Studies On The TCM Education Of Yunnan TCM School During The Qing Dynasty

The earliest traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) school in Yunnan Province isthe one established in Kunming, the provincial capital, in the30th year of the reign ofGuangxu Emperor of the Qing Dynasty (or1904). The famous doctor Chen Yong(also known as Chen Zizhen), a native of Nanning (the present Qujing City in YunnanProvince) once taught here. The textbook this school adopted was Medical OmnibusLaxness written by its major teachers. The school turned out a number of TCMprofessionals. When the Revolution of1911broke out and the Northern Expedition(1926-1928) started, some of the graduates of this school joined in the army andworked as the military doctors and some practiced medicine in the locality to servethe public, constituting a major force in the medical field of Yunnan. Of all, thewell-known doctors include Miao Jiaxi, Lin Houfu, Zhu Zhang, Guo Jigao and XieHaozhi. Therefore, there was a saying prevailing in the medical world of Yunnan: thefamous doctors in Sanyi (another name of Yunnan in the old times) all come fromYunnan TCM School. As the first government-funded medical school in Yunnan, itsestablishment laid a solid foundation for the TCM education in this part of the world,filling the gap in setting up the public TCM school in this province before the moderntimes.The objectives: according to relevant historical records and on the basis of thetextual research of the historical data related to the operation of this school, this articleworked hard to sort out and study the textbooks it adopted and summarize the majorcontents of its TCM education, such as the content of courses, educational thoughtsand philosophy. Through the research work in the TCM education and teaching experience in Yunnan during the Qing Dynasty, this article intends to provide somevaluable reference information for our efforts today in training the traditional Chinesemedicine personnel, renovating the TCM textbooks, and studying the way to successof those famous doctors in Yunnan in modern times.The methods: this article used the modern information technology to collect,classify, retrieve, and compare the ancient books of the traditional Chinese medicine.Based on the thinking of the TCM document research, this article made an analysis ofhow Yunnan TCM School was operated from beginning to end in accordance with thetextual research of the existing historical records. Of these, the focus was laid onstudying its textbook-Medical Omnibus Laxness which remains intact till now so asto reveal the education characteristics of this school. Moreover, efforts were alsomade to indentify the problems existing in modern TCM education and present thecorresponding solutions from the perspective of Yunnan TCM School.The conclusion: the retrieval of the related publications shows that there are noother articles found focusing on the further study of the TCM education on the basisof the role of a medical school so far. Furthermore, besides several medical booksonce used as textbooks in different historical periods, there are no other TCM booksfound to be specially compiled for the school education before and during the QingDynasty. Medical Omnibus Laxness has been proved to be the first set of systematicteaching materials for the traditional Chinese medicine appearing before the moderntimes in this country. It is characterized by scientific curriculum and comprehensiveand systematic contents. The establishment of Yunnan TCM School of the QingDynasty filled the gap in the government-funded education in Yunnan before themodern times. Meanwhile, its scientific educational ideas and abundant educationalthoughts also provide precious historical experience for revitalizing the moderntraditional Chinese medicine enterprise and reforming the traditional Chinesemedicine educational pattern.