Qihuang Asks the Way: Three Thousand Years of Chinese Medicine — From Shennong's Tasting of a Hundred Herbs to the Foundation of the Huangdi Neijing
The Source of the Medical Way, Rising in Cathay
「Qibo (岐伯) said: … In high antiquity, those who knew the Way took pattern from yin and yang and lived in harmony with the arts of calculation.」 (「岐伯曰：……上古之人,其知道者,法于阴阳,和于术数。」)
「The Yellow Emperor (黄帝) said: Most excellent! I have heard that in high antiquity there were the zhenren (真人, true persons) — they lifted the veil of heaven and earth and held the pulse of yin and yang.」 (「黄帝曰：善哉！余闻上古有真人者,提挈天地,把握阴阳。」)
— Huangdi Neijing (《黄帝内经》) · Su Wen (《素问》) · “Shanggu Tianzhen Lun” (《上古天真论》)
Qihuang is the oldest and most honored name for Chinese medicine. The “Qi” (岐) stands for Qibo (岐伯), the legendary minister and medical teacher; the “Huang” (黄) stands for the Yellow Emperor (黄帝) himself — the Son of Heaven to whom the teaching was given. In the Bright Hall (明堂), the Yellow Emperor questioned and Qibo answered, and from that dialogue arose the “learning of Qihuang,” the “art of Qihuang,” and the “one Way of Qihuang, transmitted for ten thousand generations without end” — the Way of medicine.
Where, then, did this Way of medicine first arise? After a long road of three thousand years, what roots and spirit has it left us?
I. Preface: What Is “Qihuang”
「Qibo was a minister of the Yellow Emperor. The Emperor ordered him to taste the grasses and trees, and to take charge of the diagnosis and treatment of disease.」 (「岐伯,黄帝臣也。帝使岐伯尝味草木,典主医病。」)
— Shiji (《史记》) · “Bu Sanhuang Benji” (《补三皇本纪》) (Tang dynasty · Sima Zhen, supplemented)
The two characters “Qihuang” — Qibo (岐伯) and the Yellow Emperor (黄帝). In most of the Huangdi Neijing (《黄帝内经》), the text is written in the form of the Yellow Emperor questioning and Qibo answering; hence later generations referred to Chinese medicine directly as “Qihuang,” “the art of Qihuang,” and “the Way of Qihuang.”
Qihuang is the “right name” of Chinese medicine; Qihuang Library (岐黄书房) is the little study in which we keep watch over this lineage of the Way of medicine.
Today, we begin from the ancient legend of Shennong (神农) tasting a hundred herbs, and walk forward through the oracle bones of the Xia, Shang, and Zhou; the famous physicians of the Spring and Autumn and Warring States; and the medical classics of the Qin and Han, to see how this three-thousand-year-old Way of medicine was laid down, step by step.
II. Remote Antiquity: The Sprouting of the Way of Medicine (Remote Antiquity — Shang and Zhou)
「Shennong tasted the flavors of a hundred grasses, and in a single day encountered seventy poisons.」 (「神农尝百草之滋味,一日而遇七十毒。」)
— Huainanzi (《淮南子》) · “Xiuwu Xun” (《修务训》) (Western Han · Liu An)
🌿 Shennong Tasting a Hundred Herbs: The Source of Bencao Studies
In the age of high antiquity, did the people suffer no pestilence? — Not so. The Huainanzi (《淮南子》) · “Xiuwu Xun” (《修务训》) plainly records that Shennong “encountered seventy poisons in a single day,” showing that in those times poison and remedy walked side by side, and to taste the hundred herbs was an exploration risking one’s very life.
「Shennong lashed the grasses and trees with a reddened whip, and so began to taste the hundred herbs; from this, medicine and pharmacy began.」 (「神农氏以赭鞭鞭草木,始尝百草,始有医药。」)
— Shiji (《史记》) · “Bu Sanhuang Benji” (《补三皇本纪》)
The Sou Shen Ji (《搜神记》) (Eastern Jin · Gan Bao) likewise records: 「Shennong lashed the hundred grasses with a reddened whip, and came to know in full the nature of their balance, poison, cold, and warmth.」 This is the origin-legend of the later study of materia medica (本草学).
