Liángpéng Huìjí Jīngyàn Shénfāng 良朋彙集經驗神方
A Worthy-Friend Compendium of Tested Divine Formulas by 孫偉 (Sūn Wěi, fl. late Kāngxī era, Qīng); with preface to the Jíjiù xiānfāng component by 徐守真 (Xú Shǒuzhēn) of Jīnchuān 金川
About the work
A late-Kāng-xī era jīngyàn (tested-formulas) compendium by Sūn Wěi 孫偉, presented as a liángpéng (“worthy-friend”) gathering of clinical recipes from many sources, in 6 juǎn. The work begins with the Jíjiù xiānfāng 急救仙方 (“Emergency-Rescue Immortal-Formulas”) which Sūn or his preface-writer Xú Shǒuzhēn appears to have incorporated as the opening section. The Jíjiù xiānfāng itself is distinguished by being devoted entirely to obstetric emergencies — tāichǎn (foetus-and-childbirth) cases, including pre-eclampsia, breech-presentation, retained placenta, post-partum haemorrhage, neonatal asphyxia.
Prefaces
Preface to the Jíjiù xiānfāng by Xú Shǒuzhēn 徐守真 of Jīnchuān 金川:
“Of medicine’s treatments of disease, none is harder than that of women. Of women’s diseases, none is more grave than that of pregnancy and childbirth. — Why are pregnancy and childbirth so grave? Because a single body’s jífǒu (illness-or-not) bears on both mother and child’s cúnwáng (survival-or-death).
“Following the Qiānjīn fāng’s arrangement, [Sūn] Sīmiǎo Zhēnrén alone placed women’s section first — this is the yòngxīn bùgǒu (heart-applied not-carelessly) of the Zhēnrén.
“Of the world’s formulas for pregnancy and childbirth, they are not insubstantial. But among them, much commits cǒng (cumbersome), pì (rare), guì (expensive). Cǒng — in cāngzú (urgent) moments it is difficult to ready. Pì — in poor villages and remote districts it is difficult to obtain. Guì — in pínjù (poor) families it is difficult to seek. These three — though they may not represent any bùzhōu (incomplete-thinking) on the jūnzǐ’s part — the people who receive their grace most often find that only one in ten or hundred can avail themselves of the help.
“Now this present compilation: divided into three categories, with miscellaneous-illness appended at the end. — Although it cannot have the guǎngzǎi bógāi (broad-recording and wide-comprehensive) of the various formularies, what matters is that it does not commit the three faults of cǒng / pì / guì. And the urgent-syndromes of pregnancy and childbirth — to broad outline it covers exhaustively. Let it serve: in the cāngzú moment, the poor villages and remote districts and the poor families — all can easily seek it. Although a single grass or single twig — yet this is sufficient to gain effect. — How is this less than the three preceding’s difficulty-of-being-effective?
“Those who use this, trust it to be a zhòngbǎo (treasured-by-the-ladies’) of the guīmén (women’s-quarters).”
Abstract
A late-Kāng-xī era specialised obstetric-and-clinical formulary by Sūn Wěi 孫偉 with the Jíjiù xiānfāng component prefaced by Xú Shǒuzhēn 徐守真 of Jīnchuān 金川 (modern Jīnchuān in Sìchuān or possibly Jīnchuān district in Anhui — the place-name Jīnchuān admits multiple readings). The preface develops a sustained moral-economic argument that the standard pregnancy-and-childbirth formularies have failed the rural and poor population because of their cǒng / pì / guì (cumbersome / rare / expensive) ingredient-and-procedure requirements; Sūn’s compilation aims explicitly at simple-and-accessible obstetric emergency formulas for the rural poor.
The work is one of the more documented late-Kāng-xī popular-pharmacy compilations, with a clear social-rationale and a distinctive obstetric specialism. The remainder of the 6-juǎn work after the Jíjiù xiānfāng section evidently treats the standard internal-and-external clinical material. The dating is approximately Kāngxī / early-Qiánlóng based on internal stylistic and bibliographic evidence.
Translations and research
No substantial secondary literature located. The work is briefly catalogued in the Zhōngguó zhōngyī gǔjí zǒngmù (2007). For the late-Imperial obstetric-and-fertility-literature context see Charlotte Furth, A Flourishing Yin: Gender in China’s Medical History (UC Press, 1999).
Links
- See 孫偉 (compiler) and 徐守真 (preface-writer for the obstetric component).
- 良朋彙集經驗神方 (jicheng.tw)
- Kanseki DB