SKU: 71875311788

Currents of Tradition in Chinese Medicine 1626 to 2006

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Currents of Tradition in Chinese Medicine 1626 to 2006In 1626, a young man named Fei Shangyou moved his family to Menghe, a small town in the Yangzi delta of China. According to family legend, he abandoned his career as a scholar and began working as a physician. In doing so, he founded a medical lineage that continues to the present day. This book describes the development, flourishing, and decline of this lineage and its many branches, as well as that of the other medical lineages and families with

In 1626, a young man named Fei Shangyou moved his family to Menghe, a small town in the Yangzi delta of China. According to family legend, he abandoned his career as a scholar and began working as a physician. In doing so, he founded a medical lineage that continues to the present day. This book describes the development, flourishing, and decline of this lineage and its many branches, as well as that of the other medical lineages and families with which it merged over time to form the “current of Menghe learning” (Menghe xuepai). 

This current and its offshoots produced some of the most influential physicians in the Chinese medical tradition during the 19th and 20th centuries. Menghe physicians, their disciples and students treated emperors, imperial mandarins, Nationalist Party generals, leading figures in the Communist Party, affluent businessmen, and influential artists.

In late imperial China, Menghe medicine was a self-conscious attempt to unite diverse strands of medical learning into one integrated tradition centered on ancient principles of practice. In Republican Shanghai, Menghe physicians and their students were at the forefront of medical modernization, establishing schools, professional associations, and journals that became models for others to follow. During the 1950s and 1960s, the heirs of Menghe medicine were key players in creating the institutional framework for contemporary Chinese medicine. Their students are now practicing all over the world, shaping Chinese medicine in Los Angeles, New York, Oxford, Mallorca, and Berlin.

The history of the Menghe current is relevant to anyone interested in the development of Chinese medicine in late imperial and modern China. This book traces Chinese medical history along the currents created by generations of physicians linked to each other by a shared heritage of learning, by descent and kinship, by sentiments of native place as well as nationalist fervor, by personal rivalries and economic competition, by the struggle for the survival of tradition and glorious visions of a new global medicine.

On the level of both theory and practice, this history marks a departure from the focus on texts and ideas that has dominated Western engagement with Chinese medicine to date. Its goal is to locate medicine within the concrete lives of physicians and their patients, restoring an agency to their actions that easily gets lost in our search for the forces or structures that shape historical process. To this end, the author interweaves social history and medical case studies, ethnography and biography to narrate a story of Chinese medicine that is very different from any that has been told before.

Read an excerpt (PDF)

Contents

Part 1 Late Imperial China

  • Economy and Society in Late Imperial China: Jiangnan, Wujin, and Menghe 
  • The Scholarly Medical Tradition in Late Imperial China: Origins, Problems, and New Departures 
  • The Origins of Menghe Medicine 
  • The Flourishing of Menghe Medicine 
  • Medical Lineages and Master Disciple Networks: The Eastward Spread of Menghe Medicine 
  • Fei Boxiong and the Menghe Medical Style

Part 2 Republican China

  • Chinese Medicine in Shanghai: Native Place and the 
  • The Modernization of Chinese Medicine in Republican China: From Medical Reform to Medical Revolution 
  • The Birth of the Menghe Current: Ding Ganren and the Transformation of Chinese Medicine in Republican Shanghai 
  • From Shanghai to New York: Ding Family Medicine after Ding Ganren 
  • The Development of Ding Family Medicine: Clinical Efficacy and Personal Identity

Part 3 Contemporary China

  • Chinese Medicine in Maoist and Post-Maoist China: The Institutionalization of Tradition and Its Discontents 
  • Inheriting and Developing Tradition: Three Exemplary Biographies 
  • Wujin Medicine Remembered: Tradition and the Labor of Social Memory

Reviews

"A superb study that speaks both to medical historians and anthropologists, and to the increasingly globalized communities of contemporary practitioners of Chinese medicine. Scheid’s work is unique in integrating a subtle understanding of historical multiplicity with insights based on his own clinical experience."
—Charlotte Furth, Professor of Chinese History, University of Southern California

"At the beginning of this astonishing book, Volker Scheid raises the most fundamental, most daunting questions in medical history: First, what is a medical tradition? What makes us see stable structures in a world where the only constant rule is change? What maintains them in a society where medicine was not an organized profession? What gives birth to such a tradition? How does it die? . . . Currents of Tradition in Chinese Medicine grapples on every page with these practically unexamined questions, and develops as convincing a set of answers as we are likely to have for a long time."
—From the Foreword by Nathan Sivin, Professor of Chinese Culture and the History of Science, University of Pennsylvania

"Combines sophisticated arguments about social processes and processes of remembering with the specific histories of individual physicians and their colleagues, patients, aspirations, and clinical styles. . . . Historians, anthropologists, practitioners and patients will all find gems that please them in this remarkable new contribution to the field."
—Marta Hanson, Assistant Professor, Department of History of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University

