New Records of the Medical Tradition

New Records of the Medical Tradition is a work compiled by Gao Huiyuan (1922–2005) that offers a concentrated reflection of his academic thought and clinical experience. It was published by People's Military Medical Press in July 1991 and runs to about 415 pages. Gao Huiyuan was born in Qichun, Hubei, into a family of traditional Chinese medicine practitioners. In his youth he inherited the family learning; in 1954 he entered the Beijing School of Advanced Traditional Chinese Medicine, later took part in the preparatory work of the China Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine, and studied for more than ten years under the renowned TCM scholar Pu Fuzhou. For many years he was engaged in TCM health care for central government leaders and foreign friends. He was skilled in internal medicine, gynecology, and pediatrics, and especially in the prevention and treatment of warm diseases and geriatric diseases. The book consists roughly of three parts. The first is "An Exposition of Warm Diseases," divided into three sections: an upper part of general discourse, a middle part of specific discussions, and a lower part of formulary discourse. The general discourse traces the origins and development of warm-disease theory and discusses the major methods of pattern differentiation and the eight therapeutic methods for warm diseases. The specific discussions treat the diagnosis and treatment of spring warmth, wind warmth, warmth-heat, summer warmth, damp warmth, latent summerheat, autumn dryness, and winter warmth. The formulary section, organized by categories such as exterior-releasing, interior-unblocking, harmonizing, opening and penetrating, clearing and cooling, warming and transforming, dispersing and guiding, and supplementing and boosting, collects commonly used warm-disease formulas with accompanying mnemonic verses. The second part comprises essays, including "My Path to Integrated Chinese and Western Medicine," "TCM Treatment Methods for Common Gynecological Diseases," and topical discussions on measles and viral pneumonia, epidemic encephalitis B, febrile patterns, angina pectoris in coronary heart disease, nephrotic syndrome, and the prevention and treatment of geriatric diseases, as well as medical treatises on pattern differentiation, treatment principles, and the use of medicinals. The third part consists of case records covering internal, gynecological, and dermatological conditions such as coronary heart disease, rheumatoid arthritis, Behçet's syndrome, paralysis agitans, Sheehan's syndrome, diabetes, cirrhosis, liver cancer, and thrombocytopenic purpura; most were compiled by his students and reviewed by the author himself. When the book was published, Deng Yingchao personally wrote the preface, and Li Xiannian and Nie Rongzhen each contributed inscriptions. Empirical formulas recorded in the book, such as the "Gao Formula Blood-Sugar-Lowering Pill," have often been cited in TCM literature.