Jīngxiào chǎnbǎo 經效產寶
Tested-Effective Obstetrical Treasures by 昝殷 Zàn Yīn (mid-Táng)
About the work
A three-juǎn mid-Táng (大中 era) obstetrical compendium by 昝殷 Zàn Yīn (Chéngdū 成都), composed c. 847 and the earliest extant Chinese specialised obstetrical monograph. The work contains 378 obstetrical prescriptions arranged by topical category covering pregnancy, labour, post-partum care, and obstetrical emergencies. The work was rediscovered in the late Táng by 白敏中 Bái Mǐnzhōng (in his post as governor of Chéngdū) and presented to the imperial court; from this transmission stream the work entered the Sòng fùkē tradition where it became one of the principal source-texts cited by 陳自明 Chén Zìmíng’s Fùrén dàquán liángfāng (1237). The work’s title Chǎnbǎo 產寶 (“Obstetrical Treasures”) was used by all subsequent Chinese obstetrical literature.
Prefaces
The KR hxwd recension of KR3ei048_001.txt contains only the mandoku-view header (six lines) and no body content. The text is therefore not directly accessible in this KR3ei subdivision; the present entry is based on standard bibliographic knowledge of the work.
Abstract
Zàn Yīn 昝殷 was a mid-Táng physician of Chéngdū 成都 (Sìchuān) active in the Dàzhōng era (847–860). The Jīngxiào chǎnbǎo is conventionally dated c. 847 (Dàzhōng 1) and is the earliest extant Chinese specialised obstetrical text. It survives in fragmentary form: the principal manuscript witness derives from a Sòng reconstruction prepared after the original Táng imprint was lost, with later additions from Sòng-period editors. Modern reconstructions are based on quotations in the Fùrén dàquán liángfāng and other SòngYuán fùkē compilations together with surviving manuscript fragments.
The transmission narrative as recorded in 王肯堂 Wáng Kěntáng’s Zhèngzhì zhǔnshéng·Nǚkē (see KR3ei030) preface: “Táng Dàzhōng chū, Bái Mǐnzhōng shǒu Chéngdū, qí jiā yǒu yīn miǎnrǔ sǐzhě, fǎngwèn míngyī, dé Zàn Yīn 《Bèijí yànfāng》 sānbǎi qīshíbā shǒu yǐ xiàn, shì wéi 《Chǎnbǎo》” — “In the early Táng Dàzhōng era, when Bái Mǐnzhōng was governor of Chéngdū, a member of his household had died in childbirth; inquiring after famous physicians, he obtained 378 tested-effective prescriptions from Zàn Yīn and presented them to the court — this became the Chǎnbǎo.”
The work is one of the most-cited Táng-period medical sources in SòngYuánMíngQīng fùkē literature and the foundational text of the Chinese obstetrical specialty. The companion Chǎnbǎo tradition includes the early-Sòng Chǎnyù bǎoqìng jí 產育寶慶集 (KR3ei076) and others.
Translations and research
- Charlotte Furth, A Flourishing Yin: Gender in China’s Medical History, 960–1665. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999 — extensive discussion of the Chǎnbǎo tradition.
- Yi-Li Wu, Reproducing Women: Medicine, Metaphor, and Childbirth in Late Imperial China. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2010.
- Asaf Goldschmidt, The Evolution of Chinese Medicine: Song Dynasty, 960–1200. London: Routledge, 2008.
- Modern punctuated reconstructions: Jīngxiào chǎnbǎo in various TCM classics series (Rénmín wèishēng chūbǎnshè).
- No standalone English translation located.
Links
- Wikipedia (zh)
- No separate Wikidata entry located.
- 經效產寶 jicheng.tw
- Kanseki DB