Medicine in China: A History of Ideas (Comparative Studies of Health Systems and Medical Care) - Softcover

Unschuld, Paul U.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0520062167 ISBN 13: 9780520062160

Publisher: University of California Press, 1988

Synopsis

In the first comprehensive and analytical study of therapeutic concepts and practices in China, Paul Unschuld traces the history of documented health care from its earliest extant records to present developments.

About this title

About the Author:

Paul Unschuld is a professor at the Institute for the History of Medicine at the University of Munich.

Review:

"Paul Unschuld's massive erudition lies at the service of relativism. His main aim is to explain the history of Chinese medical theories by locating them within successive broader paradigms of belief demonological, Confucian, Taoist, Buddhist, Marxist (each of which he anchors in turn within the line of dynasties from the Shang and Chou empires up to the Gang of Four. . . . Undeniably valuable . . . is his emphasis on how each new wave of Chinese medical theory ended up by complementing the preceding corpus of ideas." -- Roy Porter, Times Literary Supplement

"Unschuld successfully weaves the evolution of medical ideas with the prevalent socio-political events of the past three and one-half millennia. . . . The reward is immense." -- Peter Kong-ming New, Medical Anthropology

About this edition

• Publisher: University of California Press
• Publication date: 1988
• ISBN 10: 0520062167
• ISBN 13: 9780520062160
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 440