TCM Diagnostic and Therapeutic Methods

Ⅸ-2Traditional MedicineNingboshihaishu, ZhejiangBatch 4 (2014)Extension Item

01 · Historical Records

The Dong school of pediatrics originated in Dongjiatiao Village, Jiangshan Town, Yinzhou District, Ningbo City, Zhejiang Province, and is the most influential branch of Shanghai-school pediatric Chinese medicine. Its source can be traced back to the families of hereditary physicians in the area of Yin County in the late Qing and early Republican period, and it has passed through seven generations over more than two hundred years. Early transmitters began with family learning and reference to classics such as the Inner Canon (Huangdi Neijing) and the Classic of Difficult Issues (Nanjing), practicing mostly in the countryside around Ningbo; by the time of the fifth generation, with Dong Youqi, the school's pediatric reputation spread beyond its home area, and Ningbo and Shanghai gradually became its two centers of gravity.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

Its students are found throughout the country, and its medical art is renowned both in China and abroad. The Dong school of pediatrics is based on family learning, with reference to the classics including the Inner Canon and the Classic of Difficult Issues; combining these with clinical practice, it established the academic thought of “reasoning about the disease, reasoning about the treatment”, and proposed the nine essentials of treatment — clarifying the principle, recognizing the disease, differentiating the pattern, seeking the cause, establishing the method, selecting the formula, composing the ingredients, moderating the dosage and knowing the changes — by which it guides and establishes the rules of pediatric diagnosis and treatment. The school advocates that in examining children's diseases inspection comes first, that in regulating and treating children's diseases attention should be paid to the spleen and stomach, and that in externally contracted heat diseases one should choose the route by which to expel the invader. In prescribing medicines it advocates meticulous medication, emphasizing the six-character essentials of light, ingenious, simple, flexible, inexpensive and effective; each prescription contains at most eight or nine ingredients, and the cost is low — for example, children with autumn diarrhea can often be treated for about ten yuan. It has also established the method of invigorating blood and regulating qi to treat recurrent intussusception, the method of supporting the healthy and expelling the pathogenic to treat recurrent high-fever convulsions, the method of raising the clear and moving the spleen to treat fungal enteritis, the method of clearing the nutrient level and venting the qi level to treat Kawasaki disease, and the method of courting and venting with regulation of the spleen to treat allergic purpura — achieving refined prescriptions with remarkable effects. In addition, upholding the Dong family's hereditary manipulations, the school uses the family's finger-pressure method to treat infant milk regurgitation; needling the Sifeng points to treat infantile malnutrition; the umbilical application method to treat intestinal paralysis; and the aromatic sachet method to treat anorexia — all with outstanding clinical efficacy. Its students come not only from counties, cities and districts around Ningbo but also from Hangzhou, Wenzhou, Jinhua, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Shandong and Hebei, and there are also students from the United States, Australia and other countries.

Inspection first

In paediatrics inspection leads — complexion, superficial veins, vomit and stool are read before auscultation and palpation are brought in.

The nine steps of reasoning

Nine successive steps — grasp the principle, name the disease, read the pattern, trace the cause, set the method, choose the formula, combine, dose and adapt.

The spleen and stomach first

Because children are fragile, treatment centres on spleen and stomach, with light, ingenious, simple, flexible, cheap and effective drugs.

Digital pressure for infant vomiting

A family finger-pressure technique stops infants vomiting milk, without any medicine being given.

Prickling the sifeng points for infantile malnutrition

The sifeng points are pricked to draw yellow fluid, treating malnutrition from spleen weakness.

A sachet for anorexia

A scented sachet worn at the child's chest lets aroma act through the breath to treat poor appetite.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

This branch of pediatric medicine today has Shanghai and Ningbo as its strongholds, where inheritance studios for renowned veteran physicians of Chinese medicine, Shanghai-school Chinese medicine inheritance bases and diagnosis and treatment research centers have been established one after another. Its students come not only from the counties, cities and districts of Ningbo but also from Hangzhou, Wenzhou, Jinhua, Shanghai, Jiangsu, Shandong and Hebei, with students from the United States, Australia and other countries joining as well. Its channels of transmission fall into three: master-apprentice instruction, the training of graduate students and visiting scholars, and teaching in training courses.

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

The Dong school of pediatrics is a major school of Shanghai-school pediatric Chinese medicine in China. It originated in Dongjiatiao Village, Jiangshan Town, Yinzhou District, Ningbo City, Zhejiang Province, and is now based mainly in Shanghai and in Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, where inheritance studios for renowned veteran physicians of Chinese medicine, a Shanghai-school Chinese medicine inheritance base and diagnosis and treatment research centers have been established. The Dong school of pediatrics has been transmitted through seven generations of the Dong family and has a history of more than 200 years; the teaching and popularization of its academic thought and clinical experience have spread to many provinces and cities across China and abroad. Its main channels of transmission are three: first, master-apprentice instruction; second, the training of graduate students and grassroots visiting scholars; third, teaching in training courses. The Dong school of pediatrics has newly developed the principle of treatment based on pattern differentiation in Chinese medicine, and its approach to guiding pediatric medication has been highly regarded and well received by domestic academic circles. It has established numerous therapeutic principles, distinctive techniques and preparations, and has continually refined its theories through research projects, making a considerable contribution to the health of infants and young children. Every year it also benefits the public and contributes to the building of a harmonious society through public-welfare activities such as television, newspapers, the internet, lectures and free clinics. Dong Youqi (as recorded in the official file of the associated inheritor): male, of the Han ethnic group, born in February 1953, from Ningbo City, Zhejiang Province. He is a professor and an expert enjoying the special government allowance of the State Council. Under the guidance of the thought of “reasoning about the disease, reasoning about the treatment”, he treats all kinds of common diseases and difficult and complicated conditions, and has a high level of attainment in the diagnosis and treatment of pediatric fever, convulsions, acute and chronic bronchitis, asthma, acute and chronic diarrhea, acute and chronic gastritis, mesenteric lymphadenitis, anorexia, tic disorders, allergic purpura, epilepsy and Kawasaki disease. He has practiced medicine for forty-six years and has treated more than one million patient visits. He is a representative inheritor of the item Traditional Chinese Medical Therapies (Dong School of Pediatrics) in the fifth national-level batch of intangible cultural heritage. He has received twenty-five honors, including the China Physician Award, the title of Advanced Worker of the National Health System, and second and third prizes of the Science and Technology Award of the China Association of Chinese Medicine and the second prize of its Book Award; he has written ten monographs and published more than fifty papers. He has been awarded the title of national instructor for the inheritance of the academic experience of veteran experts of Chinese medicine by the National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine. He is vice-chairman of the Pediatrics Branch of the China Association of Chinese Medicine and president of the Ningbo Intangible Cultural Heritage Protection Association.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗

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