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Lecture Number 1 – Early Chinese Medicine

A World History Perspective: 4000 – 206 BC
Early Chinese Medicine
The Three August Rulers
Pien Ts’io
Wars of the Contending States
The Ch’in Dynasty

A World History Perspective: 4000 BC – 206 BC

4000 BC - 3501 BC

End of the Paleolithic period on the Mediterranean coastline. Sumerians settle on the site of the city of Babylon. Disastrous floods in the Mesopotamian region. The Egyptian calendar had 360 days, made up of 12 months of 30 days each. Multi-colored ceramic ware originating in Russia reaches China.

3500 BC - 3001 BC

Height of the Sumerian civilization. The Neolithic period in Western Europe (continues up to 1700 BC). The Bronze Age in Bohemia. The 1st and 2nd dynasties in Egypt. The first date in Mayan chronology (3372 BC).

3000 BC - 2501 BC

Beginning of the period of the "Sage Kings" in China. The Old Kingdom of Egypt. The Chinese court musician, Ling-lun, cuts the first bamboo pipe. Sumerian medicine discovers the healing qualities of mineral springs. The beginning of systematic astronomical observations in Egypt, Babalonia, India, and China. Egypt introduces a calendar of 365 days without adjustments (2772 BC).

2500 BC – 2001 BC

The Yao Dynasty in China (to 2300 BC). The Shun Dynasty in China (2300 BC to 2205 BC). The Hsai Dynasties in China (2205 BC to 1760 BC). Egypt ruled by the Hyksos, "Shepherd Kings" (2200 BC to 1700 BC). Painted pottery in China. Chinese music has a five-tone scale. Egyptians discover use of papyrus. Equinoxes and solstices determined in China; the lunar year of 360 days changes to a variable sun-moon cycle. The first domesticated chickens in Babylon.

2000 BC – 1501 BC

The Shang Dynasty in China (1760 BC to 1122 BC). Beginnings of the Persian Empire (1750 BC). The liberation of Egypt from Hyksos rule marks the beginning of the New Kingdom (1575 BC). The Bronze Age in Britain and Western Europe. Four basic elements are known in India: earth, air, fire, and water.

1500 BC – 1001 BC

Moses leads the Israelites out of Egypt. The Chou Dynasty in China (1122 BC to 480 BC). The first Chinese dictionary contains 40,000 characters. Elaborate bronze sculptures in China. Mathematical permutations and "magic squares" known in China. Beginning of the Iron Age in Syria and Palestine. Silk fabrics in China.

1000 BC – 901 BC

Peking founded. The rational philosophy of the Chou Dynasty gains over the mysticism of the earlier Shang Dynasty. Iron used in Greece.

900 BC – 801 BC

Iron and steel production in Indo-Caucasian culture.

800 BC – 701 BC

In India, medicine is divorced from the priesthood. Babylonian and Chinese astronomy understands planetary movements. Romulus, the first King of Rome, divides the year into 10 months. The Solar eclipse of September 6, 775 BC, is the first authenticated date in Chinese history.

700 BC – 601 BC

Assyrians destroy Babylon. Zoroaster (630 BC to 553 BC). "Graffiti" by Greek soldiers in Nubia. Lao-tzu (Lao Tze) born in 604 BC.

600 BC – 501 BC

Kung Fu-tse (Confucius) born, 551 BC. Siddhartha (Gautama Buddha) born 550 BC. The sun dial in use in Greece and China.

In Confucius, Buddha, Zoroaster, Lao-tse, the Jewish prophets,
the Greek poets, artists, philosophers, and scientists,
the 6th century BC reaches a zenith of human wisdom and achievement.

500 BC – 401 BC

Confucius died, 479 BC. Siddhartha died, 480 BC. The decline of the Chinese feudal state begins.

400 BC – 301 BC

Alexander the Great (356 BC to 323 BC). Building of the first wall in China, against the Huns, circa 356 BC. Iron is used in China.

300 BC – 201 BC

First contact by Romans with Greek medicine through prisoners of war, circa 265 BC. The Ch’in Dynasty in China, 221 BC to 206 BC. The Great Wall of China (1400 miles long) built to keep out invaders, 215 BC.

Early Chinese Medicine
2674 BC - 206 BC

"The origins of acupuncture and Chinese medicine are lost in a history whose "implied age" is 5,000 years. The quaint stories about soldiers being wounded by arrows and their medics thereupon noticing unusual healings indicate that acupuncture was a science and an art built up during the slightly-better-than-stone-ages in China. A popular metaphysical view indicates that the ancient Chinese sages had operative etheric vision, and were thus able to directly see the channels and points. A third, and more recent, theory states that China inherited acupuncture from a highly-advanced, previous civilization, and the knowledge which we have today is that which survived by being orally transmitted through China's stone-age to eventually be written in classics like the Nei Ching (the famous "Yellow Emperor's" text)."

- The Theory and Practice of Spiritual Acupuncture, ©1989.

The Three August Rulers

The Three August Rulers are three legendary emperors who are intimately connected with the early period of Chinese Medicine (circa 2674 BC).

Fu Hsi - To whom the Trigrams of the I Ching (The Canon of Changes) are attributed.

Shen Nung - The spiritual patron of agriculture; the father of herbal therapy.

Huang Ti - The Yellow Emperor, the creator of ritual and medicine. Quoted in the Nei Ching.

Chinese medical symbols date back to the 14th century BC. At that time, Chinese medicine was apparently conveyed by recitation (the oral tradition) or by texts engraved on bone.

The first Corporation of Doctors independent of priests and magicians was formed during a period of the organization of ritual and administration of government. The first known representative of this medical body was Pien Ts’io (pronounced Pen Show), thought to have lived from 430 to 350 BC. He is a legendary figure who probably personifies several historical characters. He already knew the pulse rate as a basis for diagnosis and prognosis, and was said to perform surgeries. He is also the attributed author of the Nan Ching (The Canon of Difficulties).

From Pien Ts’io’s period onward, China borrowed from India and Iran. Tsou Yen (circa 305 BC - 240 BC) introduced to China the idea of the five elements and their mutual genesis and destruction, and a medical system built upon the doctrine of these elements and the vital spirits, similar to those of Indian, Greek, Arabic, and Alchemical influence.

Alchemy = Al Khem y = "The Science of Egypt." Khem was the ancient name of Egypt. This is also the root of the word Chemistry.

The Egyptian and Greek medicine of this era was a mixture of herbs, poisons, incantations, and prayers administered by priest-magicians. The Grecian teacher, Hippocrates, is known in the Western world as the "Father of Medicine." Babylonian chemical notions, under the influence of the fire-worship religion of Zoroaster, involved the preparation of mercury mixed with the Indo-European idea of the immortality of the soul/spirit.

Wars of the Contending States

Chinese Feudalism, prominent during the long era of Early Chinese Medicine crumbled in the fratricidal Wars of the Contending States.

The Ch’in Dynasty
221 BC - 206 BC

From martial chaos, emerged Ch’in Shih Huang Ti, the first August Lord Ch’in. He obtained mastery over the other kingdoms by Fire and the Sword. He caused the Great Wall of China to be built. He gave the Empire its social, political, and administrative structure - from which scholars were excluded! After Ch’in Shih Huang Ti’s death, the Han Dynasty succeeded the Ch’in Dynasty and scholars again took up their positions.

Go to Lecture Number Two