Yòukē lèicuì 幼科類萃
Distilled Categories of Paediatrics by 王鑾 Wáng Luán (撰)
About the work
A 28-juǎn Míng-period paediatric encyclopaedia by 王鑾 Wáng Luán (zì Wénróng 文融, hào Rónghú 容湖) of Wūchéng 烏程 (modern Wúxīng 吳興, Zhèjiāng), bearer of a multi-generation family paediatric practice. The work was composed across the Hóngzhì to Jiājìng periods (c. 1502–1534) and published with a preface by 李濂 Lǐ Lián of Sōngzhǔ 嵩渚 dated Jiājìng 13 (1534). It is one of the principal mid-Míng paediatric works prior to the Wàn Quán family lineage. Its 28 juǎn are organised: juǎn 1–2 as general theoretical introduction (zǒnglùn 總論), juǎn 3–28 as 26 disease-categories — neonatal disorders, jīngfēng 驚風, the gān 疳 chronic malnutrition syndromes, nüè 瘧, lì 痢, tùxiè 吐瀉, késòu 咳嗽, zhěn 疹, shuǐzhǒng 水腫, fùzhàng 腹脹, xián 癇 epilepsy, Shānghán 傷寒 (incorporated into paediatrics, a methodological innovation later expanded by 陳復正 Chén Fùzhèng), shāngshí 傷食, fùtòng 腹痛, jīshāng 積傷, pǐjī 痞積, lín 淋, dāndú 丹毒 (erysipelas), dǎn 疸 jaundice, zhū xuèzhèng 諸血證, hànzhèng 汗證, hóu chǐ shé 喉齒舌, ěr mù kǒu bí 耳目口鼻, zázhèng 雜證, and dòu 痘 smallpox.
Prefaces
The received front-matter carries an unsigned postface (bá 跋) — actually the closing prose of a senior official commending the project. The postface frames the work in the 扁鵲 Biǎn Què anecdote (specialisation by category) and contrasts the Confucian ideal of shénshèng gōngqiǎo 神聖工巧 medicine with contemporary practice degraded to chuǎimò tānqǔ 揣抹探取 (palpation-and-guesswork). It then describes the work’s coverage — from shòutāi 受胎 (conception) through neonatal nourishment, constitutional assessment, pulse-and-fingerprint diagnosis, and the principal disease categories — and praises Wáng Luán’s editorial method of distilling the qúnshū yàofāng 群書要方 (essential prescriptions of the corpus of medical works) into a single accessible synthesis. The postface closes by noting that the work was printed at the Kāifēng gōngshǔ 開封公署 (provincial office) at the direction of 劉鬆石 Liú Sōngshí, and notes that this same official had also commissioned the printing of the Shānghán liùshū 傷寒六書. The Lǐ Lián 1534 preface itself is not present in the front-matter here transmitted.
Abstract
The Yòukē lèicuì is the principal Wūchéng-Wáng-family Míng-period paediatric work. Its therapeutic frame integrates 錢乙 Qián Yǐ’s zàngfǔ doctrine with the Jīn-Yuán four-master synthesis (劉完素 Liú Wánsù, 張從正 Zhāng Cóngzhèng, 李東垣 Lǐ Dōngyuán, 朱丹溪 Zhū Dānxī) and especially with 張元素 Zhāng Yuánsù (hào Jiégǔ 潔古) prescription practice. It is notable for unifying acupuncture and decoction therapy under a single paediatric biànzhèng schema, and for an emphasis on the central role of píwèi 脾胃 (spleen-stomach, the post-natal hòutiān 後天 root) in paediatric pathology — a doctrine inherited from Lǐ Dōngyuán and from Qián Yǐ’s zàngfǔ paediatric synthesis. The work was reprinted by Liú Sōngshí at the Kāifēng provincial office in the early-to-mid Jiājìng period and circulated widely in Míng paediatric pedagogy. The 1984 photographic reprint (Zhōngyī gǔjí chūbǎnshè) is from the Tiānjīn Health Vocational Medical College’s Míng woodblock edition.
Translations and research
- 熊秉真 Xióng Bǐngzhēn (Hsiung Ping-chen), A Tender Voyage. Stanford UP, 2005 — discusses Yòukē lèicuì among the major Míng paediatric works.
- Yòukē lèicuì jiàozhù 幼科類萃校注, ed. 王玉賢 Wáng Yùxián et al. — modern punctuated edition.
- Hinrichs and Barnes (2013) — Míng paediatric context.
- No substantial English translation located.
Other points of interest
The postface’s reference to Liú Sōngshí 劉鬆石 (a senior Jiājìng-era official) and the parallel printing of the Shānghán liùshū 傷寒六書 at the Kāifēng provincial yamen is documentary evidence for the role of provincial-office printing in the dissemination of Míng-period medical works — a complement to the better-known commercial fāngkè 坊刻 trade.