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The Dangers of 'Warming and Replenishing' (wenbu) during the Ming to Qing Epistemic Transition

de Vries, Leslie (2015) The Dangers of 'Warming and Replenishing' (wenbu) during the Ming to Qing Epistemic Transition. Asian Medicine, 10 (1-2). pp. 90-120. E-ISSN 1573-4218. (doi:10.1163/15734218-12341347) (KAR id:66117)

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Abstract

Through a case study of Zhao Xianke's One Principle through Medicine (Yiguan ) (1617?) and Xu Dachun's (1693-1771) denouncements of this text, my article zooms in on divergent discourses on the safety and efficacy of medicinal substances and compounds in late imperial China. Although Xu Dachun's fierce attacks on the popular 'warming and replenishing' (wenbu ) therapies can be situated in an epistemic shift from the cosmology of 'Song learning' (songxue ) towards the philology of 'Han learning' (hanxue ) and 'evidential research' (kaozheng ), I argue that more complex issues were at stake as well. Changed political, social, ethical, and economic realities shaped new and multifaceted perceptions of the nature of medicine, the medical profession, and the usage of medicinals in the aftermath of the Ming to Qing transition.

Item Type: Article
DOI/Identification number: 10.1163/15734218-12341347
Projects: Beyond Tradition: Ways of Knowing and Styles of Practice in East Asian Medicines, 1000 to the Present
Uncontrolled keywords: China, medical discourse, formulas, cosmology, Han learning, Ming-Qing transition
Subjects: B Philosophy. Psychology. Religion > BL Religion
D History General and Old World > DS Asia
R Medicine > RZ Other systems of medicine
Divisions: Divisions > Division of Arts and Humanities > School of Culture and Languages
Funders: Organisations -1 not found.
Depositing User: Leslie De Vries
Date Deposited: 22 Feb 2018 18:06 UTC
Last Modified: 10 Dec 2022 11:58 UTC
Resource URI: https://kar.kent.ac.uk/id/eprint/66117 (The current URI for this page, for reference purposes)
de Vries, Leslie: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6269-041X
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