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Medicine in China: A History of Ideas (Comparative Studies of Health Systems and Medical Care) |
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You Are Here: Home > History Books > Medical History > Item 315
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Medicine in China: A History of Ideas (Comparative Studies of Health Systems and Medical Care)
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by Paul U. Unschuld
Sales Rank: 4159695
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$34.00
At Amazon
on 6-16-2008.
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Features
Cover Type: Hard Cover with 450 pages
Published by: University of California Press October 1985
Written in: English
ISBN 10 Number: 0520050231
ISBN 13 Number: 978-0520050235
Peter Kong-ming New, Medical Anthropology
"Unschuld successfully weaves the evolution of medical ideas with the prevalent socio-political events of the past three and one-half millennia. . . . The reward is immense."
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.
Roy Porter, Times Literary Supplement
"Paul Unschuld's massive erudition lies at the service of relativism. His main aim is to explain the history of Chinese medical theories by locating them within successive broader paradigms of belief demonological, Confucian, Taoist, Buddhist, Marxist (each of which he anchors in turn within the line of dynasties from the Shang and Chou empires up to the Gang of Four. . . . Undeniably valuable . . . is his emphasis on how each new wave of Chinese medical theory ended up by complementing the preceding corpus of ideas."
--This text refers to the
Paperback
edition.
Reader Reviews
This review is from: Medicine in China: A History of Ideas (Comparative Studies of Health Systems & Medical Care) (Paperback)
On the face of it, a book on the history of Chinese medicine may sound about as interesting as watching paint dry. But this excellent book is riveting. It tells a story with many parallels in the West: medicine is heavily influence by the society in which it is practiced. How we think about people, how to keep them healthy and how to heal them, is a reflection of the prevailing understanding of the time. If you believe that the world is a magical place containing angels and demons then illness may be seen as demonic and its cure as the action of an angel. If, as is common today, the human being is thought of as no more than a biochemical machine, then that's the way that medicine operates. Paul Unschuld is a remarkably erudite historian from the Institute for the History of Medicine at the University of Munich. The book is a largely successful attempt to explain the history of Chinese medical theories by positioning them within the belief systems in which they developed. Beginning with beliefs rooted in demonology, traditional Chinese medicine continued to evolve as Confucian, Taoist, Buddhist and the Marxist beliefs held sway. What is remarkable abut Chinese medicine is its resilience: each new wave of theory became incorporated and complemented everything that came before. The book's central theme is expressed through three elements that have informed the theory and practice of Chinese medicine. First is the idea of magical correspondences. So an illness may occur because an albino calf was born in the village. The second is the empirical, practical medicine that has been developed by every culture: folk knowledge of herbs and other remedies that aid in the treatment of disease. The third is the construction of a body of professional knowledge by physicians and pharmacists. This includes the medicine of systematic correspondences that is used by many traditional practitioners to this day, when they speak of five elements, the twelve organs and different forms of Qi. Over the last five decades this system has continued to evolve in China, with the introduction of ever more Western concepts into the traditional framework of medicine. If you are interested in the history of ideas and the development of an extraordinary system of healing, this book is an excellent and surprisingly readable resource.
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Medicine in China: A History of Ideas (Comparative Studies of Health Systems and Medical Care)
Available from Amazon
Price: $34.00
Updated on 6-16-2008.
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