Zhēnjiǔ yìxué 針灸易學
Easy Studies of Acupuncture and Moxibustion by 李守先 Lǐ Shǒuxiān (撰)
About the work
A two-juan Qīng acupuncture primer by 李守先 Lǐ Shǒuxiān (zì Shànshù 善述), self-styled “the country physician of Liùtáng” 六堂. Lǐ’s self-preface, dated to his fifty-first year (1786, Qiánlóng 51, bǐngwǔ), recounts that he had studied acupuncture for six years without a master and without confidence; only when the malaria epidemic of 1786 broke out did he successfully treat nine in ten cases. Encouraged by this success, he wrote up his own clinical practice as a beginners’ manual. The work was printed in 1798 (Jiāqìng 3), with a second printing under the title Huìtú zhēnjiǔ yìxué 繪圖針灸易學 in 1847 (Dàoguāng 27) with a fresh preface by his fellow-townsman 許天錫 Xǔ Tiānxī. The work consists of (1) general introduction to acupuncture method, including all standard didactic verses and chronoacupuncture tables; (2) systematic point-by-point catalog organized by channel, with line-drawing diagrams (in the Huìtú edition); (3) clinical-syndrome chapters in which Lǐ’s own cases are presented as worked examples.
Abstract
The Zhēnjiǔ yìxué is the most popular Qīng-dynasty acupuncture primer for beginning students, displacing in the 19th century the older Zhēnjiǔ dàquán (KR3ee002). Xǔ Tiānxī’s 1847 preface frames the purpose explicitly: “since Hàn and Táng times, those who practiced medicine were specialists in formulary; acupuncture transmission gradually ceased. The Língshū prescriptive texts survived in name only” (自漢唐以來，業斯術者，方家能手，專主方藥，而針灸之傳闕如). Lǐ’s contribution is a self-consciously pedagogical reorganization of the acupuncture-verse tradition: each piece of didactic verse is followed by a clinical case that exemplifies its application. The text was distributed through the Húnán bookseller-network and became one of the principal late-Qīng acupuncture textbooks; it is widely cited in Republican-period acupuncture pedagogy.
Translations and research
- Liú Bīng 劉冰, “Lǐ Shǒuxiān Zhēnjiǔ yìxué yánjiū”, Zhōngyī wénxiàn zázhì (2000s).
- 黄龍祥 Huáng Lóngxiáng, Zhōngguó zhēnjiǔ shǐ tújiàn (2003), Qīng acupuncture-textbook chapter.