The theory of acupuncture and moxibustion was shaped in the Warring States period (475~221B.C.) and the theory of yin and yang and five elements became the mainstream philosophy in the Han Dynasty(206~220B.C.). When medicine and philosophy were integrated, the great monograph on medicine—Huang Di Nei Jing (Huangdi’s Canon of Medicine) was completed.  In the Han Dynasty Huang Di Ming Tang Jing ( Illustrated Huangdi’s Canon of Medicine), the first monograph on acupuncture and moxibustion was compiled. 

 

 

 

Portrait of Huan Di (from Zhong Guo Li Dai Ming Yi Tu Zhuan( Chinese Noted Physicians’ Portrait and Biography throughout Ages)

                                                                        

 

 

 

Huang Di Nei Jing(Huangdi’s Canon of Medicine) and acupuncture and moxibustion

Huang Di Nei Jing, also known as Nei Jing(Canon of Medicine) in short, consists of two volumes, i.e. Su Wen(Plain Questions) and Ling Shu (Spiritual Pivot), which were written between the Warring States period and Western Han Dynasty (475B.C.~A.D.24), in about 500 years.  It was the earliest medical classic in which the theory of meridians was recorded.

 

 

 

 

Su Wen (Plain Questions), published in the Song Dynasty annotated by Xue Fu Chen, an imperial physician of the Qing Dynasty, kept in the library of the Beijing University of Chinese Medicine

 

 

 

 

 

Ling Shu (Spiritual Pivot )published in the Song Dynasty, kept in the Japanese Society of Nei Jing

 

 

 

 

 

Incomplete page of Ming Tang Jing(Illustrated Huangdi’s Canon of Medicine), unearthed in Dunhuang, kept in the Ermitage Museum, Russia

 

 

Incomplete page of Ming Tang Jing(Illustrated Huangdi’s Canon of Medicine), unearthed in Dunhuang, kept in the Ermitage Museum, Russia

 

 

 

Front cover of Huang Di Ming Tang Jing Ji Jiao (Edited Illustrated Huangdi’s Canon of Medicine) ,edited by Huang Longxiang, published by the Chinese Scientific Medical Press

Huang Di Ming Tang Jing  ( Illustrated Huangdi’s Canon of Medicine) was compiled between the end of the Western Han dynasty and Eastern Han Dynasty (206B.C~220A.D.) and it is the first monograph on points.  The book had profound impact on later development of the study of points as there had not been any other books on acupuncture before.