‘The sage of Chinese medicine’

Hua Tuo (c. 140–208), courtesy name Yuanhua, was a Chinese physician who lived during the late Eastern Han dynasty. The historical texts Records of the Three Kingdoms and Book of the Later Han record Hua Tuo as the first person in China to use anaesthesia during surgery. He used a general anaesthetic combining wine with a herbal concoction called mafeisan (麻沸散; literally “cannabis boil powder”). Besides being respected for his expertise in surgery and anaesthesia, Hua Tuo was famous for his abilities in acupuncture, moxibustion, herbal medicine and medical Daoyin exercises. He developed the Wuqinxi (五禽戲; literally “Exercise of the Five Animals”) from studying movements of the tiger, deer, bear, ape and crane.

‘The sage of Chinese medicine’

Zhang Zhongjing (Chinese: 張仲景; 150–219), formal name Zhang Ji (張機), was a Chinese pharmacologist, physician, inventor, and writer of the Eastern Han dynasty and one of the most eminent Chinese physicians during the later years of the Han dynasty. He established medication principles and summed up the medicinal experience until that time, thus making a great contribution to the development of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

During his time, with warlords fighting for their own territories, many people fell victim to infectious diseases. Zhang’s family was no exception. He learned medicine by studying from his towns fellow and later teacher Zhang Bozu, assimilating from previous medicinal literature such as Yellow Emperor’s Inner Classic Huangdi Neijing (黄帝内經), and collecting many prescriptions elsewhere, finally writing the medical masterpiece Shanghan Zabing Lun (Chinese: 傷寒雜病論; pinyin: Shānghán Zábìng Lùn, lit. “Treatise on Cold Pathogenic and Miscellaneous Diseases”). Because of Zhang’s contribution to traditional Chinese medicine, he is often regarded as the sage of Chinese medicine.

‘The sage of Chinese medicine’

Sun Simiao (traditional Chinese: 孫思邈; simplified Chinese: 孙思邈; pinyin: Sūn Sīmiǎo; Wade–Giles: Sun Ssu-miao; died 682) was a Chinese physician and writer of the Sui and Tang dynasty. He was titled as China’s King of Medicine (藥王; 药王, Yaowang) for his significant contributions to Chinese medicine and tremendous care to his patients.

Sun wrote two books – Beiji Qian Jin Yao Fang (“Essential Formulas for Emergencies [Worth] a Thousand Pieces of Gold”) and Qian Jin Yi Fang (“Supplement to the Formulas of a Thousand Gold Worth”) – that were both milestones in the history of Chinese medicine, summarizing pre-Tang dynasty medicine. The former listed about 5300 recipes for medicines, and the latter 2000. He also put forth the “Thirteen measures to keep health”, which claimed that actions like touching hair, rolling eyes, walking, and shaking heads improved health.