Wang Peizhang

01 · Lineage & Regional School

Born into a family of practitioners of Chinese gynaecology, from the age of four he was guided by his father Wang Yupu in identifying Chinese medicines every day, learning their properties, reciting the Ode on the Properties of Medicines and the Song of Decoctions, and studying the medical classics of successive dynasties. At fourteen he accompanied his father on house calls, and at seventeen he began to practise medicine independently. He upholds the essentials of the family gynaecology while ranging widely over other schools, holding in particular the thought of Fu Shan and Li Dongyuan; with Fu Shan's gynaecology as his core, he is highly skilled in the diagnosis and treatment of difficult gynaecological conditions such as those before and after childbirth, menstrual regulation, promoting conception, and flooding and spotting with leukorrhoea. He has continually distilled experience in clinical practice and written a number of papers, and together with his son Wang Wen he co-authored The Family Transmission and Application of Fu Shan's Gynaecology, which attracted the attention of the medical world. Within the regional tradition and school record of Traditional Chinese Medicine Diagnostics in Pingyao, Shanxi: When a local daughter-in-law fell ill and died, her natal family would ask whether the Wang family of Daohubi had been consulted for treatment; otherwise, the natal family would certainly hold them responsible. The Daohubi Wang Family Gynecology of Chinese Medicine originated in the Song-Jin and Yuan periods and has been passed down through 29 generations over more than 800 years. In 1952, Wang Yupu, together with his sons Wang Peizhang and Wang Peiyao, founded an integrated Chinese and Western medicine clinic, which later became the Pingyao County Gynecology Hospital. In 1962, the Pingyao County Gynecology Hospital merged with the Pingyao County People's Hospital. In 1998, the "Taiyuan Daohubi Gynecology Clinic" was founded. In 1990, the "Pingyao County Daohubi Wanggong Clinic" was founded.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

Today the Wang family numbers more than one hundred physicians practising throughout the country, and several of his descendants have carried on the ancestral profession. Within the documented technical tradition of Traditional Chinese Medicine Diagnostics in Pingyao, Shanxi: It is now located in Daohubi Village, the ancient city of Pingyao, Shanxi Province, 2.5 kilometers from the ancient city. Wang's Gynecology specializes in difficult and complicated gynecological conditions such as women's prenatal and postpartum conditions, irregular menstruation, prolonged infertility, flooding, spotting, and abnormal vaginal discharge, ovarian cysts, uterine fibroids, and lumbar distress and incessant bleeding caused by intrauterine device insertion. For the selection and processing of medicinal materials, and the making of pills, powders, plasters, and elixirs, techniques such as sun-drying, dew-refining with sugar, wine-processing, vinegar-soaking, salt-soaking, steaming, sun-drying again, and honey-processing are all employed; the technical operations are mastered entirely by experience. The famous physicians of the Wang gynecology family recorded in history include the founding ancestor Wang Hou, the fourth-generation heir Wang Shiheng, the eighth-generation heir Wang Shineng, the eleventh-generation heir Wang Jinggang, the twelfth-generation Wang Bohui, the nineteenth-generation Wang Pinyu, the twentieth-generation Wang Dusheng, and the twenty-fifth-generation Wang Jiyi. The twenty-sixth-generation Wang Yupu was a famous physician of modern times. Wang Peizhang, the twenty-seventh-generation heir and a famous physician of modern times, was the son of Wang Yupu and a chief physician. The modern figures Wang Jiyi and Wang Yupu are both recorded in the Pingyao County Gazetteer. Through the medical practice of generation after generation, Wang's Gynecology accumulated a large amount of clinical experience, ancestral secret formulas, pulse verses and rhymes, and unique methods for processing Chinese materia medica, curing diseases for the broad masses of patients and winning deep praise among the people. This efficacy and reputation are the fundamental reason for the generational transmission of Wang's Gynecology. The twenty-eighth-generation heir Wang Wen practiced medicine for more than forty years and co-authored the book The Family-Transmitted Application of Fu Shan's Gynecology with his father Wang Peizhang, which won an award. The twenty-eighth-generation heir Wang Gong is a practitioner of Chinese medicine. He has practiced medicine for more than thirty years and, building on Wang's Gynecology, has achieved distinctive efficacy in the diagnosis and treatment of male impotence and premature ejaculation, seminal emission, and infertility caused by liver-kidney deficiency. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Reading menstruation, discharge and pregnancy": Gynaecological diagnosis is organised around menstruation, discharge, pregnancy and childbirth, colour and texture leading to the pattern. "Preparing pills, powders, ointments and pills": Prescriptions are made up into pills, powders and ointments on the spot, the form chosen by severity and urgency. "Wine, vinegar, brine, steam and honey processing": Sunning, dew-curing, wine, vinegar, brine, steaming, drying and honey processing are combined, each judged by hand rather than rule. "Distinguishing patterns in bleeding and discharge": Infertility, bleeding, discharge and post-insertion low back pain are divided into patterns, judged by mnemonic verses kept within the family.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

Wang Peizhang was born in November 1932 in Pingyao County, Shanxi Province, and died in August 2017; he was of Han ethnicity. He was a national representative bearer of Traditional Chinese Medicine Diagnostics (the Dao Hubi Wang Family Gynaecology of Chinese Medicine), a fourth-batch national intangible cultural heritage project.

04 · Associated Heritage Item Dossier

05 · Fellow National Bearers Lineage

National representative bearers recorded under the same item code, ordered from the first to the sixth batch. Batch order is not a teacher–student relationship.

06 · Archival Sources & Bibliography

1. Wang Peizhang · National Representative Bearer Archive