Biànzhèng qíwén 辨證奇聞
Strange Reports for Syndrome Discrimination by 陳士鐸 Chén Shìduó (Yuǎngōng 遠公, hào Zhūhuá zǐ 朱華子, c. 1627–1707), of Shānyīn 山陰 (Zhèjiāng).
About the work
A fifteen-juǎn late-Míng / early-Qīng medical treatise / casebook organised by syndrome, attributed to the prolific Zhèjiāng physician Chén Shìduó. This text is one of the works in Chén’s massive medical corpus — published as a kind of “syndrome-discrimination casebook” in dialogue format. The work covers the full range of internal-medicine syndromes, with each case framed as a bìngzhèng (病證) — a biànshí (辨識) of syndrome identification — and concluded with a fāng (prescription) plus a pī (批 — editorial annotation note).
Prefaces
No transmitted preface in the hxwd source; the _000.txt file is absent and the text opens directly with 卷一 傷寒 at _001.txt.
Abstract
Chén Shìduó 陳士鐸 (also Chén Sīduó 陳遠公, zì Yuǎngōng, hào Zhūhuá zǐ 朱華子; c. 1627–1707), native of Shānyīn 山陰 (Shàoxīng, Zhèjiāng). One of the most prolific late-Míng / early-Qīng medical authors and a contentious figure in Qīng medical historiography: he claimed to have received some of his works in revelation from divine figures (岐伯 Qíbó, 雷公 Léigōng, 張仲景 Zhāng Zhòngjǐng, 華佗 Huá Tuó) — making the attribution and authority of his corpus a recurring subject of Qīng scholarly debate. His principal works include 石室秘錄 Shíshì mìlù (KR3ec081), 辨證錄 Biànzhèng lù (a close variant of the present text), and 本草新編 Běncǎo xīnbiān.
The opening case (傷寒冬月傷寒 — winter Cold-Damage syndrome) is a paradigmatic Chén Shìduó teaching specimen: a Tàiyáng / Yángmíng overlap with sweat-and-thirst-and-headache, prescribed with a heavy-dose modified Báihǔ tāng (Shígāo 1 liǎng, Màidōng 2 liǎng, plus Cháihú, Zhīzǐ, Fúlíng, Rénshēn) — characteristically heavier dosage than mainstream Qīng prescribing and characteristically gōngbǔ jiānshī (攻補兼施 — attack-and-tonify together).
The relationship between Biànzhèng qíwén and Chén’s 辨證錄 Biànzhèng lù is debated in Qīng bibliography; the texts may represent two phases of an evolving editorial project, or one may be a later variant of the other. The composition window 1670–1707 brackets Chén’s mature clinical period through to his death.
Translations and research
No substantial secondary literature located in major European languages for this specific text. Chén Shìduó’s Shíshì mìlù has attracted some attention as a specimen of late-Míng / early-Qīng revealed-text medical-cosmological writing. Hinrichs and Barnes 2013, pp. 196–197 (brief mention).
Links
- Sister work / probable variant: 辨證錄 Biànzhèng lù (also by Chén Shìduó).
- Other Chén Shìduó works: KR3ec081 Shíshì mìlù.
- Kanseki DB
- 辨證奇聞