This panel examines the intersection of medicine, religion, and society in China from the Ming to the early Republican period.
Xun Liu
Department of History, Rugters University/Central China Normal University, Associate Professor
Title:The Sage of Medicine Shrine: Reconstructing Authenticity and Authority of National Medicine in Early Republican China
Abstract:As the anti-Chinese medicine discourse and activities escalated into a major controversy across the media and even in debates at the national assembly, the Sage of Medicine Shrine (Yisheng ci醫聖祠) in Nanyang 南陽 of Henan province that celebrate the memory of Zhang Zhongjing (張仲景), arguably the most central authority and demigod of Chinese medicine also faced major challenges and underwent a drastic revival due the collective efforts by a group of physicians and herbal merchants at the time. This preliminary study reconstructs the history of the shrine’s revival by examining the efforts led by Huang Weihan (黃維翰, also, Qian謙, h. Zhuzhai竹斋, 1886-1960), a Republican official and a renowned physician and educator of Chinese medicine from Xi’an and a group of local doctors of Chines medicine and herbal merchants in Nanyang to revive and re-consecrate Zhang Zhongjing as the unassailable sage and authority of Chinese medicine by renovating and maintaining the Sage of Medicine Shrine, by republishing and canonizing medical texts and herbal formula attributed to Zhang, and by forming a national association dedicated to the preservation and promulgation of Chinese medicine as the new National Medicine (guoyi國醫) in Nanyang and beyond. Alongside their efforts to renovate the shrine in honor of Zhang Zhongjing, Huang and his cohorts were also engaged in efforts to modernize and standardize the Chinese medical education and training programs throughout China by legislative activism within the National Committee of Chinese Medicine (Quanguo zhongyi weiyuanhui全國中醫委員會)) under the aegis of the Republican government’s Agency of Public Health (weishengshu衛生署). These legislative efforts succeeded in enlisting support from many Republican government officials and politicians in the central Republican government and the Henan provincial regime.
(Refer to the author's personal profile for full abstract)
Lu Cheng
Hubei Academy of Social Sciences, Assistant Researcher
Title:From Dispelling Diseases to Blessing Pharmaceutical Merchant Groups: Temples of Medicine King and Their Social Functions in Hubei Region During the Ming-Qing China
Abstract:This paper argues that the prosperity of temples of Medicine King reflected the dual construction of folk beliefs and social space by local social groups in Ming-Qing China. The emergence of temples of Medicine King is closely related to the reform of national ideology in the Ming dynasty. In the situation of the decline of the Three Emperors' worship, the folk reshaped the temple of Medicine King, which enshrines famous ancient doctors and embodies the desire of health. In the regional social environment, temples of Medicine King in Hubei during the Ming and Qing dynasties expanded its diverse social functions. Such as being as a barn, a charity school, a military fortress, and the image of the medicine king worship is also more diverse. Since the 17 century, the pharmaceutical industry in Hankou, the central city of Hubei, has been increasingly prosperous. The Henan merchants, Jiangxi merchants, and other pharmaceutical merchant groups who came to Hankou build up the enshrinement of the Medicine King as a space to maintain their own pharmaceutical trade. At this time, the meaning of the temple of Medicine King has expanded from dispelling diseases to blessing pharmaceutical merchant groups, and its social function has also changed from a common temple to a business hall. The emergence of the “Guild type Temple” in Hankou not only reflects the emerging pharmaceutical merchant group's ability to shape social space, but also showcases the specialized and large-scale landscape of the medicinal herb trading market in the middle reaches of the Yangtze River in Qing China.
Yurong Feng
Central China Normal University, Professor
Title:"The Medicine King Migrated Westward": Beliefs, Medicine, and Market Space of the Temple of Medicine King in Tengchong, Yunnan from the Ming and Qing Dynasties to the Republic of China
Abstract:During the Ming and Qing Dynasties, most of the Temples of Medicine King (Yaowang药王) were located in northwest and north China, but there was a Yaowang Palace in Tengchong(腾冲), Yunan(云南) province located in the southwest border. Although Yaowang Palace was built by doctors from Jiangxi who migrated west with the army in 1626, based on the Taoist Qingwei Palace(清微宫), it gradually integrated original medical and local resources. The influence of central cultural dynamics was vivid by the expansion of the Five Emperors Tower after the Qing conquest in 1725. Then it was rebuilt by the famous local doctor Ming Yulang(明于朗) rebuilt it in 1887, which was part of a local charity. During the Republic of China period, Yaowang Palace became a gathering place for the Medical Association and pharmaceutical merchants. The election of the Medical Association and the evaluation of the qualifications of Chinese medicine doctors were held here. As the infrastructure expanded, so did its network encompassing beliefs, medicinal economy, and the trade in medicinal materials, consolidating as a hub that symbolized local culture "Teng medicine". This convergence attracted doctors, pharmacists, local officials, and the gentry, reflecting how outsiders integrated into the local area. At the same time, local officials also utilized diverse resources to bolster regional identity. Therefore, the Temple of Medicine King evolved into a space where external influences fused with local elements, enhancing the commercial and social significance of the area.
Xiaomeng Liu
Fudan University, Assistant Professor
Title:Regional Network and Cult Assemblage: The Temple of Medicine King in Qizhou and the Construction of Popular Belief in North China during the Ming-Qing Period
Abstract:The medicinal market in Qizhou was the most important distribution center for herbal medicines in North China during the Qing dynasty. However, the Temple of Medicine King in Qizhou enshrined a unique god of medicine that was not usually seen in other places. This paper argues that the regional network of cults and market in North China must be taken into account in understanding the formationof the folk cult in Qizhou. First, in the latter half of the 15th century, a magistrate introduced a folk belief that originated in the Song dynasty to the Qizhou temple. This seemingly independent event was closely related to the revival of the Pichang cult in North China, which cannot be seen as a direct descendent of the cult from the capital of the Northern Song Dynasty, but a new tradition reintroduced from the Jiangnan Region. Second, the similarity between the Qizhou temple and another temple enshrining a Han general Pi Tong in the neighboring prefecture finally contributed to the convergence of the two cult traditions. Finally, the competition between the markets in Qizhou and Maozhou facilitated the adoption of Pi Tong as the new identity of Medicine King among Qizhou merchants. In sum, the multiple identities of the Medicine King and its transformation cannot be explained as merely a temporal accumulation or a pure local construction. Rather, it is a “cult assemblage” that synthesizes several different cult traditions in North China.