In a single day, encountering seventy poisons — this is no mythic exaggeration, but the solemn, stirring epic of our ancestors testing drugs upon their own bodies and exchanging life for medicine.
📜 Fuxi (伏羲) Forges the Nine Needles: The Origin of Acupuncture
「Fuxi tasted the hundred drugs and forged the nine needles, by which to save the untimely dead.」 (「伏羲氏乃尝味百药而制九针,以拯夭枉焉。」)
— Diwang Shiji (《帝王世纪》) (Jin dynasty · Huangfu Mi)
The Nine Needles, tradition holds, were forged by Fuxi (伏羲) — the chán (鑱) needle, the yuán (员) needle, the dī (鍉) needle, the fēng (锋) needle, the pī (铍) needle, the yuánlì (员利) needle, the háo (毫) needle, the cháng (长) needle, and the dà (大) needle, nine instruments of differing form, each answering to nine different patterns of disease. This is the earliest legendary origin of needle therapy, later inherited and expanded in the Lingshu (《灵枢》) section of the Huangdi Neijing (《黄帝内经》) — hence the Lingshu (《灵枢》) is also called the “Needle Classic” (针经).
🦴 Shang Dynasty Oracle Bones: The Earliest Records of Disease
Beyond legend, direct evidence has already begun. In the oracle inscriptions of the Shang dynasty, a great many records concerning “illness” (疾) survive — “ailment of the eye,” “ailment of the ear,” “ailment of the mouth,” “ailment of the abdomen,” “ailment of the body” …
According to the research of bodies such as the China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences (中国中医科学院), dozens of disease names can be identified in the oracle bone script: the characters for “nüe” (疟, malaria), “jiè” (疥, scabies), “qǔ” (龋, tooth decay), and “gǔ” (蛊, gu-affliction) all appear; alongside them, the shamanistic inscriptions of “prayer for healing” and “warding off pestilence” — this is the true face of the age of “the unity of shaman and physician (巫医一体).”
| Period | Characteristics of the Medical Way | Main Records |
|---|---|---|
| Remote antiquity (legend) | Shennong tastes a hundred herbs / Fuxi forges the nine needles | Huainanzi (《淮南子》), Sou Shen Ji (《搜神记》), Diwang Shiji (《帝王世纪》) |
| Shang dynasty (evidence) | Unity of shaman and physician; divination of disease on oracle bones | Yinxu oracle bone script (c. 14th–11th c. BCE) |
| Western Zhou | Division of medical offices; emphasis on “dietary therapy” | Zhouli (《周礼》) · “Tian Guan” (《天官》) (Dietetician / Physician / Sore-physician / Veterinarian) |
In this stage, medicine and shamanism had not yet fully parted ways; the Way of medicine was slowly germinating among myth, sorcery, and lived experience.
III. Spring and Autumn and Warring States: The Medical Way Forks (770–221 BCE)
In the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods, a hundred schools contended, and the Way of medicine also began to branch off from shamanism, with the appearance of full-time physicians and the first outlines of the four examinations.
