The First Dictionary of Traditional Chinese Medicine ＂China Medical Dictionary＂

The dictionaries and dictionaries in ancient China, such as Shuo Wen Jie Zi and Er Ya, have some Chinese medicine terms, but they are not professional Chinese medicine dictionaries after all. Although some Chinese medicine books, such as Complete Records of Ancient and Modern Books Integrated with Medical Department, are arranged together according to the times, the style and norms do not meet the basic characteristics and requirements of dictionaries. The laurel of the first comprehensive dictionary of traditional Chinese medicine in China belongs to China Medical Dictionary compiled by Xie Guan.

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Xie Guan, whose name is Liheng, is a man of the hour in the field of modern Chinese medicine. At that time, Chinese medicine schools, societies, magazines and other institutions all scrambled to hire him, and his "bearded man" photos were frequently published in various newspapers and magazines, but there was no introduction about his early study and work experience. Looking at the Biography of Mr. Xie Liheng written by his fellow countryman Lv Simian on April 1, 1935 and the Biography of Mr. Xie Liheng written by his disciple Chen Cunren in March 1951, Xie Guan’s general resume before he became the principal of Shanghai Special School of Traditional Chinese Medicine in 1917 is:

Xie Guan’s father, Xie Zhongying, was a master of geography. When he was a teenager, Xie Guan was intelligent and studious, and inherited his family studies. At the age of 12, he finished reading the Four Books and the Five Classics, and he knew all about China’s ancient and modern mountains and rivers like the back of his hand. At the age of 15, he entered Changzhou to use Jingshe and devoted himself to the study of classics, history and geography. 21-year-old graduated from Soochow University in Suzhou. In 1905, he was invited to teach in guangzhou fu Middle School as a geography teacher. In 1908, due to her mother’s dissatisfaction with Lingnan soil and water, she resigned to Shanghai and took a job in the Commercial Press to compile geography books. Soon he was hired as the principal of Shanghai Chengzhong School. After 1911, he returned to his hometown of Wujin to take charge of education, and within two years, the county’s educational achievements ranked second in the country. In 1914, he still entered the Commercial Press, mainly compiling geography books.

Obviously, before the age of 35, Xie Guan had no experience in studying medicine, let alone taking medicine as his profession. How could he compile a dictionary of traditional Chinese medicine with a detailed analysis and novel style in a short time?

The article "Xie Run" in China Medical Dictionary says: "The word" Bao Chu "was attached to Wujin County in Qing Dynasty … and he wrote fifty volumes of" Medical Jingwei ",which was not published yet. His grandson’s view was analyzed and expanded because of his manuscript, and became the China Medical Dictionary. " From now on, we can easily know that Xie Guan is based on the original manuscript of Medical Jingwei that his grandfather didn’t publish, "taking the theory system of past dynasties as the explanation", and "judging the trade-off by the new theory of evidence", and expanding it into China Medical Dictionary.

Compilation process

Regarding the origin of compilation, Lv Simian said in the Biography of Mr. Xie Liheng: "Those who treat China medicine should compile dictionaries, so that the Commercial Press can be the king." However, Xie Juzeng’s "The Past of Hanfen Building" said: "Xie Guan … first edited geography textbooks for primary and secondary schools in the Chinese Language Department, and later transferred to the Dictionary Department to participate in the compilation of China Medical Dictionary and China Celebrity Dictionary." It is difficult to know whether the Chinese medicine academic circles require the Commercial Press to organize the compilation or whether the Commercial Press initiates the compilation itself.

As for the beginning and ending time of compilation, Xie Guan said in the preface of China Medical Dictionary (1921 edition): "In the early Republic of China, it was not as long as the Shanghai College of Traditional Chinese Medicine, that is, it was interested in remedying this disadvantage, but the matter was big and it was difficult to take care of it." After reading, it is necessary to delete complexity, which is nothing more than a dictionary. It is in line with the students of the whole school, and they test each other. Everything contained in the classics is analyzed in detail, and it is learned and searched, and its repetition is deleted, and its empty theory is cut, so that it is difficult to distinguish the purpose of criticism, and the words of floating algae decoration are saved. Cheng Gong went to 67 … The first edition was completed. " From this point of view, the compilation began in the spring of 1921 after the establishment of Shanghai College of Traditional Chinese Medicine in 1917, which lasted for four years. But he also said "Cheng Gong to 67", so the time can’t coincide. However, from 1914, when Xie Guan joined the Commercial Press for the second time, to 1921, it happened to be "67".

As for the people who participated in the compilation, Chen Cunren said in the article Biography of Mr. Xie Liheng: "There were 12 people who assisted the Dictionary, and they worked hard day and night, repeatedly deleting and adding, and repeated several drafts. It took eight years to complete the book. I will pay for it. Unexpectedly, of these twelve people, two are sick from overwork and four are cured. " This should be said to be the situation in the "first edition" in 1921. By the time of the second edition in 1926, there were as many as 66 people who participated in the revision. The list of "people subscribed" was found in the "reprint" of the Commercial Press in 1954, and it was the only one who kept the list of editors in all the editions of China Medical Dictionary so far.

此外，1952年吕思勉在《自述——三反及思想改造学习总结》一文中说：“一九一九年，入商务印书馆，助谢利恒君编辑《中国医学词典》。予于医学，本无所知，而先外王父程柚谷先生、先舅氏均甫先生、先从舅少农先生，皆治汉学而兼知医，故予于中国医书之源流派别，略有所知。谢君本旧友，此时此书亟欲观成，乃将此一部分属予襄理。至暑假中事讫。”由此可知，吕思勉也曾经参加过《中国医学大辞典》的编撰工作。“至暑假中事讫”，是说吕思勉负责的部分于1919年暑假完成，还是整部《辞典》编撰告竣，我们已很难考证清楚了。

体例内容

全书“搜集之名词，以中国原有医书所载者为限，故定名为《中国医学大辞典》”。所辑词目，包括病名、药名、方名、身体、医家、医书、医学七大类，共三万七千余条目，约计三百五十余万字。排列方法以首字笔画为序，首字相同者则以次字笔画为序。为方便检索，还编有《辞头索引》《辞条索引》。

China Medical Dictionary was first published by the Commercial Press in July 1921, revised and reprinted in July 1926, and published again in August 1933, and marked as "the first edition after the national disaster". In 1951, Chen Cunren said: "Up to now, there have been more than one million copies published in 32 editions, which are sold in various countries." After the founding of New China, the Commercial Press reprinted it three times in December 1954, April 1955 and August 1955 in order to cooperate with the central government in implementing the Party’s policy on traditional Chinese medicine.

Needless to say, there are some mistakes in the annotations of some entries in the China Medical Dictionary. As early as 1928, Yu Zeming wrote in the Health News that the transliteration of resin "Balsamo" was mistaken for the real name of the drug (a mistake in the China Medical Dictionary). In 1933, Yang Yan and the Medical Chunqiu clearly proposed that it should be supplemented and revised comprehensively (the China Medical Dictionary has If measured by the current dictionary style, there are still some shortcomings, but the defects do not cover up Yu, and it is still an important reference book to benefit the medical forest and enlighten the later study. (Zhang Xiaoxia)