| The object of this paper is the Shenzhai School,a medical school in Changzhou in the Ming and Qing Dynasties.Prior to this.some scholars have excavated the medical thoughts of some practitioners of the Shenzhai School from the perspective of ’inner history’.This paper takes the research path of social history and explores the construction process of the school in the regional society of Changzhou in the Ming and Qing Dynasties.Since the Tang and Song Dynasties,Changzhou’s natural conditions and transportation status had been continuously improved.During the Ming and Qing Dynasties,it had become one of the most developed commercial cities in the Jiangnan region.Economic prosperity provided a material basis for cultural development.Under the management of the local cultural families,Changzhou had formed a huge family-region academic group.They had incorporated the spirit of Jingshi into classics and literature,thus created the ’Changzhou School’,’Yanghu School’,’Piling School’and other influential academic schools.The prosperity of culture drove the development of medicine,which prepared the conditions for the emergency of the Shenzhai School.In the specific process of the formation of the school,the cultural backgrounds and academic accomplishments of the school members,the compilation and publication of the Shenzhai medical books,and the regional culture of Changzhou had all played important roles.Zhou Shenzhai and Zha Liaowu’s Confucianism background laid a good foundation for the formation and spread of the doctrine.Hu Shenrou,Shi Zhen and Gu Yuanjiao,three medical practitioners of Piling,were enthusiastic about writing,thus had compiled and published a number of Shenzhai medical books,which was the key to the formation of the school.Chen Jiachu compiled Yi Xue Cui Jing,which gradually made Shenzhai’s theory into a system.Shenzhai medical books were born in the long-term and repeated compilations by Shenzhai’s students.These books were finally valued and continually published in Changzhou,which was related to the prevalence of local book collection and engraving.Therefore,even the Changzhou Confucian doctor Yao Qiu,who had nothing to do with the Shenzhai master-apprentice network,paid attention to the Shenzhai text in this process.He edited Shenzhai Yi Shu,which was another important masterpiece of the school besides Yi Xue Cui Jing.The two books together presented a look of the Shenzhai School in history.In the process of Shenzhai medical books’compilation,the atmosphere of respecting and verifying the classics,the eclectic academic attitude and the academic spirit of seeking innovation and change in Changzhou academic circles,had all played important roles.Thus,the Shenzhai knowledge system which was presented in these books,was actually a new interpretation of the Shenzhai theory under the influence of Changzhou regional culture.Finally,when we look at the overall development of Changzhou medicine in the Ming and Qing Dynasties from the perspective of the Shenzhai School,we could also discover the medical communications between Changzhou,Wuzhong and Xinan;how traditional doctors and Confucian doctors promoted the development of Changzhou medicine in different ways;the achievements Changzhou medicine made in many fields such as seasonal febrile disease,internal medicine and surgery.All these laid a solid foundation for the rise of Menghe Medical School in the late Qing Dynasty.. |
