus an important text for scholars of the history of traditional Chinese medicine. The treatise was privately transmitted with no public acknowledgment until the Jin Dynasty (265-420), when it was re-edited and rearranged. The treatise received more attention and became increasingly popular during the Song Dynasty, when a Confucian basis for medical practice was endorsed by the government. Zhang has since been regarded as a sage of Chinese medicine. The Shanghailun also became part of the compulsory curriculum at China’s Imperial Medical Academy. Zhang has a special status in the history of Chinese medicine due to his efforts to create an orthodox system of medical practice in line with the Confucian (Ru) tradition.In this paper, Zhang Zongjing’s major ideas on medical ethics and practice are explored. The author illustrates the critical role played by Zhang’s approach to medicine in the later Confucianization of medicine during the Song Dynasty, which in turn created the ideal of the traditional Confucian physician. The author also compares the ethical views of Zhang Zongjing with those of Sun Simiao (541-682), another key figure in the history of traditional Chinese medicine, who combined Confucian ethics with the moral teachings of Daoism and Buddhism.DOWNLOAD HISTORY | This article has been downloaded 237 times in Digital Commons before migrating into this platform.


Religions ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 279
Author(s):  
Aleksi Järvelä ◽  
Tero Tähtinen

In this paper, we explore the historical background and the semantic underpinnings of a central, if marginally treated, metaphor of enlightenment and transmission in Chan discourse, “silent accord” 默契. It features centrally in Essentials of the Transmission of Mind 傳心法要, a text that gathers the teachings of Chan master Huangbo Xiyun (d. ca. 850), a major Tang dynasty figure. “Silent accord” is related to the concept of mind-to-mind transmission, which lies at the very core of Chan Buddhist self-understanding. However, Chan historiography has shown that this self-understanding was partially a product of the Song dynasty lineage records, historically retroactive syncretic constructs produced by monks and literati as efforts towards doctrinal and political recognition and orthodoxy. There are thus lacunae in the history of Chan thought opened up by the retrospective fictions of Song dynasty, and a lack of reliable, dateable documents from the preceding Tang dynasty era, possibly fraught with later additions. We situate the metaphor “silent accord” in the history of Chan thought by searching for its origins, mapping its functions in Chan literature, arguing for its influence and thereby its role in helping to bridge the 9th century gap.


2015 ◽  
Vol 361 ◽  
pp. 1-13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hardev Singh Virk

Luminescent phenomena have fascinated mankind since the earliest times. The light from the aurora borealis, glow worms, luminescent wood, rotting fish and meat are all examples of naturally occurring luminescence. E. Newton Harvey’s 770 page volume “A History of Luminescence: From the Earliest Times until 1900” is a classic which narrates interesting stories from ancient cultures to modern times. The earliest written account of a solid state luminescent material comes from a Chinese text published in the Song dynasty (960–1279 A.D.). The Buddhist sacred jewel, called "hashi-no-tama" in Japan, is alleged to be self-luminous and to shed a brilliant light on its surroundings. In the Svetasvatara Upanishad, probably recorded at some time before the sixth century BC, we find a mention of fire-flies as one of the manifestations of Brahma.


1987 ◽  
Vol 91 ◽  
pp. 135-138 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shigeru Nakayama

It is proved that the Futian calendar, a non-official one compiled in the Jianzhong reign period (780-783) in China, was brought to Japan in 957 by a Buddhist monk and was employed as the basis of horoscopes by the Buddhist school of astrology (Memo 1964). It was also used in competition with the official Chinese xuanming calendar for the usual functions demanded of a Chinese type lunisolar ephemerides, such as eclipse predictions. According to the view of the Song Dynasty Chinese scholar Wang Yinglin that the Futian calendar was “originally an Indian method of astronomical calculation” but Kiyosi Yabuuti has commented that Wang Yinglin’s appraisal of the Futian calendar is solely based on a resemblance in form as it copied the trivial point of taking its epoch as the Jiuzhi calendar according to Indian astronomical methods and does not display a fundamental understanding of the Indian calendar (Yabuuti 1944).


2008 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-45 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chen Hsiu-fen

AbstractThis article sets out to explore the ideas and practices of yangsheng (nourishing life or health preservation) in the late Ming, i.e. late sixteenth- and early seventeenth-century China. Yangsheng had long played a key role in the traditions of Chinese medicine, religions and court societies. Initially restricted to certain social classes and milieux, knowledge of yangsheng began to spread much more widely from the Song dynasty (960–1279) onwards, mostly owing to rapid social and economic change. In this context, the theories and practices of yangsheng attracted the attention and curiosity of many scholars. The popularisation of yangsheng peaked in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Numerous literary works, essay collections and household encyclopaedias for everyday use have passages and sections on yangsheng. They describe various ideas and techniques of yangsheng by means of regulating the body in daily life, involving sleeping, exercising, washing, eating, drinking, etc. Through a survey of the most famous late Ming work on yangsheng, Zunsheng bajian (1591), this article attempts to highlight how yangsheng came to dominate the scholarly lifestyle. It will give a clear picture of the ideas of a late Ming literatus on prolonging life and replenishing the body, while showing how these practices were inspired by the flourishing material culture of the late Ming as a whole.


