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.
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About the Author
Richard Goodman is an author, editor, teacher, and translator. After receiving his MS in Chinese medicine and maintaining a successful clinic in the United States for several years, he was unhappy with his knowledge and moved to Asia. He has studied Chinese language and history in China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, where he continues to live, translate, and write.
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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.
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.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great find,
By
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Classical Chinese Medical Texts: Learning to Read the Classics of Chinese Medicine (Vol. I) (Paperback)
For years, I've been halfheartedly studying Chinese so that I could read something interesting. Each time I take up the practice again, I find myself learning words like window, car or vegetable. With what Mr. Goodman has produced with this book, I will be able to read something worthwhile within months rather than years. The publisher provides free audio files on their website for people like me who need to listen while they read, which has been a great help in getting through the entire book. This is the book the Chinese Medicine community has been needing and I'm looking forward to the second volume already. Buy this book and use it, and you will be glad you did.
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
very well constructed and much needed,
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Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Classical Chinese Medical Texts: Learning to Read the Classics of Chinese Medicine (Vol. I) (Paperback)
I picked this book up a few weeks ago through the authors website. It's been really helpful in some of the work I'm doing now. It's written by a North American who graduated acupuncture school and sometime later did what many of us want to do and a few of you have done, namely transported themselves to China to learn more Chinese medicine and particularly the language.This book is a small educational text on reading Classical Chinese Medical language. What makes it especially nice is that it is very well designed and easy to understand. One can see how he transported notes of his studies into this book format. It's not especially ambitious and that perhaps is its greatest strength. Goodman knows what it takes to learn this material and he doesn't try to teach you everything nor is the book dumbed down. This book is really made for a person like the author which is also to say a person like me and perhaps you too... someone wanting to read ancient medical Chinese but can get overwhelmed and confused at the task ahead. Douglas Eisenstark taiqi.com
6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Best of Class,
By ChMedDoc (East) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Classical Chinese Medical Texts: Learning to Read the Classics of Chinese Medicine (Vol. I) (Paperback)
I own every book on Chinese medical language available, and this one exceeds the others by far. If your goal is to really get into the classics and read Chinese medical texts, then you can't miss this book.Everyone from beginners who are highly motivated to those with some knowledge of Chinese will benefit from this book. I had always hoped I would be able to gain the necessary skills to tackle classical Chinese medical texts, and this book has provided me with those. I only wish the book was a little longer, and almost took away one star because of this. However, after reading through it briefly once, I found that the author covered so much detail in this work that adding more would be overwhelming for beginners. Everything you need to build a great foundation in ancient medical texts is here. Buy this book!
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