Medical Practice in Twelfth-century China – A Translation of Xu Shuwei’s Ninety Discussions [Cases] on Cold Damage Disorders

This book is an annotated translation of Xu Shuwei’s (1080–1154) collection of 90 medical case records – Ninety Discussions of Cold Damage Disorders (shanghan jiushi lun 傷寒九十論) – which was the first such collection in China. The translation reveals patterns of social as well as medical history. This book provides the readers with a distinctive first hand perspective on twelfth-century medical practice, including medical aspects, such as nosology, diagnosis, treatment, and doctrinal reasoning supporting them. It also presents the social aspect of medical practice, detailing the various participants in the medical encounter, their role, the power relations within the encounter, and the location where the encounter occurred. Reading the translation of Xu’s cases allows the readers high-resolution snapshots of medicine and medical practice as reflected from the case records documented by this leading twelfth-century physician. The detailed introduction to the translation contextualizes Xu’s life and medical practice in the broader changes of this transformative era.