2020 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yusupova Barchina Gakhramanova

In the short time since Uzbekistan gained independence, the Uzbek people have made great strides in the political, social, economic and cultural spheres; a new approach to the history of the minority, the honor of organizing the rich cultural and spiritual heritage left by great ancestors, the restoration of national pride; Science, including pedagogy, is entering a new stage of development in the country; A lot of work is being done to revive the glory of the pedagogical geniuses of the eighties, to apply their ideas in the life of the people.


2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 117-123
Author(s):  
A. D. J. Cortés-Sánchez

Legionella spp. are microorganisms that are generally found in the aquatic environment (rivers, streams, lakes, among others). The importance in public health is in the fact that this bacterium is capable of multiplying and propagating in artificial aquatic systems (piping systems, storage tanks, fountains, and cooling towers), giving rise to diseases in humans called legionellosis, transmitted by inhalation of contaminated water droplets or aerosols and whose complications can lead to the death of the patient. Legionellosis is of worldwide distribution, Legionella pneumophila being the most commonly involved species in outbreaks and reported cases. The people most at risk are the elderly, people with weakened immune systems, and people with a history of smoking. Around the world, regulatory agencies and health organizations have issued and established recommendations with the purpose of controlling and preventing the risk of contracting this disease, which include the sanitation of water supplies, maintenance through regular cleaning and disinfection of facilities and devices for reducing the presence of this pathogen. The main objective of this review is to present in a general manner, aspects related to the disease known as legionellosis, its casual agents, habitat, transmission form, and phenotypic and metabolic characteristics. Likewise, the methods of control and prevention of these pathogens are presented, including a potential biotechnological alternative that can contribute to actions in favour of the protection of public health through the use of compounds with surface activity called biosurfactants.


Nova Scientia ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 ◽  
Author(s):  
Saúl Alfonso Esparza-Rodríguez ◽  
Jaime A. Martínez-Arroyo ◽  
Armando Sánchez-Vargas

The crisis considered as the "Great Confinement" caused by the outbreak of the COVID-19 disease has had a multidimensional impact on humanity, on a health, social, economic, and political level. One of the main effects has been reflected in an economic crisis unparalleled in human history. In the economic history of the human being, each crisis of a wide magnitude has demonstrated a relationship between sociodemographic and economic factors and the growth of the informal economy, such as the level of earnings, scholarship, search of an extra job sex and levels of inequality and poverty. Method: Database was obtained from harmonized surveys made available by INEGI and SHCP, from where both quantitative and categorical data were identified that correspond to the structuralist and institutionalist dimension of informality. Based on that, we applied a Logit model to determine the probability of a person to belong to the informal sector of the economy, and a Probit model to identify reiterated variables of the model as well. Results: Statistically representative variables to determine the probability to belong to the informal sector, with a global percentage of 72.5 %, are the years of school, age, economic inequality, percentage of poverty in each state, the degree of spending in fiscal obligations, the level of fiscal compensations due to belonging to RIF, the type of occupation, sex and the level of minimal wages earned. Discussion or Conclusion: Considering the findings of the research, it is possible to infer that the people with higher risk of falling in the informality and continuing in it, show a characteristic profile that can be considered as a valid base to design effective public policies to reduce informality. The present research contributes trough the identification of a model that describes the profile of an individual with a higher probability of integrate to the informal sector of the economy, considering both sociodemographic and market structure factors, considering the effect of the pandemics in the current economic conditions.


NAN Nü ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 179-218 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keith McMahon

“Women Rulers in Imperial China”is about the history and characteristics of rule by women in China from the Han dynasty to the Qing, especially focusing on the Tang dynasty ruler Wu Zetian (625-705) and the Song dynasty Empress Liu. The usual reason that allowed a woman to rule was the illness, incapacity, or death of her emperor-husband and the extreme youth of his son the successor. In such situations, the precedent was for a woman to govern temporarily as regent and, when the heir apparent became old enough, hand power to him. But many women ruled without being recognized as regent, and many did not hand power to the son once he was old enough, or even if they did, still continued to exert power. In the most extreme case, Wu Zetian declared herself emperor of her own dynasty. She was the climax of the long history of women rulers. Women after her avoided being compared to her but retained many of her methods of legitimization, such as the patronage of art and religion, the use of cosmic titles and vocabulary, and occasional gestures of impersonating a male emperor. When women ruled, it was an in-between time when notions and language about something that was not supposed to be nevertheless took shape and tested the limits of what could be made acceptable.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document