Nèijīng píngwén 內經評文
Literary Appraisal of the Inner Classic by 周學海 (Zhōu Xuéhǎi, 1856–1906, 清) — author
About the work
The Nèijīng píngwén in thirty-six juan combined (24 for the Sùwèn + 12 for the Língshū) is a late-Qīng literary-stylistic commentary on the Huángdì nèijīng by Zhōu Xuéhǎi 周學海 (zì Chéngzhī 澄之, hào Jiànxiá 健霞), an eminent scholar-official and qìmín 七命 (seven-rank) physician of Jiànyáng 建陽 (Ānhuī) in the late-Tóngzhì / early-Guāngxù era. Unlike preceding Sùwèn commentaries, which read the text primarily for medical doctrine, Zhōu approaches the Nèijīng as a piece of Hàn-period rhetoric (wén), evaluating its passages for literary structure, argumentation, parallelism, and rhetorical voice — and proposing emendations and re-orderings on rhetorical grounds. The work is dated to Guāngxù 24 = 1898.
Prefaces
The postscript transcribed in KR3ea032_000.txt engages two specific controversies. (i) The chapter division — Sùwèn in 24 juan / 81 pian and Língshū in 12 juan / 81 pian — is conventionally attributed to 王冰 Wáng Bīng (王啟玄) for the Sùwèn, with the Língshū division ascribed either to Wáng Bīng or to 史崧 (Shǐ Sōng, 1155). Zhōu observes that both lose the “古九九之義” (the cosmological symbolism of 9 × 9). (ii) The Yí piān 遺篇 — the Cì fǎ lùn and Běn bìng lùn — are conventionally attributed to 劉溫舒 (Liú Wēnshū) but Zhōu, citing earlier evidence, argues they were composed before Liú by Wáng Bīng-school students and only mis-attributed to Liú later. (iii) The seven great treatises (Dà lùn) are absent in the Tàisù but their citation by 張機 Zhāng Zhòngjǐng in the Shānghán lùn preface establishes their Hàn date.
Abstract
Zhōu Xuéhǎi was a jìnshì of 1888 (Guāngxù 14), served briefly in the Hézhōu 河州 prefecture in Gānsù, and after retiring to Wúhú 蕪湖 devoted himself to medicine, becoming one of the major figures of the late-Qīng “intellectual physician” (儒醫) tradition. He compiled the Zhōu shì yīxué cóngshū 周氏醫學叢書 in 32 zhǒng (titles), the most comprehensive medical reference series of the late Qīng. His original works include the present Nèijīng píngwén, Màiyì jiǎnmó 脈義簡摩, Mài jiǎnbǔ 脈簡補, Dú yī suíbǐ 讀醫隨筆 (3 juan), and several practical formularies. His “literary-rhetorical” approach to the Nèijīng was influential in the early Republican era (章太炎 Zhāng Tàiyán explicitly praised it) and prefigures certain emphases of late-20th-c. American “medical humanities” reading of classical Chinese medicine.
The jicheng.tw source preserves the postface (the body of the Píngwén is exceptionally long: 91,000+ characters in _001.txt and successors).
Translations and research
- Volker Scheid, Currents of Tradition in Chinese Medicine, 1626–2006 (Eastland Press, 2007) — section on Zhōu Xuéhǎi and the late-Qing 周氏醫學叢書.
- Yú Bórì 余伯日 (ed.), Zhōu Xuéhǎi yīxué quánshū 周學海醫學全書 (Renmin Weisheng, 2007).