Study On Variation Of Prescription Literature Of Tang Dynasty

The prescription formulology literature of the Tang dynasty has important medical and literary value by preserving a lot of medical recipes and recording rich medical knowledge. The collating work of prescription literature is the basis of current related research. However, there are lots of variations within prescription literature. These variations in prescription literature do not only have philological properties, but also rich medical properties. Compared with variations of general ancient literature, the variations of prescription literature are fragmentary, multitudinous and disorderly. So, the collating work is more difficult. Under this premise, the study on variations themselves can be regarded as a kind of new attempt:This paper, on the basis of previous research, summarizes features of variations of prescription literature by sorting out materials, categorizes manifestation patterns of variations of prescription literature, induces laws of variation and discusses applications of variation, in the hope of improving work efficiency and of enhancing the credibility of the results.This paper is based on the Tang dynasty prescription literature and analyzes the variations of prescription literature by focusing on "Qianjin Yaofang". On this basis, this paper fixes on the following three targets:firstly, to understand the overall situation of variations in prescription literature; secondly, to analyze the characteristics and origins of variations in prescription literature; thirdly, to give a reasonable explanation of the reasons and patterns of variations in prescription literature; fourthly:to explore the applications of variations in prescription literature.The body of this paper can be divided into six chapters:Chapter I:Introducing the general situation of the study of variations, mainly from four aspects:the basic theory of variation, general ancient literature variations, prescription literature variations and variant Chinese characters in ancient classics on Traditional Chinese Medicine. It also explains the object of study and material range, illustrates the significance, and determines research ideas and methods. Chapterâ…¡:Discussing the types and characteristics of variations in prescription literature and combining them with the specific circumstances of variation points out that variation of prescription literature has six types:edition variation, citing variation, same source variation, compilation variation, similar environment variation. Analyzing the corresponding characteristics. Chapterâ…¢:Analyzing the causes of variations in prescription literature from the dimensions of both literature and medicine, and discussing the influences on variations of the following aspects:the process of compiling, spreading and emendation of prescription literature, the evolution of languages and the development of clinical medicine. Chapterâ…£-â…¤:Categorizing and analyzing the phenomenon of variations separately from the angles of the subject and of philology, specific analysis and discussion of the following main aspects:the three elements of composition of the prescriptions, the order of arrangement, the changes of prescription names, the expression of the contents, the form of the text and the use of variant Chinese characters. ChapterVI:Discussing the applications of variations. On one hand, discussing the basic principles and rules of the application of variations. On the other hand, undertaking a specific analysis on the collating work, understanding of the contents and literary meaning.This paper is the first systematic variations research on The prescription formulology literature of the Tang dynasty on the basis of abundant achievements gained by excellent predecessor scholars. In this paper, we propose two new types of variations in prescription literature:compilation variation and similar environment variation, point out variations in prescription literature exhibit a significant characteristic on thought level (medical thinking) compared with common situation, and think the route of future research has two:one is emendation research, the other is formulology of traditional Chinese medicine research, and they all should be studied from diachronic and synchronic angle.