Great Compendium of Medical Classics by Famous Physicians of the Tang, Song, Jin, and Yuan Dynasties: Complete Medical Works of Wang Tao

Author: Zhang Dengben
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2006-01-01
Features: Wang Tao (approximately 690-756 AD), a native of Wannian in Shaanxi Province during the Tang Dynasty (now Xi'an City, previously often mistaken as Meixian County in Shaanxi), was the great-grandson of Wang Gui, a prime minister in the early Tang Dynasty. Leveraging his over 20 years of work at the Hongwen Academy, Wang collected and compiled a vast amount of medical literature from the pre-middle Tang period, categorizing them into a highly influential large-scale medical recipe book titled Wai Tai Mi Yao Fang (Essential Formulas from the Outer Platform). The Complete Medical Works of Wang Tao is primarily compiled based on Wang Tao's Wai Tai Mi Yao Fang. Due to Wang Tao's unique background as both a Confucian scholar and a physician, as well as his dual career as an official and a medical practitioner, only one book of his remains in existence. Moreover, due to the tendency of later generations to prioritize the Jin Qian (Thousand Gold Essentials) over Wang's works, research on the Jin Qian has been extensive and fruitful, while studies on the Wai Tai have been scarce with limited publications. To systematically study the medical content of Wang Tao's Wai Tai, elucidate his academic achievements, and adhere to the principle of "annotation as primary and collation as secondary," this book provides comprehensive annotations and collations of the medical knowledge it contains. To help readers systematically understand the medical content and ancient prescriptions in the Wai Tai, a paper titled "Research on Wang Tao's Medical Academic Thought" has been written based on the collation and research, and a bibliography of modern scholars' research on the Wai Tai is appended at the end. The Wai Tai Mi Yao Fang consists of 40 volumes, 50+ categories (types) of diseases and symptoms, totaling 1,104 entries, with over 7,000 recipes. The content of this book is extremely rich, encompassing nearly all clinical medical disciplines. It compiles a large amount of now-lost medical literature and includes numerous folk remedies, making it a comprehensive collection of prescription and medicinal literature from before the Tang Dynasty. Its contributions to organizing, preserving ancient medical literature and synthesizing folk experiences are particularly outstanding. Wang was a rigorous scholar, and he cited the names of approximately 66 directly referenced documents, giving the book high medical literature value. This book is suitable for clinical, teaching, scientific research personnel in the fields of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and integrated Chinese and Western medicine, as well as undergraduate and graduate students, researchers, and teachers.