Common Knowledge of Traditional Chinese Diagnosis and Treatment

Common Knowledge of Traditional Chinese Medical Diagnosis and Treatment, compiled by Hu Youmei, was first published in February 1958 by Fujian People's Publishing House. Running to about 90 pages, it is a concise primer on traditional Chinese medical diagnosis and treatment intended for grassroots medical workers and beginning practitioners of Chinese medicine. The book is divided into two chapters, "Essentials of Diagnostic Methods" and "Essentials of Therapeutic Methods," with an appendix. The first chapter concentrates on the practical essentials of the four diagnostic methods of Chinese medicine, presenting the key points of inquiry, pulse taking, tongue observation, listening to the voice, and visual inspection in the form of mnemonic verses, accompanied by a pulse classification table and a table of death signs and anomalous pulses; it also includes dedicated verses on diagnosing women's illnesses, pediatric diagnostic methods, and verses on diagnosing pediatric illnesses, making the material easy to recite from memory and consult in clinical practice. The second chapter classifies diseases according to the organ systems of modern medicine, discussing in turn respiratory diseases, circulatory diseases, digestive diseases, excretory diseases, nervous system diseases, systemic diseases, male genital diseases, female genital diseases, pediatric diseases, surgical diseases, venereal diseases, and infectious diseases. This reflects the compilational approach of the time, in which Chinese and Western disease names were used side by side and the differential diagnosis and treatment of Chinese medicine were matched to modern disease classifications. Concise in length, clear in organization, and notable for its mnemonic formulation, the book is a representative text for understanding the landscape of popular Chinese medicine publications in the 1950s and the knowledge system of grassroots Chinese medical diagnosis and treatment.