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
Reminder: AI generated list - beware of hallucinations. Corrections and additions welcome
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