Section on Malaria

Chen MengleiJul 2024

2.9

Word count: 64K words
Chapters: 9

Summary

Traditional Chinese thought and culture have a long history, marked by a high degree of originality, inventiveness, and literary quality. Early forms of thought are highly distinctive: religious theology, classical Chinese medical texts, ancient military strategy, Confucianism, Daoism, Buddhism, and the Hundred Schools of Thought, feng shui and metaphysics, the Twenty-Four Histories, and local customs and geography—all are vast and profound. This series, "Essence of Chinese Classics: Original Texts," preserves the original appearance of the books and focuses on preserving and transmitting traditional Chinese thought and culture. By reading the literary essence left by ancient sages, readers can cultivate their temperament and subtly come to appreciate the classics of Chinese learning.

Editor's review

Malaria Section is included in the "Essence of Chinese Classics: Original Texts" series and is attributed to Chen Menglei. Its content consists of specialized discussion of malaria in traditional medicine. The book's value lies not in offering modern diagnostic or treatment plans, but in preserving ancient physicians' cognitive framework, classificatory approaches, and terminology for a category of disease. It is a sample for observing how classical Chinese medical texts organize knowledge of diseases and syndromes. Readers can see the characteristics of traditional medicine in symptom description, etiological reasoning, and classification of therapies, and can appreciate how ancients accumulated experience under limited conditions. As a preservation of the original text, it is better read as a document of medical history and traditional culture than as a family health manual. For readers interested in Chinese medical literature, the history of disease, or traditional knowledge systems, this book provides concrete and detailed primary material; general readers should approach it with a historical perspective and avoid directly applying its methods.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Readers studying Chinese medical literature or medical history who need access to primary texts
Researchers interested in ancient understandings of disease and traditional cultural knowledge systems
Readers collecting the Chinese classics original-text series and valuing the preservation of textual appearance
Readers of literature and history able to read traditional medical texts from a historical perspective

Not a good fit for

General readers hoping for modern malaria diagnosis, treatment plans, or medication guidance
Readers lacking patience for classical Chinese and expecting accessible popular health science
People prone to treating the content of ancient medical books directly as current medical advice

Reading tips

First understand the series to which the book belongs and the original format, then enter the main text, avoiding forcing a modern medical framework onto it.
While reading, distinguish ancient disease and syndrome classifications from today's disease concepts, and do not directly equate ancient therapies with modern plans.
Read alongside basic works on Chinese medical history or disease history, noting differences in terminology and classification.
If used for study, make excerpt cards marking three types of information: symptom descriptions, etiological reasoning, and classification of therapies.

版权信息
疟门
黄帝素问
灵枢经
方
单方
针灸
导引
医案

FAQ

Can this book be used to guide the treatment of malaria?

No. This book is a collated publication of traditional medical literature that preserves the original appearance of the text; it is not a modern diagnostic or treatment guide. Malaria today has clear diagnostic and treatment standards, and modern medicine should be followed. Reading this book should focus on understanding ancient physicians' ways of thinking and the documentary value, and its methods must not be directly copied for self-treatment.

Can I understand it without a foundation in Chinese medicine?

You can read it, but it will be difficult. The book involves traditional medical terminology and classification, which are easy to misunderstand without a foundation. It is advisable to read the series description or related introduction first, and to consult introductory material on Chinese medical history. The focus should be on understanding the ancients' thinking rather than memorizing specific prescriptions.

Why republish this kind of ancient medical book?

Its main value lies in textual preservation and scholarly reference. Ancient medical books record disease cognition and ways of organizing knowledge in a particular era and have primary-source significance for research in medical history and cultural history. Publishing that preserves the original appearance of the text gives readers and researchers access to the original text rather than a popular version rewritten for modern readers.

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About the author

Chen Menglei Author · China · 1651–1741

Chen Menglei (1651–1741), courtesy names Zizhen and Shengzhai, later styled the Old Man of Songhe, was a Qing dynasty scholar from Houguan, Fujian. He passed the imperial examination in the ninth year of the Kangxi reign and was appointed to the Hanlin Academy as a compiler. After 1698, by imperial order, he tutored the third prince, Yinzhii, and took the opportunity to compile a vast classified encyclopedia, the Hui Bian, using the collection of the Xieyi Hall; the Kangxi Emperor later bestowed on it the title Gujin Tushu Jicheng. The library holds more than 410 of his works, mostly sections of the officialdom chapters of that encyclopedia, covering institutions such as the Court of Imperial Sacrifices, the Imperial Observatory, the Ministry of Personnel, the Ministry of Rites, prefectural governors, the Transmission Office, and the Imperial Medical Academy. These works address ancient bureaucratic systems, ritual norms, and administrative practice. His compilations are distinguished by systematic classification and extensive citation, preserving a wealth of source materials for later generations; they are commonly categorized under culture and Eastern philosophy. As public information on his life is limited, this note confines itself to his known scholarly contributions.