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CC BY 4.0 · Chinese medicine and natural products 2025; 05(03): e135-e139
DOI: 10.1055/s-0045-1811650
Review Article

Origin and Inheritance of Health Preservation Concepts in Treatise on Cold Damage and Miscellaneous Diseases (Shang Han Za Bing Lun)

Authors

  • Qingya Li

    1   Academic Affairs Office, Henan University of Chinese Medicine, Zhengzhou, Henan, China

  • Shuohan Su

    2   School of Chinese Medicine, Henan University of Chinese Medicine, Zhengzhou, Henan, China

  • Qian Wang

    3   School of Foreign Languages, Henan University of Chinese Medicine, Zhengzhou, Henan, China

  • Long Feng

    4   School of Medicine, Henan University of Chinese Medicine, Zhengzhou, Henan, China

  • Haiyan Zhang

    5   The First Affiliated Hospital of Henan University of Chinese Medicine, Zhengzhou, Henan, China

  • Liran Xu

    5   The First Affiliated Hospital of Henan University of Chinese Medicine, Zhengzhou, Henan, China

  • Dongyang Li

    6   Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Henan University of Chinese Medicine, Zhengzhou, Henan, China

  • Xiaodan Yin

    2   School of Chinese Medicine, Henan University of Chinese Medicine, Zhengzhou, Henan, China

Funding This study was supported by the Henan Provincial Traditional Chinese Medicine Culture and Management Research Project (TCM2022036), Henan Provincial Traditional Chinese Medicine Culture Publication Funding Special Project (TCMCB2023016), Henan University of Chinese Medicine Research Seedling Project (MP2023-29), National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine Science and Technology Project (GZY-KJS-2022-043-1), Henan Culture-Promoting Project Cultural Research Special Project (2022XWH231), and National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine Science and Technology Project (GZY-KJS-2022-037).
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Abstract

By analyzing the structure and academic characteristics of early Western Han medical texts such as Prescriptions for Fifty-Two Diseases (Wu Shi Er Bing Fang) and Prescriptions for Health Preservation (Yang Sheng Fang), and considering the development of philosophical thinking during the pre-Qin and Han periods, this study summarizes how Zhongjing Zhang's Treatise on Cold Damage and Miscellaneous Diseases (Shang Han Za Bing Lun) inherited pre-Qin and Han philosophical thought while further integrating Daoist “natural law” cosmology, Confucian “benevolence” social ethics, and the “isomorphic unity of heaven and humanity” medical theory in Yellow Emperor's Inner Classic (Huang Di Nei Jing). It proposes health preservation concepts encompassing heaven-human, body-spirit, and benevolence perspectives, along with dietary hygiene, representing the medical embodiment of pre-Han “virtue cultivation” and “body nurturing” life philosophies that profoundly influenced subsequent traditional Chinese medicine health preservation theory and practice.

Keywords

health preservation - Treatise on Cold Damage and Miscellaneous Diseases - Shang Han Za Bing Lun - Zhongjing Zhang - heaven-human view - body-spirit concept - benevolence concept

CRediT Authorship Contribution Statement

Qingya Li: Conceptualization, project administration, funding acquisition, and writing original draft. Shuohan Su: Investigation and writing original draft. Qian Wang: Investigation and project administration. Long Feng: Project administration and investigation. Haiyan Zhang: Conceptualization and supervision. Liran Xu: Writing-review and editing and supervision. Dongyang Li: Supervision and project administration. Xiaodan Yin: Writing-review and editing.




Publication History

Received: 21 April 2025

Accepted: 19 July 2025

Article published online:
30 September 2025

© 2025. The Author(s). This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, permitting unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction so long as the original work is properly cited. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

Georg Thieme Verlag KG
Oswald-Hesse-Straße 50, 70469 Stuttgart, Germany

 

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