Zhang Zhongjing was a Chinese physician and pharmacologist of the Eastern Han dynasty, regarded as one of the most eminent medical practitioners of ancient China. He synthesized the medical knowledge of his time into the Shanghan Zabing Lun, a treatise on cold-induced and other diseases that was later reconstructed, after the original was lost, into the Shang Han Lun and the Jingui Yaolue. He is credited with founding what became known as the Cold Damage school of Chinese medicine, and his case-based approach to diagnosis and treatment continued to shape traditional Chinese medical practice long after his death.
Facts
Open Questions
Death YearInfobox gives 219 (aged 68-69), approximate given the uncertain birth year. Birth YearInfobox gives 150 CE (approx.); exact birth year not established. Connections
Specialist In
Zhang Zhongjing wrote the Treatise on Cold Damage Disorders, a foundational text of Chinese medicine.
In the Other Atlases
- Also in Geography Atlas: Eastern Han, nationality there.
Sources
1. Wikidata: Zhang Zhongjing
- Wikidata Q197350, class allow-list match (w-wdresolver-0926)
- Wikidata P569 (w-bbfill-medicine3-0926)
View the Source2. Wikipedia: Zhang Zhongjing
Wikipediainfobox, Born field
150 CE (approx.)
infobox, Died field
219 (aged 68-69)
View the Source Frequently Asked Questions
If the original book was lost, how do we still have Zhang Zhongjing's medical teaching?
The lost treatise was reconstructed by later physicians into the Shang Han Lun and the Jingui Yaolue.
The original Shanghan Zabing Lun was lost during the wars of the Three Kingdoms period. Later physicians collected and organised it, notably Wang Shuhe of the Jin Dynasty and various court physicians of the Song Dynasty. Their work produced two books, the Shang Han Lun and the Jingui Yaolue, and these are the forms in which his teaching reached later readers.
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