🧘 Yi Huan (医缓) and Yi He (医和): Two Famous Physicians of the State of Qin
「Duke Gong fell ill and sent to Qin to seek a physician. The Duke of Qin sent Physician Yi Huan to attend him.」 (「公疾病,求医于秦,秦伯使医缓为之。」)
— Zuozhuan (《左传》) · Year 10 of Duke Cheng
Yi Huan (医缓), a celebrated physician of the state of Qin, was once sent by the Duke of Qin (秦伯) to diagnose the illness of Duke Jing of Jin (晋景公), leaving behind the famous idiom “the disease has entered the gāo huāng” (病入膏肓) — 「The disease cannot be treated: it lies above the huāng, below the gāo; to attack it cannot reach, to penetrate cannot arrive, and no medicine can find its way there.」
Yi He (医和) went a step further, advancing the famous “Theory of the Six Qi as Cause of Disease” (六气致病说):
「Heaven has six qi, … and when they run amok they give birth to six diseases. The six qi are called yin, yang, wind, rain, darkness, and light.」 (「天有六气,……淫生六疾。六气,曰阴、阳、风、雨、晦、明也。」)
— Zuozhuan (《左传》) · Year 1 of Duke Zhao
This is the earliest source of the concept of “the six excesses” (六淫), preceding the Huangdi Neijing (《黄帝内经》) formulation of “wind, cold, summer-heat, dampness, dryness, fire” by several centuries.
📜 Bian Que (扁鹊, Qin Yueren 秦越人): The Founder of the Four Examinations
「Bian Que was a man of Zheng in Bohai Commandery; his surname was Qin, and his given name Yueren.」 (「扁鹊者,勃海郡郑人也,姓秦氏,名越人。」)
— Shiji (《史记》) · “Bian Que Canggong Liezhuan” (《扁鹊仓公列传》) (Western Han · Sima Qian)
Bian Que (扁鹊) is the first named physician in the history of Chinese medicine to have a formal biography. The Shiji (《史记》) · “Bian Que Canggong Liezhuan” (《扁鹊仓公列传》) records his medical deeds in detail — gazing upon the complexion of Duke Huan of Qi, diagnosing the corpse-like swoon of the Crown Prince of Guo, passing through Handan to practice as a gynecologist …
Most famous of all is the story of “hiding illness and refusing the physician” (讳疾忌医) from the Hanfeizi (《韩非子》) · “Yu Lao” (《喻老》):
「Bian Que, on visiting Duke Huan of Cai, stood for a moment. He said: My lord, you have a sickness in the couli (the fine interstices of the flesh); if untreated, it will surely deepen. … Ten days later, Bian Que, at the sight of the Duke, turned and walked away.」 (「扁鹊见蔡桓公,立有间。扁鹊曰:君有疾在腠理,不治将恐深。……居十日,扁鹊望桓侯而还走。」)
Bian Que’s ability to “know by looking” (望而知之) was grounded in the founding of the “four examinations” (四诊) of Chinese medicine — looking, listening and smelling, asking, and palpating (望、闻、问、切). He was honored by later generations as the “ancestor of pulse studies” and the “ancestor of medical formulae.”
🗣️ Wuma Qi (巫马期): A Physician Among the Disciples of Confucius
「Wuma Qi would go out with the stars and come in with the stars, neither by day nor by night resting his person, but himself visiting the people, and so made the town of Shanfu peaceful.」 (「巫马期以星出,以星入,日夜不处以身亲之,而使单父僻。」)
— Shuoyuan (《说苑》) · “Zhengli” (《政理》) (Western Han · Liu Xiang; some sources say Hanshi Waizhuan 《韩诗外传》)
Wuma Qi (巫马期) (courtesy name Ziqi (子旗), also written “Shi” 施), a disciple of Confucius, once served as magistrate of Shanfu (present-day Shan County, Shandong 单父(今山东单县)), governing diligently and with love for the people, going out with the stars and coming in with the stars. The preface to the Zhenjiu Jiayijing (《针灸甲乙经》) likewise names Wuma Qi as a Confucian exemplar of one who understood medicine.
In this period, the Way of medicine unfolded along two threads: the first, professional physicians, represented by Yi Huan, Yi He, and Bian Que (Qin Yueren 秦越人) of the state of Qin; the second, the incipient Confucian-physician (儒医), represented by Wuma Qi. The two ran side by side, never at odds, preparing the ground for the great flourishing of the medical Way in the Qin and Han.
