BRIEF INTRODUCTION TO ZHANG JI AND HIS WORKS
Unlike Hua Tuo (a famous physician who lived c. 208 AD), very little information is available on Zhang Ji and his works; this information was not recorded in historical books such as History of the Later Han Dynasty (後漢書 hòu hàn shū), which was written by Fan Ye during the Northern and Southern Dynasties and recorded details about historical events and historical figures in the Eastern Han Dynasty when Zhang Ji was alive. During the past two decades, many scholars have made great effort to explore information about Zhang Ji and his works. The information given in this chapter represents general agreement from contemporary scholars.
Zhang Ji 張機, whose honorific name was Zhang Zhong-Jing 張仲景, was born in Nanyang county, Henan province, c. 150 AD and died c. 219 AD. Zhang Ji was very interested in studying the doctrine of Confucius when he was about 15 years old, and he became a government official later. According to “Preface for Version of Discussion of Cold Damage in Song Dynasty,” written by Lin Yi and colleagues in 1065 AD, Zhang Ji was selected as an official due to his exemplary behavior in the regard of filial duty and honesty, and he was also appointed as a commissioner in Changsha county. He first learned Chinese medicine from Zhang Bo-Zu, a local physician. People at that time commented that Zhang Ji’s incisive knowledge was better than that of his mentors. Later, he became a very skillful physician. Besides many legendary stories told locally, a very interesting case study was recorded by Huang Fu-Mi (also known as Huang Xuan-Yan, 215–282 AD) in the preface of his book, Acupuncture Jia and Yi Classic (針灸甲乙經 zhēn jiǔ jiǎ yǐ jīng) published c. 256 AD (see Chapter 3 for further details). Being a well-known physician, Zhang Ji had a lot of apprentices, among whom Wei Xun and Du Du would become quite famous for their medical practice and academic writings.
According to the preface by Zhang Ji, his classic book was originally titled Discussion of Cold Damage and Miscellaneous Diseases (傷寒雜病論 shāng hán zá bìng lùn), which in total accounted for 16 volumes and covered various diseases such as externally contracted diseases, internal disorders, women’s health and skin diseases. Based on Zhang Ji’s preface, it is believed that this book was finished between 210 and 219 AD. The book was damaged due to the war during the Three Kingdoms period (220–265 AD). Fortunately, Wang Xi (also known as Wang Shu-He, 201–280 AD), a chief officer who was in charge of medical affairs in Wei Kingdom (220–265 AD) and the early stage of the Jin Dynasty (265–420 AD), found and collected the damaged fragments of the book. He reconstructed Zhang’s work as 15 volumes between 220 and 235 AD and named it “Formulas by Zhang Zhong-Jing (張仲景方 zhāng zhòng-Jǐng fāng).” From 420 AD (Northern and Southern Dynasties) to 1065 AD (Northern Song Dynasty), there were many handwritten versions that bore different names related to this work. The official version of the book was not published until Lin Yi and colleagues did textual research for it. Based on Lin and colleagues’ textual research on the previous versions of this work, two of which had already been presented—one related to externally contracted diseases and the other related to internal disorders, women’s health, and skin diseases—the government in the Song Dynasty published Discussion of Cold Damage (傷寒論 shāng hán lùn), The Classic of the Golden Coffer and Jade Sheath (金匱玉函經 jīn gùi yù hán jīng) and Essentials and Formula Discussions from the Golden Cabinet (金匱要略方論 jīn gùi yào lüè fāng lùn) in 1065, 1066 and 1067 AD, respectively. The former two books are relevant to externally contracted diseases, while the latter one focuses on internal disorders, women’s health, skin diseases and dietary contraindications. The Classic of the Golden Coffer and Jade Sheath (金匱玉函經 jīn gùi yù hán jīng) is just another ancient version of Discussion of Cold Damage, though it is not as popular. Based on the version of Discussion of Cold Damage published in 1065 AD, Cheng Wu-Ji annotated and explained the book and then published his own book, Annotating and Explaining Discussion of Cold Damage (註解傷寒論 zhù jiě shāng hǎn lùn), in 1144 AD. Both books are still popular and important.
Figure 2.1 gives a brief summary of the history of Zhang Ji’s works.