Pocket Chinese Medicine Four Classics

Author: Tianjin Science and Technology Publishing House
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 1999-02-06
Features: The Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon, Treatise on Cold Damage, Essentials from the Golden Cabinet, and Treatise on Febrile Diseases are treasures of Chinese medicine and have long been revered by the medical community as essential reading. Traditionally, they are referred to as the Four Classics. However, modern medical scholars have differing views on the fourth classic: some believe it is the Herbal Classic of Shennong, while others consider it the Classic of Eighty-One Difficulties. Including the Treatise on Febrile Diseases as the fourth classic became a practice after the Qing Dynasty. We chose this perspective based on the practical needs of current teaching in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) schools.
The Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon, often abbreviated as Inner Canon, is a work from the Warring States to the Qin and Han dynasties. It is the earliest extant medical monograph in China, allegedly written by the Yellow Emperor and his ministers, such as Qi Bo, Lei Gong, and Gui Yu. It consists of two parts: Simple Questions and Spiritual Pivot. Inner Canon not only laid the foundation for basic TCM theory but also preliminarily constructed the framework for later developments in disease understanding, diagnostic methods, and treatment principles.
The Treatise on Cold Damage and Essentials from the Golden Cabinet were written by Zhang Zhongjing of the Eastern Han Dynasty. Originally, they were part of a single work titled Treatise on Cold Damage and Miscellaneous Diseases, which was later compiled into two separate parts during the Song Dynasty. The major contributions of the Treatise on Cold Damage and Essentials from the Golden Cabinet lie in more specifically integrating the basic theory of Inner Canon with clinical practice, establishing the foundation of Chinese medical theory known as "differentiation and treatment."
The Treatise on Febrile Diseases was written by the Qing Dynasty medical scholar Wu Ju Tong, who "collected works from renowned scholars of past generations, removing the (heterogeneous) while preserving the essence, adding his own insights and empirical observations, and compiling them into a single book." This work discusses diseases according to the three (Jiao) systems and also incorporates the theories of Wei (defensive Qi), Qi (nutrient Qi), Ying (nutrient blood), and Xue (blood), making significant contributions to the development of febrile disease theory.
To better inherit and promote the legacy of Chinese medicine, we selected the best editions from various national college textbooks and, based on current teaching needs, included the original text while removing annotations and explanations. This compact edition is designed to provide (TCM practitioners) with easy access for reference and study, enabling them to better grasp the fundamental theories of Chinese medicine and apply them in clinical practice.