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普濟方·嬰孩門

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Text ID
KR3ed037
Date
1390–1406
Dynasty
明

Pǔjì Fāng · Yīnghái Mén 普濟方·嬰孩門

Paediatric Section of the Recipes for Universal Relief by 朱橚 (Zhū Sù, 1361–1425, the Prince of Zhōu 周王, 明)

About the work

The Pǔjì fāng · Yīnghái mén is the paediatric section of the Pǔjì fāng (KR3ed036) circulated as an independent text. The hxwd transmission of this section corresponds to juǎn 358 onward of the full Pǔjì fāng (the paediatric chapters), printed as an independent extract for clinical reference in Ming and Qīng paediatric practice. The section is one of the most extensive pre-modern Chinese paediatric monographs, covering paediatric pulse-taking, jīngfēng 驚風 (childhood convulsive disorders), measles, smallpox, gǔzhèng 蠱症 (childhood wasting), jiǎojǐ 疳積 (childhood malnutrition), and the full range of paediatric internal medicine.

For full bibliographic, biographical, and historical-significance discussion, see KR3ed036.

Prefaces

This extract carries the same Ming-era paratexts as the full Pǔjì fāng; no independent preface is preserved for the paediatric section.

Abstract

The principal reason this section is preserved and catalogued as a separate text is that it circulated independently in late-imperial Chinese paediatric clinical practice: physicians whose specialisation was paediatrics needed the Pǔjì fāng’s 70 paediatric juǎn but had no need (and could not afford) the full 426-juǎn work. The Yīnghái mén extract met that practical need.

The section’s medical content includes:

  1. Paediatric pulse-taking and diagnostic protocols — including the zhǐwén 指紋 (finger-vein) examination technique for infants too small for radial-pulse palpation.
  2. Detailed measles and smallpox staging. The Pǔjì fāng paediatric section preserves the most detailed Ming-era account of measles and smallpox case-progression and counter-prescription.
  3. Jīngfēng 驚風 typology. The section codifies the jíjīng 急驚 (acute convulsion) versus mànjīng 慢驚 (gradual / chronic convulsion) distinction that became central to late-imperial paediatric practice.
  4. Gǔzhèng 蠱症 wasting syndromes — a body of childhood-malnutrition syndromes (五疳: 心疳, 肝疳, 脾疳, 肺疳, 腎疳) prescribed for with specific fúshèng 復生 (recovery) preparations.

For Zhū Sù’s biographical and patronage details, see KR3ed036.

Translations and research

See KR3ed036 for the full bibliography. The paediatric extract is discussed specifically in:

  • Hsiung Ping-chen 熊秉真. 1995. Yōu-yōu Yáng-yáng: Chuántǒng Zhōngguó de qiángbǎo zhī dào 幼幼養養：傳統中國的襁褓之道. Lián-jīng. — uses the Pǔjì fāng paediatric section as a major source.
  • Bray, Francesca. 1995. “A Deathly Disorder: Understanding Women’s Health in Late Imperial China.” In Bates (ed.), Knowledge and the Scholarly Medical Traditions. — discusses paediatric / maternal interconnection.

Other points of interest

The independent circulation of the Yīnghái mén is itself an important fact about late-imperial Chinese medical-text production: the detachment of paediatric medicine as a clinically and bibliographically separate specialty is a process visible in the textual transmission patterns of late-imperial paediatric works, of which the Pǔjì fāng · Yīnghái mén extract is one of the clearer indicators.

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