Tang Zonghai (; 1851–1897 or 1908),

courtesy name A courtesy name ( zh, s=字, p=zì, l=character), also known as a style name, is an additional name bestowed upon individuals at adulthood, complementing their given name. This tradition is prevalent in the East Asian cultural sphere, particula ...

Rongchuan (), was a Chinese physician and medical scholar active during the late

Qing dynasty The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing, was a Manchu-led Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China and an early modern empire in East Asia. The last imperial dynasty in Chinese history, the Qing dynasty was preceded by the ...

. Tang was one of the first Chinese physicians to write about the distinctions between Chinese and Western medicine, as well as an early advocate for the integration of the two traditions.

Early life

Tang was born in 1851 in

Pengzhou Pengzhou (), formerly Peng County or Pengxian, is a county-level city of Sichuan Province, Southwest China, it is under the administration of the prefecture-level city of Chengdu. There is an expressway that connects Pengzhou to Chengdu. It is bo ...

Sichuan Sichuan is a province in Southwestern China, occupying the Sichuan Basin and Tibetan Plateau—between the Jinsha River to the west, the Daba Mountains to the north, and the Yunnan–Guizhou Plateau to the south. Its capital city is Cheng ...

. His father died from illness in 1873, prompting him to study classical medicine. Tang engaged with the writings of Chinese physicians like , whereas his frequent trips to

Shanghai Shanghai, Shanghainese: , Standard Chinese pronunciation: is a direct-administered municipality and the most populous urban area in China. The city is located on the Chinese shoreline on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the ...

, a port city, also exposed him to Western medicine.

Career

Tang became a ''

jinshi ''Jinshi'' () was the highest and final degree in the imperial examination in Imperial China. The examination was usually taken in the imperial capital in the palace, and was also called the Metropolitan Exam. Recipients are sometimes referre ...

'' at the age of 38. Instead of joining the civil service, as many of his peers who had been successful in the imperial examinations did, he decided to pursue a career in medicine. Beginning his practice in Sichuan, one of Tang's earliest writings was published in 1884 and concerned

blood disorders Hematologic diseases are disorders which primarily affect the blood and Blood formation, blood-forming organs. Hematologic diseases include rare genetic disorders, anemia, HIV, sickle cell disease and complications from chemotherapy or transfusio ...

. After relocating to

Jiangnan Jiangnan is a geographic area in China referring to lands immediately to the south of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, including the southern part of its delta. The region encompasses the city of Shanghai, the southern part of Jiangsu ...

in the 1880s, Tang developed a keen interest in Western medicine, and became one of the first Chinese physicians to write about the distinctions between Chinese and Western medicine. He was also an early advocate for the integration of both medical traditions. Tang's 1892 work, ''Zhongxi huitong yijing jingyi'' (), has been described as "one of the most influential medical texts" of his time. In it, Tang defends Chinese medicine—which he sees as having been in decline since the

Song dynasty The Song dynasty ( ) was an Dynasties of China, imperial dynasty of China that ruled from 960 to 1279. The dynasty was founded by Emperor Taizu of Song, who usurped the throne of the Later Zhou dynasty and went on to conquer the rest of the Fiv ...

—while exploring the complex relationship between modern Western anatomy and Chinese medicine. Sometime after the publication of ''Zhongxi huitong yijing jingyi'', Tang wrote ''Yiyi tongshuo'' (), or ''A Generalised Account of Medicine and the'' Classic of Changes, in which he argues that the ancient Chinese text ''

I Ching The ''I Ching'' or ''Yijing'' ( ), usually translated ''Book of Changes'' or ''Classic of Changes'', is an ancient Chinese divination text that is among the oldest of the Chinese classics. The ''I Ching'' was originally a divination manual in ...

'' (''Classic of Changes'') included ideas that had hitherto been thought of as uniquely Western. Tang died in either 1897 or 1908.

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* * * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Tang Zonghai 1851 births 1908 deaths 19th-century Chinese writers People from Pengzhou Chinese medical writers Physicians from Sichuan