奇效良方

Qíxiào Liángfāng 奇效良方

Marvellously Effective Good Recipes originally compiled by 董宿 (Dǒng Sù, fl. mid-15th c., 明) — Ming Tàiyī yuàn pàn 太醫院判 (Deputy Director of the Imperial Medical Academy); edited and finalised by 方賢 (Fāng Xián, fl. late 15th c., 明) — Ming Tàiyī yuàn shǐ 太醫院使 (Director of the Imperial Medical Academy)

About the work

The Qíxiào liángfāng in 69 juǎn is a mid-Ming institutionally-compiled formulary that consolidates the recipes of the Ming Tàiyī yuàn 太醫院 (Imperial Medical Academy) into a single reference work. The work was begun by Dǒng Sù 董宿 in his capacity as Deputy Director of the Tàiyī yuàn and continued / completed by Fāng Xián 方賢 as Director after Dǒng’s death; the textual layering produces a work with two named editors whose individual contributions are sometimes hard to separate.

The work is organised by ailment across 64 mén / disease-categories, including a substantial paediatric measles-and-smallpox section (Chuāngzhěn lùn 瘡疹論) that is the source of the hxwd transmission’s most quoted preface. The recipes draw from the Sòng Júfāng and Shèngjì zǒnglù, Yuán formularies, and from the personal experience of the Tàiyī yuàn staff. The work was widely reprinted and was a standard reference in Ming and Qīng professional medical practice.

Prefaces

The hxwd transmission preserves the Chuāngzhěn lùn xù 奇效良方瘡疹論序 (“Preface to the Smallpox-and-Measles Discussion of the Qíxiào liángfāng”) — dated 紹定庚寅春 (= 1230, Shàodìng 3). This is an internally inconsistent date (Shàodìng is a Southern-Sòng reign-period); the date is probably a copyist error for a Ming-era gēngyín year, most plausibly jǐngtài gēngyín (1470). The preface itself defends biànzhèng differential-diagnosis approaches to childhood smallpox/measles, opposing the yīpiān “one-sided” Yuán-Ming polemic-physician tendency to treat all childhood febrile rashes as pure heat-syndrome (and to over-use cooling drugs that injure the eyes).

Abstract

The work has two-stage authorship:

1. Dǒng Sù 董宿 (fl. mid-15th c.; not in CBDB; Wúxiàn 吳縣, Jiāngsū): Ming Tàiyī yuàn pàn 太醫院判 (Deputy Director). Began the compilation as an institutional collection of Tàiyī yuàn recipes.
2. Fāng Xián 方賢 (fl. late 15th c., Tiānshùn / Chénghuà era; not in CBDB; native of Hèjiān 河間, Hébei): Ming Tàiyī yuàn shǐ 太醫院使 (Director). Completed and edited Dǒng’s manuscript for publication.

The work’s significance:

1. Institutional Ming medical compilation. The Qíxiào liángfāng is the principal product of the Ming Tàiyī yuàn as an institutional medical author in the mid-15th century, parallel to the Sòng Júfāng (KR3ed011) and the Yuán Yùyàoyuàn fāng (KR3ed025). The three works together document the continuity of state-pharmacy institutional authorship across the Sòng-Yuán-Ming transition.
2. Bridge between Yuán polemic-physician theory and Ming practical formulary. The Yuán Jin-Yuán four masters (Liú Wánsù, Zhāng Cóngzhèng, Lǐ Gǎo, Zhū Zhènhēng) developed polemical theoretical positions whose practical application required Ming-era physicians to determine which theoretical school’s recipes to deploy for which condition. The Qíxiào liángfāng is one of the principal Ming institutional attempts to reconcile competing Jin-Yuán theoretical schools into a single practical formulary.
3. Smallpox / measles paediatric clinical reasoning. The work’s Chuāngzhěn lùn preface is one of the most-quoted Ming-era statements of the case for differential rather than one-sided smallpox/measles treatment in children.

The 1449–1470 bracket reflects the combined working span of Dǒng Sù and Fāng Xián; the 1230 preface date is conventional but corrupt and should be read as a Ming-era gēngyín (likely 1470).

Translations and research

• Furth, Charlotte. 1999. A Flourishing Yin. UCP. — discusses the smallpox/measles paediatric medical tradition that the Qíxiào liángfāng represents.
• Hé Shíxī 何時希 (coll.). 1990. Qíxiào liángfāng 奇效良方 (punctuated edition).
• Wilkinson, Chinese History: A New Manual §41.3.2.

Other points of interest

The 1230 (Shàodìng gēngyín) date that the preface bears is a classic transmissional copyist error — most likely the original was jǐngtài gēngyín (1470) or chénghuà gēngyín (1470)? Note: 1470 = chénghuà 6 = gēngyín — the dynasties’ reign-period names having been confused by a later copyist using the SòngYuán Shàodìng as a more familiar gēngyín designation. This is an interesting case of date-corruption by reign-name substitution in Ming medical texts.

Links

• Wikidata: no dedicated entry.
• Wikipedia (zh): 奇效良方.
• 奇效良方 jicheng.tw
• Kanseki DB