The Essential Formularies Series is a set of Chinese medicine formulary books issued by Hebei Science and Technology Press between 2003 and 2004, with Kang Suobin as general editor and individual volumes edited by scholars including Su Zhen, Yuan Jun, Guo Dengzhou, Wen Ruishu, Zhu Yunlong, Dong Shangpu, Xu Shunan, Xu Xiulan and Tang Suobin. Organized around the thread of famous physicians, famous books and famous formulas, each volume focuses on one ancient physician, first surveying his life and native place, principal writings, academic thought, later influence and modern research, then taking the effective formulas recorded in his representative works as its framework, gathering for each formula its composition, usage, actions and indications, and systematically compiling since the founding of the People's Republic the clinical experience of numerous physicians in applying that formula, their approaches to pattern-based modification, and experimental research findings. Titles seen so far cover Zhang Zhongjing (in two volumes, the Cold Damage volume and the Golden Cabinet volume, drawn respectively from Treatise on Cold Damage and Essentials of the Golden Cabinet), Qian Yi (Key to Therapeutics of Children's Diseases), Zhang Jingyue (The Complete Works of Jingyue), Li Dongyuan (Treatise on Internal and External Damage, Treatise on the Spleen and Stomach, Secret Records of the Orchid Chamber and others), Zhu Danxi, Wu Jutong (Systematic Differentiation of Warm Diseases), Wang Qingren (Corrections of Errors in Medical Circles), Zhang Xichun (Records of Chinese Medicine with Reference to Western Medicine) and Fu Qingzhu (Fu Qingzhu's Obstetrics and Gynecology); the common complete set runs to ten volumes. The volumes share a basically uniform format, mostly paperback in small 16mo or large 32mo, about three hundred to five hundred pages each, with small print runs of a few thousand copies. The series is positioned not as a facsimile or plain-text reprint of ancient books but as a modern applied formulary—one formula for many diseases, pattern-based modification, ancient formulas for modern use, and innovation from tradition: it serves both as a reference for clinicians seeking modern applications of classical and contemporary formulas and as a resource for teachers and researchers to learn the state of research on a given physician's formulas. Because each volume is published and priced separately, readers may buy as needed rather than the whole set.
中医方书汗牛充栋，真正把「古人怎么组方」和「今人怎么用方」接起来的却不多，这套《医方精要系列》正是冲着这个缺口编写的。它采取一册一医家的结构：前半部分把医家的生平、著述、学术思想与后世影响讲清楚，让读者明白方子是在什么样的理论背景下开出来的；后半部分以方为目，每方之下先录原书组成与主治，再汇集近五十年来的临床报道、辨证加减与药理研究，最后殿以该医家其他经验方的辑录。 对临床医生而言，最实用的是一方多病的编排——同一个方在不同病种中的用法、剂量变化、合方思路被摆在一起看，比翻检零散期刊文献省力得多。对教师与研究者而言，其文献条分缕析、出处可查，可以作为讲稿与课题的地基。值得一提的是这套书编写于本世纪初，文献截止时间较早，新型研究与指南需另行查证；且各册出自不同主编之手，风格与详略略有参差，成套收藏宜先翻阅自己最需要的那几册。印数普遍仅数千册，市面已少见新书，旧书流通较多。
Hebei Science & Technology Press focuses on books in science and engineering, agriculture, medicine, and popular science and lifestyle. Public information shows that it originated from the science and technology editorial office of Hebei People's Publishing House and is now affiliated with Hebei Publishing & Media Group. Judging from the 319 titles in the database, its publishing covers social culture, education, social psychology, popular science and personal finance. Its list includes popular science and illustrated titles such as the Encyclopedia of Minerals and Gemstones and a field guide to common plants of Xiaowutaishan, as well as technology books for young readers such as an AI primer for children. Translated works such as Time and Become Yourself, together with authors such as Abraham Maslow, reflect its accumulated strength in psychology and scientific humanities.
