SKU: 71875311788

Currents of Tradition in Chinese Medicine 1626 to 2006

Sale price$26.95 Regular price$29.95
Save 10%

Shipping Estimate
USA
  • USA
  • CAN

Ships within 48 hours · Estimated delivery Jul 10 - Jul 15

Promo Codes Available:

For Your Every Summer RSVP, with Code: SUMMER15

Description

Currents of Tradition in Chinese Medicine 1626 to 2006In 1626, a young man named Fei Shangyou moved his family to Menghe, a small town in the Yangzi delta of China. According to family legend, he abandoned his career as a scholar and began working as a physician. In doing so, he founded a medical lineage that continues to the present day. This book describes the development, flourishing, and decline of this lineage and its many branches, as well as that of the other medical lineages and families with

In 1626, a young man named Fei Shangyou moved his family to Menghe, a small town in the Yangzi delta of China. According to family legend, he abandoned his career as a scholar and began working as a physician. In doing so, he founded a medical lineage that continues to the present day. This book describes the development, flourishing, and decline of this lineage and its many branches, as well as that of the other medical lineages and families with which it merged over time to form the “current of Menghe learning” (Menghe xuepai). 

This current and its offshoots produced some of the most influential physicians in the Chinese medical tradition during the 19th and 20th centuries. Menghe physicians, their disciples and students treated emperors, imperial mandarins, Nationalist Party generals, leading figures in the Communist Party, affluent businessmen, and influential artists.

In late imperial China, Menghe medicine was a self-conscious attempt to unite diverse strands of medical learning into one integrated tradition centered on ancient principles of practice. In Republican Shanghai, Menghe physicians and their students were at the forefront of medical modernization, establishing schools, professional associations, and journals that became models for others to follow. During the 1950s and 1960s, the heirs of Menghe medicine were key players in creating the institutional framework for contemporary Chinese medicine. Their students are now practicing all over the world, shaping Chinese medicine in Los Angeles, New York, Oxford, Mallorca, and Berlin.

The history of the Menghe current is relevant to anyone interested in the development of Chinese medicine in late imperial and modern China. This book traces Chinese medical history along the currents created by generations of physicians linked to each other by a shared heritage of learning, by descent and kinship, by sentiments of native place as well as nationalist fervor, by personal rivalries and economic competition, by the struggle for the survival of tradition and glorious visions of a new global medicine.

On the level of both theory and practice, this history marks a departure from the focus on texts and ideas that has dominated Western engagement with Chinese medicine to date. Its goal is to locate medicine within the concrete lives of physicians and their patients, restoring an agency to their actions that easily gets lost in our search for the forces or structures that shape historical process. To this end, the author interweaves social history and medical case studies, ethnography and biography to narrate a story of Chinese medicine that is very different from any that has been told before.

Read an excerpt (PDF)

Contents

Part 1 Late Imperial China

  • Economy and Society in Late Imperial China: Jiangnan, Wujin, and Menghe 
  • The Scholarly Medical Tradition in Late Imperial China: Origins, Problems, and New Departures 
  • The Origins of Menghe Medicine 
  • The Flourishing of Menghe Medicine 
  • Medical Lineages and Master Disciple Networks: The Eastward Spread of Menghe Medicine 
  • Fei Boxiong and the Menghe Medical Style

Part 2 Republican China

  • Chinese Medicine in Shanghai: Native Place and the 
  • The Modernization of Chinese Medicine in Republican China: From Medical Reform to Medical Revolution 
  • The Birth of the Menghe Current: Ding Ganren and the Transformation of Chinese Medicine in Republican Shanghai 
  • From Shanghai to New York: Ding Family Medicine after Ding Ganren 
  • The Development of Ding Family Medicine: Clinical Efficacy and Personal Identity

Part 3 Contemporary China

  • Chinese Medicine in Maoist and Post-Maoist China: The Institutionalization of Tradition and Its Discontents 
  • Inheriting and Developing Tradition: Three Exemplary Biographies 
  • Wujin Medicine Remembered: Tradition and the Labor of Social Memory

Reviews

"A superb study that speaks both to medical historians and anthropologists, and to the increasingly globalized communities of contemporary practitioners of Chinese medicine. Scheid’s work is unique in integrating a subtle understanding of historical multiplicity with insights based on his own clinical experience."
—Charlotte Furth, Professor of Chinese History, University of Southern California

"At the beginning of this astonishing book, Volker Scheid raises the most fundamental, most daunting questions in medical history: First, what is a medical tradition? What makes us see stable structures in a world where the only constant rule is change? What maintains them in a society where medicine was not an organized profession? What gives birth to such a tradition? How does it die? . . . Currents of Tradition in Chinese Medicine grapples on every page with these practically unexamined questions, and develops as convincing a set of answers as we are likely to have for a long time."
—From the Foreword by Nathan Sivin, Professor of Chinese Culture and the History of Science, University of Pennsylvania

"Combines sophisticated arguments about social processes and processes of remembering with the specific histories of individual physicians and their colleagues, patients, aspirations, and clinical styles. . . . Historians, anthropologists, practitioners and patients will all find gems that please them in this remarkable new contribution to the field."
—Marta Hanson, Assistant Professor, Department of History of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University

