Excerpts from Reading the Plain Questions

滑寿Tibet People's Publishing House · ChinaJul 2024

4.0

Word count: 121K words
Chapters: 11

Summary

Work on medical classics. Three volumes. Annotated by Hua Shou of the Yuan dynasty, with supplementary annotations by Wang Ji of the Ming dynasty. The supplemented edition was published in 1519. This book selects important content from the Basic Questions (Suwen), covering 12 categories—visceral manifestation, meridians, pulse diagnosis, disease manifestations, health preservation, treatment principles, complexion diagnosis, acupuncture, yin-yang, root and branch, five movements and six qi, and collected essentials—with brief annotations. The supplementary annotations add further material; also known under another title. Various Ming editions and the Wang Medical Collection edition are extant.

Editor's review

The *Du Su Wen Chao* is a medical classic by Hua Shou of the Yuan dynasty, who classified and selected passages from the *Su Wen* with brief annotations; it was later supplemented by Wang Ji of the Ming dynasty in a continuation commentary, forming the commonly seen expanded edition today. Its value lies not in a full verse-by-verse commentary but in reorganizing twelve categories of the *Su Wen*—visceral manifestations, meridians, pulse diagnosis, disease patterns, health preservation, treatment, complexion diagnosis, acupuncture, yin-yang, root and branch, five movements and six qi, and collected essentials—so that readers can study by theme and avoid losing direction in the vast original text. Wang Ji's continuation added further content, giving the book both the Yuan physician's interpretive framework and the Ming physician's extended reflections. For Chinese medicine learners who already have some reading foundation in the *Huangdi Neijing* and wish to organize the essential meaning of the original by topic, this is a convenient selected commentary for reference and comparison. It should be read as a "classified guide" rather than a replacement for the original; where annotations are brief, consult the *Su Wen* text and other commentaries. This edition is a modern collated version, suitable as a desk reference for thematic study.

Who it's for

A good fit for

Chinese medicine learners who have read parts of the *Su Wen* and wish to systematically organize it by theme
Teachers of Chinese medicine classics who need classified selections for lesson preparation
Readers of Chinese medical literature with classical Chinese reading ability and an interest in how Jin-Yuan-Ming physicians annotated classics

Not a good fit for

Complete beginners with no Chinese medicine background encountering the *Huangdi Neijing* for the first time
Clinical quick-reference readers expecting sentence-by-sentence vernacular translation and detailed case discussions

Reading tips

First read through the twelve categories in the table of contents, then choose one or two—such as visceral manifestations or pulse diagnosis—for close reading; there is no need to finish it all at once.
Read the annotations alongside the original *Su Wen* text; mark brief passages and supplement them by consulting other commentaries.
Read Wang Ji's continuation separately from Hua Shou's original annotations, noting the differences in emphasis between the two.

About the publisher

Tibet People's Publishing House China · Founded in 1971

Tibet People's Publishing House is a comprehensive publisher known for collating Tibetan and Chinese ancient texts and publishing traditional culture. Judging from the books in its catalogue, its publishing focuses on medicine, Eastern philosophy, classics, and ancient poetry. It offers traditional Chinese medical and health-preserving works such as the Compendium of Materia Medica, Essential Prescriptions Worth a Thousand Pieces of Gold, and Principles of Correct Diet, as well as canonical and philosophical texts including the Book of Changes, Zuo Commentary on the Spring and Autumn Annals, Annotated Edition of the Erya, and Luxuriant Dew of the Spring and Autumn Annals, along with historical and geographical works such as The Overall Survey of the Ocean's Shores. Its authors include figures such as Li Shizhen, Sun Simiao, King Wen of Zhou, Zuo Qiuming, Guo Pu, Dong Zhongshu, Hu Sihui, and Ma Huan. The house emphasizes the collation and republication of ancient texts, balancing scholarship and accessibility, and has developed its own strengths in transmitting Tibetan and Chinese cultural classics. Public information is limited, so other publishing details are omitted here.

版权信息
序
卷上之一
卷上之二
卷上之三
卷上之四
卷中
卷下之一
卷下之二
卷下之三
卷下之四

FAQ

Can I read this book directly without a Chinese medicine background?

Not very suitable. The book selects original *Su Wen* passages with brief annotations, and the notes are concise, assuming readers already understand the *Su Wen* and basic Chinese medicine concepts. Beginners should first read an introductory *Huangdi Neijing* edition with vernacular translation and commentary, then use this book for thematic organization.

What is the difference between Hua Shou's original annotations and Wang Ji's continuation?

Hua Shou's original annotations briefly comment on the selected *Su Wen* content, emphasizing classification and key points; Wang Ji's continuation adds further content and his own understanding on Hua Shou's basis. When reading, note the supplementary perspective of the continuation, but do not feel compelled to distinguish every entry.

Can this book replace the original *Su Wen*?

No. This book is a classified selection that takes only important content from the *Su Wen*, not the full text. It is suitable as auxiliary material for thematic study; for brief annotations or content outside the selections, return to the original *Su Wen* and other commentaries.

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About the author

滑寿 Author

Hua Shou is an ancient physician of traditional Chinese medicine. Publicly available information about his life is very limited, and neither his nationality nor his dates of birth and death are clearly recorded; his surviving works are chiefly medical writings. The library holds three of his works, including Zhenjia Shuyao, Du Suwen Chao, and a duplicate entry of Zhenjia Shuyao, commonly classified under medicine. Judging from their titles and subject matter, Hua Shou focused on pulse diagnosis and on the study of the Suwen: the former belongs to the foundational categories of clinical diagnosis, while the latter involves theoretical organization, excerpting, and annotation of a classic of Chinese medicine, suggesting that his scholarship emphasized the study of classics and the summary of diagnostic methods. Because historical sources are scarce, details of his life, associates, and scholarly background cannot be reliably established. This introduction therefore relies only on the library's work information to outline the direction of his writings, highlighting his writing on pulse studies and the organization of classical texts for readers' reference.