Classical Chinese Medical Texts: Learning to Read the Classics of Chinese Medicine is the first introduction to classical Chinese that focuses solely on medical texts. The selections that make up the chapters range from the late Han to the Qing dynasties, a period spanning over 1,500 years. All of the lessons are covered in a concise yet detailed manner, making this book suitable for self-taught learners and classrooms alike. The extensive vocabulary lists, detailed grammar notes, example sentences, and clear writing make this book accessible to all levels of Chinese language learners.
While still a graduate student of Chinese medicine, I came across various copies of translations of the classics. What I read made no sense to me, so I asked some of the teachers who taught my classes. The overall response I got was, "Don't worry about that." This made me even more curious. How could I just forget the classics of the medicine I was studying?
I started getting my hands on anything outside of recommended reading. I discovered academic work by Nathan Sivin, Charlotte Furth, Benjamin Elman, Paul Unschuld and others. They seemed to contradict much of what I was hearing from my teachers and I would use their work to ask more probing questions of my teachers.
After about a year of trying to understand the medicine through translations of the classics, I was told by a teacher whom I respected greatly that if I really wanted to get into the deeper meaning of classical texts, I would have to study Chinese-and not just Chinese, but classical Chinese. I was not excited by this.
Upon graduation, I vowed that after practicing for five years I would move to China and study the language. After a year in private practice, I was already quite bored. I missed the camaraderie that came with having classmates who were grappling with the same questions I had. I decided to keep practicing and enrolled in local Chinese courses. This was very satisfying at first, but after a year I realized I was no closer to being able to tackle Chinese medical texts.
I enjoyed clinical practice. Helping people with their physical, spiritual, and emotional issues was very satisfying; on the other hand, the desire to gain more experise was eating away at me. After three years of practice (to the day), I decided to take on studying Chinese full time. I packed up as much as I could carry with me on a plane and gave the rest to the local Salvation Army. I gave up essentially everything I had built, but I knew I was treading the right path.
My initial plan was to come to Taiwan for just one year, then apply for a graduate program in the UK or back in the US. I wanted to go all of the way through to PhD and not stop until I was done. After one year in Taiwan (studying Chinese 10 hours per week for the entire year), I realized I still needed more training. I couldn't get through a modern Chinese book, let alone a classical text. For most of this time, I was working for a publishing company translating from Chinese to English. Most of the books I worked on were Chinese language textbooks. I didn't realize how valuable this experience would be at the time-it was just a way to pay the bills.
After two years of studying and working, I received a full scholarship to attend the Chinese University of Hong Kong for two years. At this time, I decided to ramp up my knowledge of classical Chinese. I read and studied every book available.
Many of the classical Chinese textbooks I found to be great resources, but they do not cover medical literature. I probably spent about a year in total devoted to learning to read classical Chinese. The books that used English to teach classical Chinese were initially very helpful. After mastering these, I started reading classical Chinese to modern Chinese translations of medical texts.
I often asked myself, "Why is no one creating a good classical Chinese to English textbook?" Finally, I sat down at my computer and outlined what such a book would look like. I pulled some medical texts from my bookshelf and included what I found to be the best methods from all of the Chinese-English books. After a few chapters were put together, I had the beginnings of a textbook.
At the time, I was about to begin my second semester in Hong Kong and didn't have time to work on the book. I was not serious about finishing it and was hoping someone else would pick up on the idea and do it. After about a month into the semester, I realized I was miserable in the academic world and knew I would only grow more miserable. I decided to give up the scholarship and went back to Taiwan.
The first few months, I had forgotten about the book. I traveled a lot and worked on bits and pieces. At some point, I looked at what I had put together and realized it could be a book-and a very useful one. I decided to start taking it seriously, which meant that I had to throw out a lot of what I had already done. I needed to consider what beginners could handle, check to be sure I was teaching each new character, make the texts short but still useful, explain the grammar in a way that could be understood, and make sure all of the texts followed one another in a language learner's logic.
My goal throughout writing Classical Chinese Medical Texts was to create the book I wish I had when I started my Chinese studies. I hope students of Chinese medicine and Chinese language in general will find the book to be a useful took for deepening their understanding of Chinese medicine.