IV. Qin and Han: The Foundation of the Chinese Medical System (221 BCE – 220 CE)
「When the Han arose, it set aside the failures of the Qin, gathered texts on a great scale, and opened wide the road for the presentation of books.」 (「汉兴,改秦之败,大收篇籍,广开献书之路。」)
— Hanshu (《汉书》) · “Yiwenzhi” (《艺文志》) (Eastern Han · Ban Gu)
The Qin and Han were the era in which the system of Chinese medicine was founded. Four immortal classics — the Huangdi Neijing (《黄帝内经》), the Nan Jing (《难经》), the Shennong Bencao Jing (《神农本草经》), and the Shanghan Zabing Lun (《伤寒杂病论》) — were compiled, one after another, across this millennium, and from then on, Chinese medicine possessed the four great pillars of a complete theory, diagnostic method, materia medica, and formulary.
☯ 1. Huangdi Neijing (《黄帝内经》) — The Common Source of Chinese Medical Theory
The earliest documentary mention of the Huangdi Neijing (《黄帝内经》) appears in the Hanshu (《汉书》) · “Yiwenzhi” (《艺文志》) of the Eastern Han Ban Gu:
「The Huangdi Neijing (《黄帝内经》), eighteen juan (卷, fascicles).」
After that, the Su Wen (《素问》) and the Lingshu (《灵枢》) each came to have 9 juan (卷), totalling 18 juan (卷) and 162 chapters (篇) (the current editions: 81 chapters in the Su Wen (《素问》) + 81 chapters in the Lingshu (《灵枢》)) — the name “Neijing” (《内经》, Inner Classic) was thus established.
As for the time of its compilation, the scholarly consensus is:
It is not the work of a single moment, a single person, or a single place, but was compiled between the Warring States and the Qin–Han, through many rounds of gathering, supplementing, and revising.
Its content is all-encompassing:
- Yin yang and the five phases (阴阳五行) — cosmology and method
- Zang-xiang and the channels and collaterals (藏象经络) — the structure of the body and the passages of qi
- Cause and mechanism of disease (病因病机) — 「Now, the arising of evil — it may be born in yin, or rise in yang.」 (「夫邪之生也,或生于阴,或起于阳」) (Lingshu 《灵枢》 · “Baibing Shisheng” 《百病始生》)
- Methods of diagnosis and the rules of treatment (诊法治则) — 「The one who is skilled in diagnosis examines the complexion and feels the pulse, and first distinguishes yin from yang.」 (「善诊者,察色按脉,先别阴阳」) (Su Wen 《素问》 · “Yinyang Yingxiang Dalun” 《阴阳应象大论》)
- Nourishing life and preventing disease (养生预防) — 「The superior physician prevents disease; they do not treat disease that has already arisen.」 (「上工治未病,不治已病」) (Lingshu 《灵枢》 · “Siqi Tiaoshen Dalun” 《四气调神大论》)
The Neijing (《内经》) is not the work of any one “author”, but a great gathering of the medical experience of the entire Chinese nation, from high antiquity through the Qin and Han. The “image-thought” (象思维) it established — using yin and yang, the five phases, and jing and qi as tools of reasoning, and understanding life from the angles of function, movement, and holistic connection — remains, to this day, the foundational logic of clinical Chinese medicine.
After the Neijing (《内经》), the “Way of Qihuang” moved from legend to texts that could be read, learned, and transmitted.
📜 2. Nan Jing (《难经》) — Supplementing What the Neijing Left Unfinished
「The Huangdi Bashiyi Nan Jing (《黄帝八十一难经》) — this is the work of Qin Yueren of Bohai.」 (「《黄帝八十一难经》者,斯乃勃海秦越人之所作也。」)
— Nan Jing Jizhu (《难经集注》) · Preface by Yang Xuancao (Tang · Yang Xuancao)
The Nan Jing (《难经》), full name the Huangdi Bashiyi Nan Jing (《黄帝八十一难经》, Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Eighty-One Difficult Issues), is attributed to Bian Que (Qin Yueren 秦越人), but is in fact a work of the Eastern Han period. Written entirely in the “question-and-difficulty” (问难) format, with 81 questions in all, it supplements the deficiencies of the Neijing (《内经》) in the areas of pulse studies, channels and collaterals, needling methods, and zang-xiang — and in particular it systematized the “taking of the cùn kǒu (寸口) alone” (独取寸口) method of pulse diagnosis, making it a founding work of later pulse studies.