"This book fills an important gap. There are few works available on the history of Chinese medicine, the development of the Chinese medical tradition and the transmission of medical knowledge in China. It is an essential point of reference for any practitioner of Chinese medicine who wants to reach beyond the narrow circle of knowledge acquired in the course of gaining a professional qualification, and who wants at least to try to connect with his or her ‘ancestors.’ It is also relevant because it reveals the fragility of the Chinese medical tradition, something we might not have suspected or thought about. It is as fragile as memory itself. And thus we have the responsibility of keeping it alive."
—Olga Fedina, European Journal of Oriental Medicine

"Those interested in the history of the multifaceted tradition of Chinese medicine will find this an intriguing look behind the veil of current orthodoxy to a practice where, for example, self-cultivation could form the basis for clinical efficacy. An inspiring book."
—Steve Clavey, author, Fluid Physiology and Pathology in Traditional Chinese Medicine

"As a student of Qin Bowei, and therefore part of the Menghe tradition myself, I wholeheartedly recommend this text as an introduction to the depth of the Chinese medical tradition."
—Wu Boping, Professor, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences

"Currents of Tradition in Chinese Medicine is essential reading for anyone seeking a nuanced understanding of Chinese medicine and the social dynamics that have shaped it over time."
—Yi-Li Wu, Bulletin of the History of Medicine