"This book fills an important gap. There are few works available on the history of Chinese medicine, the development of the Chinese medical tradition and the transmission of medical knowledge in China. It is an essential point of reference for any practitioner of Chinese medicine who wants to reach beyond the narrow circle of knowledge acquired in the course of gaining a professional qualification, and who wants at least to try to connect with his or her ‘ancestors.’ It is also relevant because it reveals the fragility of the Chinese medical tradition, something we might not have suspected or thought about. It is as fragile as memory itself. And thus we have the responsibility of keeping it alive."
—Olga Fedina, European Journal of Oriental Medicine

"Those interested in the history of the multifaceted tradition of Chinese medicine will find this an intriguing look behind the veil of current orthodoxy to a practice where, for example, self-cultivation could form the basis for clinical efficacy. An inspiring book."
—Steve Clavey, author, Fluid Physiology and Pathology in Traditional Chinese Medicine

"As a student of Qin Bowei, and therefore part of the Menghe tradition myself, I wholeheartedly recommend this text as an introduction to the depth of the Chinese medical tradition."
—Wu Boping, Professor, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences

"Currents of Tradition in Chinese Medicine is essential reading for anyone seeking a nuanced understanding of Chinese medicine and the social dynamics that have shaped it over time."
—Yi-Li Wu, Bulletin of the History of Medicine

Shipping Notes
  • Free Standard Shipping on $100+ Orders to the USA.
  • Except Preorder products are shipped in 48 hours.
  • Delivery to the USA:
  1. Standard Shipping : 3-10 business days
  • If time is of the essence, please consider selecting expedited delivery for faster service.
Exchange/Return Notes
  • We offer a 30-day return/exchange service after receiving.
  • Final sale items are not eligible for returns or exchanges.
  • To process your return/exchange, please contact us at [email protected]
  • Please click here for more details>>> Return & Exchange Policy
SKU: 71875311788

Discover Niche Categories That Outsell

Top-Converting Item to Boost Your Average Order

4.2 ★★★★★
Based on 329 reviews
Sort
Highest Rating
Newest First
Oldest First
Product Reviews
S
Verified Purchase
Sea Jay
Bozeman, US
★★★★★ 5
Great quality and folding it in half is a plus. Fits under a seat in car/truck.
Purchased another, as we need one in each car. This is a great ball thrower, especially as it folds in a half. Makes it easy to store under a car/truck seat. Haven’t had any problem with it, great quality!
WAS THIS REVIEW HELPFUL?YesReportShare
Reviewed in the United States on May 4, 2026
H
Verified Purchase
HY
Boise, US
★★★★★ 5
Fantastic throwing aid!
Very well made, great quality and doesn't feel cheap at all. It's thick, not flimsy or fragile so you can really swing it to launch a ball. Saves my body that I don't have to bend over to pick up the ball anymore, and saves my shoulder that I don't have to hurl the ball anymore. Another bonus is you don't have to touch a slobbered, soggy ball, or a ball covered in dirt. The foldable design is fantastic because I walk everywhere with my dog and don't want to carry around a long stick that's awkward to hold. This folds down small enough that I can securely put it in the back pocket of my jeans without worrying about it falling out. The thing I love most about it is there's a elastic loop at the end so when you fold it you can latch it securely. This small detail is outstanding because I can also hang it on the strap of my sling bag and with the loop secured it will not slip off the strap. This product is so well made and thought out overall.
WAS THIS REVIEW HELPFUL?YesReportShare
Reviewed in the United States on February 14, 2024
D
Verified Purchase
Debra Terry
Chelsea, US
★★★★★ 5
Excellent toy for play
My dog would play all day if I threw the ball to him. He loves this even though he's 12. The scooped end allows you to pick up the ball without touching it. After a few runs it's covered in dog slobber. So that's a major plus for me! Also, some health issues affect my walking and bending at times. This helps with the bending. This is a great game to play with your favorite friend!
WAS THIS REVIEW HELPFUL?YesReportShare
Reviewed in the United States on May 5, 2026
S
Verified Purchase
Susan Says
Chelsea, US
★★★★★ 5
Your high-energy dog will love it!
Why did I wait so long to get one of these?!? I am the stereotypical throws-like-a-girl person, and my dog really needs to have an option that forces her to run far and fast. This is it. I can get that ball half a soccer field away at a minimum if I want. The ball is super bouncy, which adds an element of fun to her attempts to tame it and bring it back. Super worth the money (which wasn't much!). I've never had one of these before, so can't compare to the non-folding version. This one is easy to carry and fits in a drawer for storrage. No way you can fit it in a pocket, especially if you have a phone in one and dog treats in the other.
WAS THIS REVIEW HELPFUL?YesReportShare
Reviewed in the United States on April 14, 2026
L
Verified Purchase
Leo
Draper, US
★★★★★ 5
Great usability
I prefer this version over the non-foldable stick, as this one I can fit into my bag and carry it out easily. Great size and has a locking feature to prevent it from folding up when throwing. Highly recommend, my dogs love fetch and it is hard to chew if they get their hands on it.
WAS THIS REVIEW HELPFUL?YesReportShare
Reviewed in the United States on September 13, 2025

recommand products