🌿 3. Shennong Bencao Jing (《神农本草经》) — The Pioneering Work of Bencao Studies
The Shennong Bencao Jing (《神农本草经》) is the earliest extant monograph on materia medica, compiled in the Eastern Han (some say the late Western Han), attributed to Shennong (神农), but in fact assembled by physicians of successive generations.
Its structure is strikingly rigorous:
- 365 medicinal substances listed — 「corresponding to the number of the heavens」 (「应周天之数」)
- Divided into three grades — upper, middle, and lower:
- Upper grade, 120 substances — 「Governing the nourishment of destiny and corresponding to heaven; non-toxic; long-continued use does not harm the person」 (e.g. ginseng (人参), licorice (甘草), longan (龙眼))
- Middle grade, 120 substances — 「Governing the nourishment of nature and corresponding to humanity; non-toxic or toxic; use with due discernment」 (e.g. Chinese angelica (当归), ephedra (麻黄), peony (芍药))
- Lower grade, 125 substances — 「Governing the treatment of disease and corresponding to the earth; mostly toxic; not to be taken for long」 (e.g. rhubarb (大黄), aconite (附子), pinellia (半夏))
Its framework — the four qi (寒热温凉, cold, hot, warm, cool) and five flavors (酸苦甘辛咸, sour, bitter, sweet, acrid, salty), the jūn chén zuǒ shǐ (君臣佐使, sovereign, minister, assistant, envoy) hierarchy, and the seven relations of combination (七情配伍) — has remained unchanged for two thousand years, and is, to this day, the fundamental law of the clinical use of Chinese medicines.
🧘 4. Shanghan Zabing Lun (《伤寒杂病论》) — The Clinical Cornerstone of Pattern-Based Treatment
「My clan was always numerous, … moved by the ruin of those gone before, and grieved that those who suffered untimely death could not be saved, I diligently sought the teachings of the ancients, and widely gathered the prescriptions of the many … and so made the Shanghan Zabing Lun (《伤寒杂病论》) in sixteen juan (卷).」 (「余宗族素多,……感往昔之沦丧,伤横夭之莫救,乃勤求古训,博采众方,……为《伤寒杂病论》合十六卷。」)
— Eastern Han · Zhang Zhongjing (张仲景), Shanghan Zabing Lun (《伤寒杂病论》) · Original Preface
Zhang Zhongjing (张仲景) (c. 150–219 CE), a man of Nanyang in the Eastern Han, is honored by later generations as the “Sage of Medicine (医圣)”.
In the final years of the Eastern Han, great pestilences swept the land — from the first year of the Jian’an era (196 CE), within less than ten years, of the more than two hundred members of his clan, 「two-thirds died, and of those who perished, seven in ten were by cold-damage disease」 — Zhongjing, “moved by the ruin of those gone before, and grieved that those who suffered untimely death could not be saved,” and having “diligently sought the teachings of the ancients, and widely gathered the prescriptions of the many,” composed the Shanghan Zabing Lun (《伤寒杂病论》) in sixteen juan (卷).
Note: Neither the Hou Hanshu (《后汉书》) nor the Sanguozhi (《三国志》) provides a biography of Zhang Zhongjing; what is known of his life comes mainly from the preface to Jin · Huangfu Mi’s Zhenjiu Jiayijing (《针灸甲乙经》), Tang · Gan Bozong’s Mingyi Lu (《名医录》), and Song · Lin Yi’s annotated edition of the Shanghan Lun (《伤寒论》).
The book’s greatest contribution is that it established the clinical system of “pattern identification and treatment” (辨证论治):
- The six-channel pattern identification (六经辨证) (tàiyáng 太阳, yángmíng 阳明, shàoyáng 少阳, tàiyīn 太阴, shàoyīn 少阴, juéyīn 厥阴) — for cold-damage disease (伤寒)
- Pattern identification and treatment of miscellaneous diseases (杂病论治) (zàng-fǔ 脏腑 and channel-and-collateral pattern identification) — for the Jin Kui (金匮) portion
It set the clinical principle: “Observe the pulse and pattern, perceive what reversal has been offended, and treat according to the pattern.” Later generations honored it as the “ancestor of formulary works” — the formulae recorded in it, such as the mahuang (麻黄) decoction, guizhi (桂枝) decoction, xiao chaihu (小柴胡) decoction, and wuling san (五苓散, Five-Ingredient Powder with Poria), remain, to this day, the formulae in common clinical use in Chinese medicine.
Four classics: one for theory, one for pulse diagnosis, one for materia medica, and one for formulae — from this point onward, Chinese medicine had a complete system, and the Way of Qihuang had texts to rely on and a learning to be transmitted.
V. The Core Wisdom of the Way of Qihuang
Three thousand years of the Way of medicine finally condense into five strands of core wisdom. They are not dead precepts, but living spirit.
| Core Wisdom | Classical Source | Essence in One Sentence |
|---|---|---|
| The holistic view (整体观) | Su Wen (《素问》) · “Yinyang Yingxiang Dalun” (《阴阳应象大论》) | The human being is a whole, and human beings and heaven and earth are a whole |
| Pattern identification and treatment (辨证论治) | Shanghan Lun (《伤寒论》), clause 16 | “Observe the pulse and pattern, perceive what reversal has been offended, and treat according to the pattern.” |
| Prevention before illness (治未病) | Lingshu (《灵枢》) · “Siqi Tiaoshen Dalun” (《四气调神大论》) | “The superior physician prevents disease; they do not treat disease that has already arisen.” |
| The unity of heaven and humanity (天人合一) | Su Wen (《素问》) · “Baoming Quanxing Lun” (《宝命全形论》) | “Human beings are born from the qi of heaven and earth, and brought to completion by the laws of the four seasons.” |
| Yin yang and the five phases (阴阳五行) | Su Wen (《素问》) · “Yinyang Yingxiang Dalun” (《阴阳应象大论》) | “Yin and yang are the Way of heaven and earth, the guiding thread of the myriad things.” |
These five strands may seem mysterious, but in fact they are the most plain and simple — treat the person as a person, treat illness as a process, and treat health as a responsibility.
VI. Why Chinese Medicine Has Endured Three Thousand Years Without Decline
「Whenever a great physician treats disease, they must first calm the spirit and settle the will, be without desire and without seeking; first let arise a heart of great compassion and tender pity.」 (「凡大医治病,必当安神定志,无欲无求,先发大慈恻隐之心。」)
— Tang dynasty · Sun Simiao (孙思邈), Beiji Qianjin Yaofang (《备急千金要方》) · “Da Yi Jing Cheng” (《大医精诚》)
Across three thousand years of the Way of medicine, through the rise and fall of dynasties, frequent war, and countless pestilences, the art of Qihuang has nonetheless fallen and risen time and again, transmitted without end, and this rests on four grounds:
1. Clinical Effectiveness
Chinese medicine is not metaphysics, not a cultural symbol, but a medical system that can genuinely treat disease. From mahuang (麻黄) decoction for external contractions, and xiao chaihu (小柴胡) decoction to harmonize the shaoyang, to acupuncture analgesia, tuina bone-setting, and moxibustion to warm yang — thousands of years of trials on the human body have sifted out countless effective formulae and therapies.
In 2015, Chinese scientist Tu Youyou (屠呦呦) received the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (awarded 10 December 2015) for isolating artemisinin from the Chinese herb qinghao (青蒿, sweet wormwood) in order to treat malaria — a landmark contribution of Chinese medicine to world medicine (according to the official Nobel Prize website).
