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Huang Di Nei Jing (Yellow Emperor’s Inner Canon)

Inscribed 2011

What is it

The earliest and most important written work of traditional Chinese medicine. It was compiled over 2200 years ago.

Why was it inscribed

It contains the two basic theories of Chinese medicine, the theories of Yinyang and the Five Elements, and is regarded as the fundamental medical text from which traditional Chinese medicine was systematically recorded, standardized, developed and now applied by and to people of different countries and races.

Where is it

National Library of China, Beijing, China

The Huang Di Nei Jing was compiled some 2200 years ago and it laid down the foundation and inspired further development of traditional Chinese medicine, not only in China but also in neighbouring countries and beyond. Based on the theoretical principles of Yinyang, Qi (or life force) and the Five Elements (or phases), it provides a systematic summary of the relationship between physical and mental activities and the pathological changes in the human body, covering internal medicine, surgery, gynaecology, pediatrics and infectious diseases.

The Huang Di Nei Jing was the first medical text that departed from the old shamanistic beliefs that disease was caused by demonic influences. It expounds the concept of health with the philosophical thinking of Taoism and Confucianism. It sees diseases as closely related to diet, emotion, lifestyle, environment, age and heredity. Emphasis is placed on the unity of man and nature, and the holistic idea of body and mind. Accordingly, human activities should be in conformity with the regular changes in nature, including climatic changes of the four seasons, alternation of day and night and the cyclic phases of the moon. At the same time, emotions should be adjusted and desires restrained, with ethical considerations given to high moral value, an essential element of self-control. The book discusses the principles and prescribes methods of diagnosis and treatment of diseases. A large number of ‘modern’ diseases such as malaria, gout, diabetes, coronary heart disease, rheumatic arthritis and cerebrovascular problems are mentioned in the book with detailed analyses and treatment methods.

The earliest-surviving printed copy of the Yellow Emperor’s Inner Canon, dating from 1339, over 1000 years after the text was first written down.

The book is written in an interlocutory pattern, with the Yellow Emperor (Huang Di) raising questions on medical issues and his sage physicians, Qibo and Leigong answering by explaining medical theories and principles with illustrations of clinical experience and practices. The text is written in lively and yet poetic rhyming language, which demonstrates the rich medical knowledge and refined literary culture in China at the time.

Many scholars believe that the Huang Di Nei Jing was not compiled by a single author within a limited period of time; rather, it was the fruit of the joint efforts of many experienced and dedicated physicians over the centuries. The major part of the book was completed with various editions in the Warring States period of Chinese history (475–221 BC) with supplements and revisions made in the Qin dynasty (221–206 BC) and Han dynasty (206 BC–AD 220). The original Huang Di Nei Jing had been copied onto bamboo slips, silk scrolls and paper until it was officially published during the 9th and 10th centuries AD. It was further edited by the government-authorized Bureau of Revising Medical Works of the Northern Song dynasty (960–1127). The National Library of China’s copy was printed in 1339 by Hu’s Gulin Sanctum using woodblock printing and is the earliest and the best-preserved version in existence.>