Shou Shi Bao Yuan

*Shou Shi Bao Yuan* is a comprehensive medical work written in his later years by the Ming dynasty physician Gong Tingxian, completed in the 43rd year of the Wanli reign (1615) in ten volumes. The title means preserving the body's original spirit and vital qi, to reach "the realm of benevolent longevity." The book takes the basic theories of Chinese medicine—zang-fu organs, meridians, diagnostic methods, therapeutic principles, etiology and pathogenesis, and medicinal properties—as its framework, then lays out the diagnosis and treatment of internal, external, gynecological, and pediatric diseases. For each disease it first cites earlier authorities to analyze the cause, then lists symptoms and establishes the treatment method, finally appending formulas and medicines; some entries also include proven case records. Its formulas draw on "treasures kept in the imperial household and secret transmissions from extraordinary practitioners beyond the ordinary world," along with many of the author's own repeatedly verified clinical insights. Volume 10 covers miscellaneous single-ingredient remedies, involving folk proven prescriptions, emergency care, qigong, dietary therapy, health preservation, miscellaneous treatments, famine-relief materia medica, and moxibustion—varied in content but practical. Gong Tingxian advocates protecting original qi, regulating the spleen and stomach, emphasizes "treating before illness arises" and care of the elderly, and expounds on the doctrine of the five movements and six qi. The book complements his *Wan Bing Hui Chun*, with fuller discussion of basic theory, and was highly regarded by physicians and widely circulated after publication; it is an important document for studying Ming dynasty clinical medicine and health-preservation thought. The 2014 People's Medical Publishing House edition is chief-edited by Lu Zhaolin and punctuated and collated by Peng Jianzhong and Cheng Zhao, with formula and disease indexes appended for easy reference.