A Preliminary Study of Medical Books on Health Care for the Elderly and Prolonging Life in the Early 20th Century

The present research of Chinese medical history lack detailed discussions on Chinese medicine philology of the elderly and the various sorting of related literature of physiology and diseases both at home and abroad.Based on previous literature,the article aims to introduce the publishing trend of medical books on health cultivation and prolonging life on since modern times,generally describe its significance,and initially analyze the contents related to health cultivation for the elderly.The article finds out that after the scientific concepts were imported into China in large quantities from the beginning of the 20th century,the past superstitions rose again.The sciences of nutrition,bacteriology,and physiology in such books had all verified that the road to immortality was possible.The concept of longevity at the time emphasized a concept that could be controlled by science.With the advancement of scientific research and health concepts,people believed that they could eventually achieve immortality.It was obvious that people were filled with optimism about science at that time,thus gradually subverting the definition of the elderly.

Looking up Prescriptions to Treat Infectious Disease:Anti-epidemic Books of Medical Formularies and Epidemic Prevention and Control in the Qing Dynasty

Copying,compiling,publishing,disseminating,and referencing anti-epidemic books of medical formularies were common activities during the outbreak of epidemics in the Qing dynasty.Its emergence,motivated by epidemic disease again and again,was important component parts of epidemic prevention and control.They played a unique role as media on affairs such as treating patients suffering from infectious diseases,mobilizing peoples to make contributions to anti-epidemic activities,integrating and popularizing knowledge of epidemic prevention.Anti-epidemic books of medical formularies were important to link peoples,things,and substances related with epidemic prevention and control,and were a kind of motivation to actively deal with the infectious disease,control the epidemic,and maintain health.Compared to other common measures,anti-epidemic books of medical formularies participated in many prevention and control practices deeply,which actually built a low cost,spontaneous,dispersed and non-institutional system to respond to epidemic,and the system had characteristics of stronger conductibility,bigger coverage area,and better external benefits.

The Establishment of the Concept of Shu Yi and Its Significance in the History of Knowledge

Plague is one of the severe infectious diseases which has had a huge impact on human society throughout history.Although there is abundant research on the disease,few studies focus on the concept of plague itself.It is generally believed that Shu Yi was first coined by Chinese doctors in the late 19th century,and it was closely related to the introduction of new medicine.This statement is not accurate,because plague was prevalent in Yunnan and Guangdong provinces in the late Qing Dynasty.At that time,people had already recognized the relationship between the outbreak of plague and the death of rats,and gradually named the epidemic disease as Shu Yi.This name was used by literati and doctors by coincidence.As the epidemic became more and more serious,more related works were widely disseminated,and Shu Yi changed from a folk name to a formal name.Later,with the help of the government’s active introduction of modern health and epidemic prevention mechanisms and the implementation of rodent control measures,Shu Yi became more popular and gradually recognized by all walks of society.The emergence and prevalence of Shu Yi created the history of zoonosis in China,and thus formed a new paradigm of naming human epidemics after related animal names.