Érkē cuìjīng 兒科萃精
Distilled Essentials of Paediatrics by 陳守真 Chén Shǒuzhēn (撰); prefaced by 李博仁 Lǐ Bórén
About the work
A Republican-period (1929) systematic paediatric textbook by 陳守真 Chén Shǒuzhēn of Mǐnhóu 閩侯, Fújiàn, organised into thirty-six diagnostic categories (mén 門). Composed during the author’s clinical practice in the French Concession of Hànkǒu (Wǔhàn), the work was completed in October 1929 (Mínguó 18.10.16, jìwàng 既望). It exemplifies the early-Republican wave of TCM textbook production for the new urban Chinese medical-college curriculum, alongside 吳克潛 Wú Kèqián’s Érkē yàolüè 兒科要略 (KR3ej002) and 惲鐵樵 Yùn Tiěqiáo’s later writings.
Prefaces
Preface by 李博仁 Lǐ Bórén, Hànkǒu tèbiéshì wèishēngjú zhǎng 漢口特別市衛生局長 (Director, Hànkǒu Special Municipality Public Health Bureau), dated 民國十八年十二月朔日 = 1929.12.01: praises the work as a corrective for the contemporary Chinese-medicine paediatric trade which, in Lǐ’s view, oscillates between piāoqiè fūcí 剽竊膚辭 (plagiarising superficial vocabulary) and jūní gǔfǎ 拘泥古法 (rigidly adhering to ancient methods). Lǐ identifies the author as a zhīmíng yī 知名醫 (well-known physician) of Hànkǒu. Author’s self-preface (自序), dated 民國十八年十月既望 = 1929.10.16: traces the paediatric textual canon from Tiānyuán yùcè 天元玉冊 and Língshū sùwèn 靈樞素問 through Hàn-Táng-Sòng-Yuán-Míng-Qīng, and laments that the paediatric specialty has produced relatively few comprehensive treatises and many fragmentary ones. He polemicises against the conventional interpretation of “xiǎoér chúnyáng 小兒純陽” (children are pure yang) — a doctrine he attributes to dānzào jiā 丹灶家 (alchemical) discourse — and against the misuse of kǔhán 苦寒 (bitter-cold purgatives) on infants on the grounds of their supposed chúnyáng constitution. The work is intended to embody two years’ (liǎng hánshǔ 兩寒暑) careful clinical reflection. Fánlì (凡例): articulates the work’s pedagogical scope (popular paediatric health education for parents and household reference), its 36-category organisation, and its inclusion of facial diagnosis, finger-vein examination, and modern figural illustrations (túshuō 圖說).
Abstract
The body of the work is divided into thirty-six mén (categories): zǒnglùn 總論 (general theory), hùtāi 護胎 (prenatal protection), chūshēng 初生 (newborn), miànbù wǔzàng 面部五臟 (facial visual diagnosis), zhǐwén 指紋 (finger-vein), liùyín 六淫 (six excesses), jīngfēng 驚風, xián 癇 (epilepsy), zhòngdòu 種痘 (variolation/vaccination), mázhěn 麻疹 (measles), huòluàn 霍亂 (cholera), gān 疳 (chronic malnutrition syndromes), nüè 瘧 (malaria), lì 痢 (dysentery), shàn 疝 (hernia), lín 淋 (urinary), dǎn 疸 (jaundice), tánxuèhàn 痰血汗 (phlegm-blood-sweat), késòu 咳嗽 (cough), chuǎn 喘 (dyspnea), tùxiè 吐瀉 (vomiting and diarrhoea), shíjī / pǐjī 食積/癖積 (food accumulation), shuǐzhǒng 水腫 (oedema), fùzhàng 腹脹 (abdominal distension), sānxiāo 三消 (three wasting disorders), tóutòng 頭痛 (headache), fùtòng 腹痛 (abdominal pain), zázhèng 雜證 (miscellaneous), and a closing section on wàizhì jiǔfǎ 外治九法 (nine external-therapy methods) plus the management of wùfú fǎnyào 誤服反藥 (accidental ingestion of antagonistic medicines). The work integrates classical Qián Yǐ paediatric doctrine with twentieth-century vaccination practice (zhǒngdòu in the modern sense), and reflects the early-Republican TCM project of presenting Chinese paediatric medicine as a systematic, modernised clinical discipline.
Translations and research
- Bridie Andrews, The Making of Modern Chinese Medicine, 1850–1960. UBC Press, 2014 — context for Republican-period TCM textbook production.
- Sean Hsiang-lin Lei, Neither Donkey Nor Horse. Chicago, 2014 — context for Hànkǒu and Wǔhàn as TCM educational centres.
- No specialised modern study of the Érkē cuìjīng located.
Other points of interest
The work’s appearance under the Mínguó (Republican-period) dynasty designation in the catalog correctly reflects its 1929 composition. The preface’s Hànkǒu French-Concession address (Hànkǒu Fǎzūjiè Sāndélǐ zhī yīshì 漢口法租界三德里之醫室) is a useful documentary anchor for the social history of Republican-period Wǔhàn Chinese medicine.