How to understand the influence of Confucianism in Ming and Qing Dynasties on the trend of respecting classics and restoring ancient ways in traditional Chinese medicine

In the Ming and Qing Dynasties, the influence of Confucianism on Chinese medicine education mainly included the following five aspects:

First, medical education at that time also continued to inherit many Confucian humanistic thoughts such as benevolence, moderation, sincerity and balance. And it is influenced by being a good doctor if you don't want to be a good doctor. At that time, most people who hung pots were called Confucian doctors, especially Confucian doctors handed down from generation to generation. With the increase of Confucian doctors, the number of doctors writing books is obviously higher than before, and various medical books are constantly produced, among which there are many popular medical books, which enrich the teaching content to some extent and promote the development of Chinese medicine education.

Secondly, Wang Yangming's educational thought of the integration of conscience and knowledge and practice in the middle of Ming Dynasty also had a far-reaching impact on medical education, especially on folk medical education. For example, in the process of learning, the mentoring model in folk medical education (including heirloom, apprenticeship, private school, etc. ) Not only has more practice and experience accumulated than government-run medical education, but also has more flexible thinking and pays attention to personal understanding, which is highly consistent with Wang Yangming's educational thought.

Thirdly, after the spread of western learning to the east in the late Ming Dynasty, a new idea of practical learning with practical application as its value core gradually appeared, which also played a positive role in promoting the development of medical education in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. This new Confucian thought, which advocates practical application, seeking truth from facts and stressing practical results, further promotes the theoretical thinking of TCM, makes TCM pay more attention to clinical efficacy, and further promotes the division of TCM clinical and TCM education. At the same time, the number and types of prescriptions recorded in various clinical works and prescription books have also increased significantly, and Chinese medicine has made remarkable progress in clinical practice and syndrome differentiation diagnosis.

Fourth, returning to the primitive Confucian classics, vigorously advocating the textual research of respecting the classics and the tedious textual research became the only way to study, so that doctors at that time could not treat diseases and typhoid fever outside the Neijing with words. Although the Confucian thought of textual research objectively promoted the study of classic works of traditional Chinese medicine and made some achievements in literature collation and research, the concept of respecting classics and restoring ancient ways and academic thought seriously restricted and hindered the innovation and development of traditional Chinese medicine.

Fifth, the medical education in Qing Dynasty can only stick to the traditional model of the previous dynasty, and shrink or even collapse with the decline of society. Looking at the curriculum of Chinese medicine education in Qing Dynasty, from the lecture hall of Tai Hospital to the College of Chinese Medicine, no attention has been paid to humanities courses. From the specialist education of traditional Chinese medicine in the early Qing Dynasty to the schools of Chinese and Western medicine in the late Qing Dynasty, traditional classics were mainly taught in traditional Chinese medicine education, with fewer humanities courses and fewer lectures on traditional culture in China.

Source: On Chinese Medicine Education in Ming and Qing Dynasties, Tao Wei? -? Journal of Guiyang College of Traditional Chinese Medicine? -? 20 10