Xiǎo’ér tuīná fāngmài huóyīng mìzhǐ quánshū 小兒推拿方脈活嬰秘旨全書
Complete Secret Pointers on Paediatric Massage, Prescriptions, and Pulse-Taking for Saving Infants by 龔廷賢 Gōng Tíngxián (撰); reprint preface by 王大卿 Wáng Dàqīng (1711)
About the work
A late-Míng paediatric tuīná (massage) manual in two juǎn by Gōng Tíngxián 龔廷賢 (style Yúnlín 雲林, 1522–1619), one of the most prolific late-Míng medical authors. Gōng was the son of the imperial physician Gōng Xìn 龔信, a Tàiyīyuàn 太醫院 (Imperial Medical Academy) member who served at the Lóngqìng / Wànlì courts. Gōng Tíngxián continued the imperial-physician tradition and produced multiple major paediatric and general medical works including Wànbìng huíchūn 萬病回春 (1587), Shòushì bǎoyuán 壽世保元 (1615), and the Wànbìng dítóng 萬病敵董 paediatric and general medical compendium.
The hxwd recension preserves a 1711 Kāngxī xīnmǎo 康熙辛卯 re-printing preface by Wáng Dàqīng 王大卿 of Éhú 鵝湖, framing the work’s textual history: it was originally compiled by Gōng Tíngxián and published in three earlier editions in his own lifetime (“經三刻”); after the MíngQīng transition the printing-blocks were lost; in 1711 Wáng Dàqīng, Shū Shíqīng 舒時卿 (of Hóngdū 洪都), and Zhāng Kāiwēng 張開翁 re-edited and re-printed the work from a surviving manuscript.
Prefaces
Three prefaces survive: (1) the 1711 re-printing preface by Wáng Dàqīng; (2) a 1714 Kāngxī jiǎwǔ preface by an unnamed friend of the Wùzhēnzǐ 悟真子 (Gōng Tíngxián’s hào); and (3) Gōng’s own preface dated Kāngxī xīnwèi 康熙辛未 = 1691 (the original early-Qīng re-edition by Gōng — note that this places the work’s first publication slightly after Gōng’s own 1619 death, consistent with a posthumous publication of his manuscripts by his descendants).
The 1714 preface narrates the meeting between the prefacer and Gōng Wùzhēnzǐ 悟真子: the prefacer, traveling from Chǔ to Luò to Mǐn, had failed to meet Gōng earlier; on a return visit to Zōnglíng 踵陵, he visited Gōng’s gate, found him a deeply principled physician and Sùwèn scholar, and they discussed the Sùwèn by lamplight. Gōng then produced this paediatric tuīná manuscript and the prefacer recommended publication. The preface frames Gōng as exemplifying yī yǐ dào shì yī, bù yǐ yì shì yī 醫以道視醫，不以藝視醫 (regarding medicine as Way, not merely as craft).
Abstract
The Xiǎo’ér tuīná fāngmài huóyīng mìzhǐ quánshū is one of the three early-Qīng paediatric tuīná canonical works (with KR3ej067 Xiǎo’ér tuīná guǎngyì and KR3ej068 Yòukē tuīná mìshū). The work’s distinctive feature is its integration of tuīná with fāng (prescription) and mài (pulse-taking) — hence the unusual triple-method title. This integration distinguishes the Gōng family tradition from the more tuīná-only orientation of the Luò Rúlóng and Xióng Yīngxióng works.
Gōng’s tuīná doctrine is rooted in the late-Míng jīngluò 經絡 meridian doctrine and traces its mythical origin to the Jiǔtiān xuánnǚ 九天玄女 (Mysterious Lady of the Nine Heavens) tradition. The work covers paediatric pulse-taking (the three-position fēngqìmìng 風氣命 finger-vein scheme), facial-color assessment, biànzhèng (transformative fever) doctrine, and a wide range of disorder-specific tuīná protocols paired with prescriptions.
Cataloguing note: the catalog meta entry attributes the work to Gōng Tíngxián 龔廷賢 and assigns dynasty: 明 (Míng). The 1691 Gōng-self-preface (printed in this recension) is internally consistent only if the work was compiled in the late-Míng period (1600s–1619) and then re-issued posthumously in 1691, since Gōng died in 1619. Most contemporary scholarship dates the original compilation to c. 1604 based on the Gōng family bibliographic history. The 1691 / 1711 / 1714 dates in the hxwd prefaces are re-printing dates, not original composition dates.
Gōng Tíngxián’s birth-death dates are conventionally given as 1522–1619.
Translations and research
- No substantial Western-language scholarship on this specific work located.
- For Gōng Tíng-xián in general: Marta Hanson, Speaking of Epidemics in Chinese Medicine. Routledge, 2011.
- For paediatric tuī-ná: secondary literature surveyed under KR3ej067.
- Chinese-language: Lú Bīng-qí 廬炳奇, Gōng Yún-lín yī-xué xué-shù sī-xiǎng yán-jiū 《龔雲林醫學學術思想研究》 — for Gōng Tíng-xián’s broader medical thought.
Other points of interest
The work’s complex transmission history — late-Míng original compilation, posthumous 1691 publication, 1711 re-printing — illustrates the broken MíngQīng transition publishing-history typical of paediatric tuīná manuals. The Gōng Yúnlín family’s tuīná tradition was sustained across the MíngQīng transition primarily through manuscript transmission, with the printed editions reflecting reconstitution efforts by Qīng-era admirers rather than continuous publication.
The work’s tuīná + fāng + mài triple integration is its principal contribution to the genre and reflects the Gōng family’s broader medical philosophy of quán 全 (completeness) — embodied in the title Quánshū (Complete Book).
Links
- 小兒推拿方脈活嬰秘旨全書 jicheng.tw
- Kanseki DB
- Gong Tingxian Wikidata — for the author.