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SKU: 71875311788

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Luna Fae
Whiting, US
★★★★★ 4
Right from the start, I was drawn in by the prologue!!!
Format: Paperback, Format: Paperback
Queen of Roses (Blood of a Fae #1) by Briar Boleyn Genre General Fiction ( Adult), Romance, Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Dark Romance “More primordial than the stars. My name was on his lips as he promised unspeakable darkness to any who came between us.” Right from the start, I was drawn in by the prologue!!! I’m a big fan of “touch her, and you die” vibes, but I mean, what’s also not to love about a unique Arthurian retelling with gender twists, a treacherous royal court, a dangerous quest, magical Fae & mystical monsters, entwined with a bit of spice! Morgan, Princess of Pendrath and true heir to the throne has spent most of her life dimming her light to feel safe and to make others comfortable. She is treated as an outcast in the court and repressed by her family due to the blood of the Fae within her and forced to join the Temple of the Three as a priestess in training to one day replace Merlin. Her brother, King Arthur, who reminds me of Joffrey from Game of Thrones, later tells her that he has other plans and offers her a choice of the Temple or to marry her off for political gain, unless… that is, she can journey through the great unknown and return with a long-lost fae weapon with enchanted powers known as Excalibur. Her quest begins with a roguish crew that includes the mysterious, arrogant, and heart-tuggingly handsome Captain of the Royal Guard, Kairos Draven, whom she can’t decide if she wants to stab or indulge in pleasure with. Along the way are plenty of surprises, mystical creatures, and betrayal, all while Morgan uncovers more of the truth about herself and who she can trust. This book had intriguing storylines and lovable characters that kept me turning pages and wanting more. I can’t wait to see how it all unfolds and comes together in book 2, Court of Claws, which I just started reading!! Read if you’re into- Dark Fantasy/Romance Slow–Burn Question Everything Magic and Action Fae Arthurian Legend Stabby/Broken FFC Morally Gray MMC Forced Proximity Queen of Roses is perfect for Holly Black, Jennifer L. Armentrout, and Sarah J. Maas fans. Please check the trigger warnings page in the table of contents before reading this book.
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Reviewed in the United States on August 16, 2023
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Amanda Greathouse
New York, US
★★★★★ 3
3.5 stars, A little boring to say the least.
Format: Kindle
Wow so I'm not sure where to begin on this one. This was a very different take on the legend of Arthur and Excalibur. This is told from the point of view of Morgan the sister of Arthur. Honestly the first 50% of this book is world building and character building which unfortunately was super boring for me. Morgan to me was a female MC that had a hard time in believing in herself. Sometimes taking too long to understand exactly what was going on around her. Draven was also a different male MC, like I couldn't put my finger on him and what he was all about. It was not until the last 10% of the book did we get some answers on the mystery that is Draven. The other 50% of the book centered around this big journey with everyone having a different motive. We see a spark of magic around this time that had me excited but then we never expanded upon that and what it could mean for the female MC. I feel like I want to read the second book just to see where this goes, but the spice was probably a 2 out of 5. Side characters are ok, Lancelet was fun but I almost felt like I wanted more.
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Reviewed in the United States on September 13, 2023
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Krystina
Natrona Heights, US
★★★★★ 5
A bewitching retelling of Arthurian legend!
Format: Kindle
In a land where the Fae have nearly become only a legend and those who still posses even a morsel of the blood are few and far between, Morgan finds herself cast aside by most of society due to her rumored half-Fae lineage, including her brother, King Arthur. With the kingdom at the brink of war, Arthur entrusts her with a quest to retrieve a Fae weapon of legendary power: the sword of Perun, Excalibur. Accompanied by men she loathes, Captain Kairos Draven and Ragnar Whitehorn, she embarks on her long and unbeknownst perilous journey, only to find that things she once believed to be myth are in fact very real. With devastating twists, omitted truths, witty banter and fierce action, Queen of Roses leaves you begging to know more about the secrets of Aercanum! Wow, wow, wow! Going into this story, I did not realize that it was going to be a retelling of Arthurian legend, especially not one with a fantastical twist! The unique spin almost gave me The Witcher vibes and I think adding Fae into the mix was quite interesting. I knew the basics of the legend but after reading this book, it has piqued my interest and makes me want to learn more about it. My attention was snatched as soon as I finished the prologue and I knew that I was going to devour this story. I truly enjoyed the gender swaps and even how Arthur was portrayed as villainous. Morgan’s past and even her parts of her present is absolutely heartbreaking, and I felt for her at times. I can only recall one other book that made me hate characters the way I despised Florian and Arthur, leaving me with my blood boiling and feeling disgusted. Even after finishing the book, Draven is still a mystery to me and I cannot figure out how to feel about him. I guess they just means that the author did an excellent job at conveying each character’s persona! The rich world building and imagery made it easy for me to visualize the places that the group visited along their journey. I am truly engulfed in this story and I cannot wait to see wait fate awaits Morgan and how the Fae will be even more incorporated in the next book!. I received a free copy of this book and am voluntarily leaving a review.
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Reviewed in the United States on August 11, 2023
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Tiana
Lake Worth, US
★★★★★ 4
Enchanting
Format: Kindle
"Queen of Roses" by Briar Boleyn is a delightful and refreshing reimagining of the classic tale of King Arthur, with a captivating twist that places the spotlight on Morgan, a character who has often been overshadowed in traditional retellings. Boleyn's creative decision to shift the narrative perspective to Morgan breathes new life into the story, offering readers an intriguing and compelling look at the Arthurian world from an entirely different angle. One of the most commendable aspects of this book is its incorporation of Fae elements, which adds an enchanting layer of magic and mystery to the already familiar Arthurian setting. Boleyn skillfully weaves the world of the Fae into the narrative, creating a captivating backdrop against which the events of the story unfold. This addition not only adds depth to the world-building but also provides ample opportunities for twists and turns that keep readers thoroughly engrossed. However, while the book boasts numerous strengths, it does have one noticeable flaw: the characterization of Morgan. While it is reasonable to create a flawed and complex protagonist, it appears that at times, Morgan's character becomes overly difficult and hard to relate to. Her persistently negative perception of one of the main male characters, who is a potential love interest, despite his efforts to support and assist her, may come across as somewhat irrational and could test the patience of some readers. Striking a balance between a strong, independent character and one who can recognize genuine support and affection could have enhanced the overall reader experience. Nonetheless, the allure of "Queen of Roses" lies in its innovative approach to the Arthurian legend and its skillful blending of fantasy elements into a familiar narrative. Boleyn's evocative prose draws readers into a world where magic, destiny, and fate entwine, leaving us eager to uncover the mysteries that unfold within the pages. I received a free copy of this book via Booksprout and am voluntarily leaving a review.
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Reviewed in the United States on July 28, 2023
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Stephanie
Alexandria, US
★★★★★ 5
An action-packed dark romantasy
Format: Kindle
I loved this book! Queen of Roses is an Arthurian-inspired dark romantasy that is the first book in the Blood of Fae series. The story follows Morgan, the princess of Camelot who is rumored to be part fae. Fueled by prejudiced hatred and a mistrust of fae blood, Morgan’s abusive father strips her of her birthright and hands it to her half-brother, Arthur. Instead of becoming queen, Morgan is commanded to join the temple of the goddesses when she comes of age. However, Arthur turns into a psychopathic, power-hungry, fae-hating king as he ages. He develops malevolent plans and commands Morgan to find an ancient weapon with legendary power. Although Morgan is wary of Arthur’s intentions, she embraces the opportunity to go on a journey and potentially change her fate. The story picks up from there and we follow Morgan on her quest to find the ancient relic. It’s full of high stakes adventure, mystery, tension, banter, forced proximity, hidden magic, self discovery, and betrayal. This first installment of the series intricately develops the world building and character development. There’s little romance in this book, but it is evident that it is a slow burn that will continue to develop throughout the remainder of the series. Overall, I loved the world building, the epic fantasy, Morgan’s journey of self discovery, and all of the twists and turns that set the stage for the future installments. I can’t wait to see what happens next!
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Reviewed in the United States on April 7, 2024

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