Study On Zhang Lu,a Confucian Doctor In Qing Dynasty

During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, Jiangnan area (an area south of the Yangtze River), with its developed economy and culture, became a cradle for the boom of Wuzhong Medicine, with doctors in Suzhou area as the main body. Thus emerged the Wuzhong Medicine school. Due to its unique characteristics, prominent doctors and written works in large numbers, Wuzhong Medicine school owed itself the reputation of "the best medicine school of the world".Zhang Lu, borned in Suzhou City in Jiangsu Province, is among the prominent Wuzhong Medicine school doctors. His courtesy name is Lu Yu, and self-titled Shi Wan Lao Ren in his later life. Zhang is knowned as the Three Excellent Doctors in early Qing Dynasty together with Yu Chang and Wu Qian. Thanks to his cleverness and diligence, Zhang is able to be proficient in Confucianisim and takes medicine as his hobby. Later because of Jia Shen Incident in1664, he abandoned Confucianism and devoted himself to medicine for over sixty years. His focus is on theory and practice study of Chinese medicine. His research findings are collected in his books Zhang Shi Yi Tong, Shang Han Zuan Lun, Shang Han Xu Lun, Ben Jing Feng Yuan, Zhen Zong San Wei, Shang Han She Jian, and Shang Han Jian Zheng Xi Yi, which are known as Zhang’s Seven Medical Books.In his writings Zhang draws from but is not confined to others’idea. He annotates Chinese medicine classics, elaborates the diagnosis and remedy of various types of illness, ranging from mainly internal diseases to disease relevant to surgery, ENT, dermatology, gynaecology, or pediatrics, etc. During his over-sixty-years medical practice, Zhang equips himself with both knowledge and skill, reads widely and reorganizes all the others’ideas in a more simple way. Besides, as he is a Confucian doctor, Zhang always persuades patients while practicing medicine to save them.At the turn from Ming Dynasty to Qing Dynasty, Zhang acts as the link between the past and the future by systematically analyzing traditional Chinses medicine. Zhang’s contributions can be summarized as follows. His academic idea of "be skilled in internal medicine and versatile in all other division of medicine practice"has a great influence on Jiangnan medicine in late Qing Dynasty. His study on febrile diseases enriches theory and therapy of cure heat disease caused by external factors, which enlightens future doctors on Wen Bing Xue (a kind of acute febrile disease caused by external factors). Zhang draws from others but is not confined, and reads widely, which symbolizes a excellent combination of traditional Chinese medicine with medicine practice, medical specialty with generalization. That combination complies with the developing trend of medicine in early Qing Dynasty.