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薛氏醫案

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Text ID
KR3eu002
Date
1510–1559
Dynasty
明

Xuēshì yīàn 薛氏醫案

The Medical Cases of Master Xuē by 薛己 (撰)

About the work

The Xuēshì yīàn 薛氏醫案 is the collected medical corpus of 薛己 Xuē Jǐ (1487–1559) — 16 sub-titles in 77 juàn, bringing together both Xuē’s own original compositions and his editorial revisions of earlier authorities. The present entry is a reprint volume in the hxwd modern medical collectanea series; the canonical full Sìkù-recension entry is KR3e0070, which describes the structure, contents, and transmission of the whole work. The source file KR3eu002_001.txt carries the BASEEDITION marker T (likely Táiwān reprint base) and contains a single juàn corresponding to one of the sub-works in the Xuē collection.

Abstract

For full provenance, structure (16 sub-titles), dating, and the Sìkù tíyào see the parent entry KR3e0070. The work was first cut at Xiùshuǐ 秀水 on the 沈-family blocks (now damaged) in the mid-16th century and reprinted in Tiānqǐ dīngmǎo (1627) by Zhū Míng 朱明, whose preface preserves a celebrated dream-narrative in which Xuē Jǐ posthumously requested the work’s reissue. Composition window 1510–1559 covers Xuē’s 50-year mature medical career; the doctrinal core combines the Spleen-and-Stomach school of 李杲 Lǐ Gǎo with the Bāwèi yuán 八味元 / Liùwèi wán 六味丸 prescription strategy as the foundation of Xuē’s distinctive late-Míng warming-tonifying clinical orientation.

The principal points of significance — already developed in KR3e0070 — are: (a) Xuē’s 16-work, 77-juàn corpus is the most prolific Míng single-author medical œuvre and decisively shaped 16th-century clinical practice; (b) the mature form of the case-record (yīàn 醫案) genre is fixed here; (c) Xuē’s Bāwèi / Liùwèi method anticipates the later Mìngmén 命門 doctrine of 趙獻可 Zhào Xiànkě and 張介賓 Zhāng Jièbīn; (d) the Sìkù editors’ careful authentication of the genuine 16-sub-title corpus against bookseller-inflated recensions adding the Shísì jīng fāhuī 十四經發揮 etc. is the standard authority for the canonical contents.

Translations and research

  • Furth, Charlotte. 1999. A Flourishing Yin: Gender in China’s Medical History, 960–1665. Berkeley: University of California Press. — the standard English-language treatment of late-imperial Chinese women’s medicine; treats Xuē’s Nǚ-kē cuō yào 女科撮要 in detail.
  • Hsiung, Ping-chen. 2005. A Tender Voyage. Stanford: Stanford University Press. — treats Xuē’s pediatric works.
  • Wáng Yáng 王陽 (ed.). 1999. Xuē Jǐ yī-xué quán-shū 薛己醫學全書. Beijing: Zhōng-yī Gǔjí. — the standard modern critical edition of the corpus.
  • Mǎ Bóyīng 馬伯英. 2010. Zhōngguó yī-xué wén-huà shǐ 中國醫學文化史, 2 vols. Shànghǎi: Shànghǎi Rénmín.

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