Qiánshì xiǎo’ér zhí jué 錢氏小兒直訣
Master Qián’s Direct Mnemonics on Paediatrics by 錢乙 (撰), edited by 閻孝忠 (編) — annotated by 薛己 (校註)
About the work
This is the standard Míng-era recension, edited and annotated by 薛己 Xuē Jǐ, of the foundational Chinese paediatric work originally compiled in Xuānhé 1 (1119) by 閻孝忠 Yán Xiàozhōng from the clinical teachings of his master 錢乙 Qián Yǐ (1032–1113). The original work, more commonly transmitted as Xiǎo’ér yàozhèng zhí jué 小兒藥證直訣 (KR3ej020 in the standard Sìkù form), is in three juàn — doctrine, case records, and prescriptions — and is the founding synthesis of the post-classical Chinese paediatric tradition: the doctrine of paediatric chúnyáng 純陽 (pure-yáng) constitution, the systematic application of the five-organ scheme adjusted for paediatric physiology (gān 肝 always over-vigorous, pí 脾 always weak, shèn 腎 always deficient), and the canonical prescriptions Liùwèi dìhuáng wán 六味地黃丸, Dǎochì sǎn 導赤散, Xièbái sǎn 瀉白散, Yìhuáng sǎn 益黃散, the paediatric Sìjūnzǐ tāng, etc. Xuē Jǐ’s annotated edition is 4 juàn (the standard Sòng three plus Xuē’s case-and-commentary appendix) and is the form in which the text was transmitted into the MíngQīng tradition; it is the fourth of the six earlier-authority works incorporated into the Xuēshì yīàn corpus KR3e0070.
Abstract
Authorship and date: the work is securely the posthumous compilation of Qián Yǐ’s clinical doctrine by his pupil Yán Xiàozhōng, dated Xuānhé 1 (1119) by Yán’s preface; this is the date adopted here for the composition of the original. Qián Yǐ himself (1032–1113) was the founding figure of post-classical Chinese paediatrics — recognised by the Sòng imperial court after his successful treatment of a Yáng-family imperial niece and appointed to the Tàiyī jú 太醫局 (Imperial Medical Bureau); his biography is in Sòngshǐ 462. Xuē’s annotation belongs to the second quarter of the 16th century, within his standard programme of collating earlier paediatric authorities.
Through Qián Yǐ’s Zhí jué — and via Xuē’s revision — Chinese paediatric medicine acquired its post-classical canonical form. The five-phase paediatric pathology, the gānfēng / jīngfēng 驚風 classification of childhood convulsion, the five-organ gān 疳 (chronic-malnutrition) taxonomy, and the kǔkǒu 苦口 oral-medication-acceptance practice are all securely traceable to this text. The Pǔjì fāng · Yīnghái mén (KR3eu001), Xuē’s other paediatric works (KR3eu004 etc.), Wáng Kěntáng’s Yòukē zhǔnshéng (KR3eu015) and the Qīng imperial pediatric chapters all derive ultimately from this foundation.
For the canonical Sìkù form of the original work see KR3ej020 Xiǎo’ér yàozhèng zhí jué.
Translations and research
- Hsiung, Ping-chen 熊秉真. 2005. A Tender Voyage: Children and Childhood in Late Imperial China. Stanford: Stanford University Press — the principal English-language monograph; treats Qián Yǐ’s work as the foundational text.
- Yu, Yong-an 余永燕 (tr. and annot.). 2006. Xiǎo’ér yào-zhèng zhí jué bái-huà jiě 小兒藥證直訣白話解. Beijing: Rénmín Wèishēng. — modern Chinese annotated edition.
- Goldschmidt, Asaf. 2009. The Evolution of Chinese Medicine: Song Dynasty, 960–1200. London: Routledge — treats Qián Yǐ’s role in the Sòng paediatric institutionalisation.