Is the Bian Que Neijing Partially Preserved in the Received Version of the Huangdi Neijing?: New Evidence from a Comparison of Excavated Texts from Laoguan Shan

• In Event: Evidence for the Medical Tradition of Bian Que

Abstract

The Huangdi Neijing or Yellow Thearch’s Inner Canon was compiled during the Western Han Dynasty. Its formation and circulation were decisively influenced by the bibliographic work of Li Zhuguo and Liu Xiang, who probably compiled the two sections of the book, the Ling Shu and Su Wen, by using an earlier version of the Huangdi Neijing as a backbone text and adding numerous new chapters. Therefore, the received version of the Huangdi Nei jing is most likely an integration of many medical texts reflecting the various regional and lineage-based medical streams known to the compilers in the Han era. If we take the plural, regional origins of the text of the Huangdi Neijing seriously, we can gain significant insights into the early formation of medicine in China.

The main medical tradition recorded in the received text can be referred to as "the art of Qi Huang". However, scholars have found evidence for other streams of medicine in the text by comparing the contents, language and structure with excavated medical texts from Mawangdui and other sites, as well as non-medical texts of the Qin and Han era. The new medical texts on bamboo strips unearthed in 2013 in Sichuan province and also dated to the Western Han, can now be compared with the received version of the Huangdi Neijing to help us more accurately understand the formation of medicine, particularly the concept of the meridian-channels and their use in healing.

Author

• Man Gu, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences