Abstract:
In the third century before the current era BCE, devastating
epidemics claimed the lives of thousands throughout the
Chinese empire. The poet Cao Zhi (192 - 232 CE) recorded
the calamity by writing that 'from each room came wails
and cries of sorrow' (Quoted in Kuriyama, 2000). Some
three hundred years later on the other side of the world,
the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle of 664 CE noted that 'the sun
eclipsed on the 5th before the Nones of May, and in the
same year there was great pestilence in the island of
Britain' (Shrewsbury, 1949). However, while much has
been written on the socio-economic and religio-philosophical
impact of epidemic disease on the apparent frailty of
human existence, medical historiography has not always
addressed the issue of how changing disease patterns
may have influenced therapeutic strategies. The theme of
this paper will focus on this aspect of medical history by
considering how disease manifestations as perceived by
physicians of Chinese medicine, have helped shape medical
notions and determine therapeutic response.
