Zhěn Mài Sān Shí Èr Biàn 診脈三十二辨
Thirty-Two Discriminations in Pulse Examination by 管玉衡 (Guǎn Yùhéng, fl. mid-Qing, 清)
About the work
A one-juan mid-Qing pulse-discrimination handbook by Guǎn Yùhéng, structured as a sequence of thirty-two paired discriminations between confusable pulse types (e.g., fú vs. kōu, hóng vs. shí, láo vs. gé). The book’s distinctive contribution is its taxonomic organisation: instead of presenting each pulse-type as a standalone unit and trusting the reader to assemble the discriminations, Guǎn presents the discriminations themselves as the primary unit of analysis. The result is a focused diagnostic guide for the clinician at the bedside.
Prefaces
KR3eb043_000.txt carries Guǎn’s self-preface, undated. The preface opens with the standard Wáng Shūhé invocation — “in the mind easily understood, under the finger hard to know” (xīn zhōng yì liǎo, zhǐ xià nán míng 心中易了，指下難明) — and frames the project as making the discriminations rigorous and the practice teachable. The dating to the mid-Qing (notBefore: 1700, notAfter: 1750) is conventional; Guǎn is otherwise undocumented and the work’s bibliographic citation history begins in the late 18th century.
Abstract
Guǎn Yùhéng 管玉衡 is essentially unattested outside this book; no CBDB record. The work has been reprinted in modern Chinese medical collections (Liú Yùnshān 劉雲山, ed., in the Zhōng yī gǔ jí zhěn běn cóng kān 中醫古籍珍本叢刊). The book stands within the High-Qing taxonomic-clinical tradition exemplified by Huáng Gōngxiù KR3eb024 Mài lǐ qiú zhēn and Shěn Jīn’áo KR3eb027 Mài xiàng tǒng lèi, but is distinguished from those by its more focused commitment to pairwise discrimination as the primary analytic unit.
Translations and research
- No Western-language translation exists.
- No substantial secondary literature located.
Links
- Wikidata: not assigned.
- 診脈三十二辨 jicheng.tw
- Kanseki DB