Chang Chung Ching (Zhang Zhongjing, Zhang Ji)

Physician, lived c. 250 AD.

Chang Chung Ching is the most important Chinese physician of the drug and herbal tradition. At the age of about 50 he witnessed a massive outbreak of the plague and resolved that he would dedicate the rest of his life to research into a cure. He did not find a cure for the plague, but the resulting book Shang Han Za Bing Lun (Treatise on Febrile and Other Diseases, or Treatise on Febrile Diseases caused by Cold) became a cornerstone of Chinese medicine and is still available today in Chinese and in English translation.

The number of formulas for treatment is relatively modest with just over a hundred, but the work formed the basis for hundreds of commentaries and improved editions. Its section on gynaecology is among its most important, and some remedies against infertility and miscarriage are still relevant today.

Another of Chang's works, Jinkui Yaolue Fanglun (Synopsis of Prescriptions of the Golden Chamber) is of comparable importance and also still in print.

Reference

USA Hunyuan Taiji Academy, Chinese Medicine History, Chang Chung Ching,
http://www.taijichinesemedicine.com/zhangzhongjing.htm (accessed 25 November 2003)

  

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