TCM Diagnostic and Therapeutic Methods

Ⅸ-2Traditional MedicineShaoxing, ZhejiangBatch 5 (2021)Extension Item

01 · Historical Records

In the Ming dynasty, Zhang Jingyue's Jingyue Quanshu (Complete Works of Zhang Jingyue), in its “Canon on Cold Damage,” listed nine categories of treatment examples, which was the beginning of this lineage. In the Qing dynasty, Yu Genchu carried forward Zhang Jingyue's learning and established the Shaoxing school of cold damage, recorded in the Tongsu Shanghan Lun (Plain Treatise on Cold Damage), whose preface states: “Our Shao [Shaoxing] has a specialty in cold damage, called the Shao school.” In 1776, Yu Genchu presented the manuscript of the Tongsu Shanghan Lun to He Xiushan.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

Shaoxing is humid and rainy, and the people are fond of tea and wine, so they are prone to cold damage. He Lianchen studied under his grandfather He Xiushan, transmitted the learning to his sons Youran and Xiaolian, and to his disciple Cao Bingzhang, among others; he collated and revised the Tongsu Shanghan Lun, bringing the school's achievements together. The Shaoxing school of cold damage governs externally contracted diseases with the six-channel theory, folding the eight principles, wei-qi-ying-blood and triple-burner pattern differentiation into six-channel differentiation, and encompassing the cause, pattern, pulse and treatment of cold damage's basic, concurrent, complicated, deteriorated and recurrent patterns. In inspection it emphasizes observing the eyes and differentiating the tongue coating by the six channels, and is adept at abdominal palpation. In pattern differentiation it lays weight on dampness, and in treatment it takes resolving dampness as the main approach; its medicinals are light and nimble, favoring aromatic drugs (mint, Schizonepeta, tangerine peel and white cardamom seed), fresh products (fresh houttuynia, imperata rhizome, acorus and viola), medicinal juices (acorus juice, fresh ginger juice, lotus-root juice and pear juice), as well as special methods of medicinal processing. It created representative prescriptions such as Lingjiao Gouteng Tang (Antelope Horn and Uncaria Decoction) and Haoqin Qingdan Tang (Sweet Wormwood and Scutellaria Gallbladder-Clearing Decoction), and set apart a method for recuperation after recovery. The practice of the Shaoxing school of cold damage consists of treating patients; the practicing subjects are traditional Chinese physicians, and the main arena is the hospital.

Reading the eyes and tongue coating

Inspection centres on the eyes, with tongue coating assigning the illness to one of the six channels.

Abdominal diagnosis

The abdomen is pressed for hardness, fullness and tenderness to locate the pathogen, a specialty of this school.

Reading damp and transforming it

In a damp region where wine and tea are drunk, damp is read as the key factor and transformed rather than attacked.

Light doses with aromatics

Light, mobile prescriptions built on aromatics such as mint, schizonepeta, tangerine peel and cardamom, fresh herbs and fruit juices.

Haoqin Qingdan Tang

One of the school's representative formulas, with Linggou Gouteng Tang, showing its pairing of damp with heat.

Care after recovery

A dedicated stage for clearing residual pathogen and restoring the spleen and stomach after a febrile illness.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

The Shaoxing school of cold damage is a distinctive therapeutic method for externally contracted diseases, distributed mainly throughout Shaoxing, Zhejiang Province, and radiating across the province and the East China region. To treat this condition, local physicians through continuous practice founded the Shaoxing school of cold damage. Its main characteristics are a distinctive diagnostic method, pronounced medicinal characteristics, special processing methods, strong regional character and great practicality; it has produced extensive writings, exercises wide influence, and its essence has been incorporated into teaching materials of Chinese medicine colleges and universities, such as the Science of Formulas and Prescriptions.

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

The modern Xu Rongzhai studied under Cao Bingzhang and is the current leader of this heritage project; his main contributions are in-depth academic research, vigorous dissemination of the relevant therapeutic methods and medical thought, and the training of a body of successors. Today, the transmission community of the Shaoxing school of cold damage continually explores the flexible application, protection and transmission of this therapy in modern diseases, so that it keeps developing. The Shaoxing school of cold damage has been applied in clinical practice for more than 200 years. Its academic views and experience have been handed down in the form of books, medical cases and prescriptions, and it has been transmitted and developed through master-disciple mentorship combined with teaching in Chinese medicine colleges and universities, and is still widely applied today. The Shaoxing school of cold damage is an outstanding representative of the Zhejiang school of traditional Chinese medicine. It has innovated the theory of externally contracted diseases in Chinese medicine, enriched the content of the “four examinations,” and still plays an important role in the treatment of acute, dangerous, difficult and complicated diseases of today such as febrile diseases and tumors. It has made an important contribution to safeguarding the people's health and written a weighty page in the history of the development of Chinese medical theory and practice. The Shaoxing Institute of Chinese Medicine Culture and the National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine's Shaoxing School of Cold Damage Lineage Transmission Workshop have now been established to conduct research and transmission related to the Shaoxing school of cold damage, with special support funds set up to promote its transmission and development.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

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

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

TCM Diagnostic and Therapeutic Methods (Shaoxing, Zhejiang) · China ICH Official Project Archive

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗

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