2. A Complete Theoretical System
Unlike folk empirical medicine, Chinese medicine, from the Neijing (《内经》) onward, has possessed a whole set of theoretical systems — yin and yang, the five phases, zang-xiang, channels and collaterals, and the cause and mechanism of disease — that are deducible, verifiable, and transmissible. Theory and practice, two parallel tracks — this is the key to Chinese medicine’s move out of the level of mere experience and onto the level of a discipline.
3. Transmissibility
Chinese medicine has two lines of transmission:
- Transmission through texts — word by word, the torch passed on
- Transmission from master to disciple — line by line, oral teaching from heart to heart
The pairing of “master leads disciple” with “reading the classics” has ensured the living continuity of the Way of Qihuang.
4. Cultural Identity
「If one cannot be a good minister of state, then let one be a good physician.」 (「不为良相,便为良医。」)
This is the celebrated saying of Fan Zhongyan (范仲淹) (Northern Song dynasty) (recorded in Song · Wu Zeng, Nenggaizhai Manlu (《能改斋漫录》), juan 13), and the collective aspiration of the Chinese scholar-gentleman (士人). Chinese medicine is deeply embedded in Chinese culture — yin and yang come from the Yijing (《易》), the five phases from the Shangshu (《尚书》) · “Hong Fan” (《洪范》), the unity of heaven and humanity from the hundred schools of thought. It is not only medicine, but also the Chinese worldview and methodology.
According to the ICD-11 (International Classification of Diseases, 11th Revision), adopted by the 72nd World Health Assembly (2019) of the World Health Organization, “traditional medicine” was included for the first time, and the internationalization of Chinese medicine and its standing within modern medicine received formal global recognition.
VII. Coda: The Way of Medicine Unending, the Light of Qihuang Long Bright
「How vast are Heaven and Earth, that we may ascend and stand upon them! The Way of Qihuang shines with the sun and moon.」 (「大哉乾坤,吾辈登临!岐黄之道,日月共明。」)
Three thousand years — but a single breath in the long river of history; and yet the Way of Qihuang has only grown the more lasting, the more fresh.
From the solemnity of Shennong tasting a hundred herbs, to the wisdom of Yi Huan discoursing on the gāo huāng; from the marvel of Bian Que’s gaze-diagnosis, to the rigor of Zhongjing’s pattern-based treatment; from the great primordial opening of the Neijing (《内经》), to the plants endowed with spirit in the Bencao (《本草》) — the Way of Qihuang has never been the wisdom of any one person, but the whole Chinese nation’s reverence for life, attunement to nature, and guardianship of health.
「Qibo (岐伯) said: … In high antiquity, those who knew the Way took pattern from yin and yang and harmonized with the arts of calculation; in food and drink they were measured; in rising and resting they kept to constancy; they did not tax themselves with useless labor. Thus they were able to keep form and spirit together, and to fulfill the full measure of their Heaven-granted years, departing only at the age of a hundred.」 (「岐伯曰:……上古之人,其知道者,法于阴阳,和于术数,食饮有节,起居有常,不妄作劳,故能形与神俱,而尽终其天年,度百岁乃去。」)
— Huangdi Neijing (《黄帝内经》) · Su Wen (《素问》) · “Shanggu Tianzhen Lun” (《上古天真论》)
Qihuang Library (岐黄书房) is a little study, and we hope it may be to you a single lamp, a pot of tea, a stretch of text — so that, amid the press of modern life, you may still hear the resonance of the Way of medicine that comes from three thousand years:
Take pattern from yin and yang; harmonize with the arts of calculation; In food and drink be measured; in rising and resting keep to constancy; Form and spirit together, and so fulfill the full measure of your Heaven-granted years.
The Way of medicine unending, the light of Qihuang long bright. May we all be bearers of the torch of this Way of medicine.