NOTES

[1] We refer to Chinese medicine in this paper, primarily as it is the form of East Asian medicine that we are most familiar with. In addition, when discussing the importance of yì, we have not used sources from Japan, Korea, or Vietnam. As such, it would be presumptuous of us to use the term Oriental medicine in this paper. We do believe that both the issues and our response as outlined here are relevant to the understanding of any form of Oriental medicine.

[2] See Hinrichs, T.J., New Geographies of Chinese Medicine. Osiris, forthcoming, for a comprehensive review of relevant research. See also Volker Scheid, Plurality and Synthesis in Contemporary Chinese Medicine, 1997. Ph.D. Dissertation. University of Cambridge: Department of Social Anthropology, especially Chapter 2.

[3] For examples of this influence from contemporary China see Scheid, V., "Shaping Chinese medicine: two case studies from contemporary China". In Hsü, E. (editor), Chinese Medicine and the Question of Innovation: Festschrift in Commemoration of Lu Gwei-djen. In press. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

[4] For an illustrative case study see Liscomb, K.M., Learning from Mt. Hua: A Chinese Physicians Illustrated Travel Record and Painting Theory. RES Monographs on Anthropology and Aesthetics. 1993, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. This influence is attested in the biography of many other physicians such as Xue Shengbai, Ding Ganren, Qin Bowei and was emphasised to us by many of our own teachers.

[5] See Unschuld, P.U., Chinesische Medizin. 1997. München: C. H. Beck, 106-133.

[6] See, for instance, Andrews, B.J., The Making of Modern Chinese Medicine, 1895-1937.1996. Ph.D. Dissertation, University of Cambridge: Department of the History of Science and Medicine, and "TB and the assimilation of germ theory in China", 1895-1937. Journal of the History of Medicine and Allied Sciences, 1997. 52(no 1); Croizier, R.C., Traditional Medicine in Modern China. 1968, Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press; Farquhar, J., "Problems of Knowledge in Contemporary Chinese Medical Discourse". Social Science and Medicine, 1987. 24,1013-1021 and "Market magic: getting rich and getting personal in medicine after Mao". American Ethnologist, 1996. 23(2), 239-257.

[7] See Hsü, E., The manikin in man: culture crossing and creativity, in Syncretism and the Commerce of Symbols, G. Aijmer, Editor. 1995, The Institute for Advanced Studies in Social Anthropology: Goteborg, for a fascinating case study.

[8] See for instance Kubny, M., Qi Lebenskraftkonzepte in China: Definition, Theorien und Grundlagen. 1995, Heidelberg: K. F. Haug, and Scheid, 1997, Chapter 7.

[9] See fn. 2 for relevant references.

[10] This tendency is so strong that even we cannot escape it, hence the dichotomy between descriptive and normative discussed here and signification and methods below.

[11] Manfred Porkert's attempt to define Chinese medicine as a science by way of a philologically based reconstruction of the original meaning of the Neijing and modern Chinese attempts to interpret the development of Chinese medicine teleologically as a progression from greater incoherence in the past to systematic TCM in the present (uncritically reflected in the writings of most Western practitioners of TCM) are pertinent examples.

[12] Brodwin, P., Medicine and Morality in Haiti: The contest for Healing Power. 1996, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 192.

[13] We suggest that approaching healing power from within the Chinese medical tradition (rather than imposing on it our own ideas from without) is the only way to guard against the Orientalism which characterises most Western writings on Chinese medicine.

[14] For a selection see Zhou Yimou, Editor, Lidai mingyi lun yide ("Discussions on the Character of Medicine by Famous Physicians of Past Dynasties"). 1983. Changsha: Hunan kexue chubanshe.

[15] This is related to the multiple levels of significance of the word dé, which are based on its original meaning of the potency of a seed. This gives the word a sense of what makes something the way it is, that is potency, power, moral force, etc.

[16] For a summary and analysis of these debates see Ma Boying, Zhongguo yixue wenhua shi ("A History of Chinese Medicine in Chinese Culture"). 1993, Shanghai: Shanghai Renmin chubanshe, 778-785, and Wang Xudong, Zhongyi meixue ("Aesthetics of Chinese Medicine"). 1989, Nanjing: Dongnan daxue chubanshe, 133-150.

[17] Houhan shu ("History of the Later Han"), quoted in Zhou Yimou, 1983, 63-65.

[18] Graham, A.C., Disputers of the Tao: Philosophical Argument in Ancient China. 1989, La Salle, Ill.: Open Court, 501.

[19] Houhan shu ("History of the Later Han"), quoted in Zhou Yimou, 1983, 63-65. Translation after DeWoskin, K.J., Doctors, Deviners, and Magicians of Ancient China: Biographies of Fang-shih. 1983, New York: Columbia University Press, 74-76.

[20] Yijing: Xici ("Classic of Changes: Commentary on the Appended Judgemants") cited in Wang Xudong, 1989, 133.

[21] Guanzi , 2/99, translated by Allyn Rickett. 1965. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 158 A, cited in Graham, 1989, 104.

[22] This is Graham's, 1989, 134, translation. Usually gé wù is rendered as "investigation of things."

[23] Da xue ("Great Learning"), in Sishu quanyi ("The Four Confucian Classics with Translation into Modern Chinese"). 1988. Guiyang: Guizhou renmin chubanshe, 5. Translation after Graham, 1989, 132-133.

[24] Hall, D.L. and R.T. Ames, Thinking Through Confucius. 1987, Albany: SUNY Press, 58.

[25] Graham, 1989, 133.

[26] Huangdi neijing lingshu, ben shen ("The Inner Classic of the Yellow Lord, Divine Pivot: Chapter 8 Fundamentals of the Spirit"), Section 1.2. Edition used is Ren Yingqiu (editor), Huangdi neijing zhangju suoyin. 1986. Beijing: Renmin weisheng chubanshe.

[27] A.C. Graham, Chuang-tzu: The Seven Inner Chapters and Other Writings from the Book `Chuang-tzu'. 1981. London: Allen & Unwin, 48f.

[28] Qianjin yaofang ("Thousand Ducat Formulas), Sun Simiao, 652 AD, juan 1.4 zhen hou ("Diagnosing and Reflecting"). Edition used is Li Jing Rong et al. (editors), Beijing qianjin yaofang jiaoshi. 1998. Beijing: Renmin weisheng chubanshe, 5.

[29] Chuanya neibian ("Connecting Elegance: Core Section). Zhao Xuemin. 18th cent. Zhulun ("Introduction"). Edition used is He Yuan (editor), Chuanya quanshu. 1998. Beijing: Zhongguo zhongyiyao chubanshe, 5.

[30] Huangdi neijing suwen, bazheng shenming ("The Inner Classic of the Yellow Lord, Simple Questions: Chapter 26, Spirit-like Understanding of the Eight Correct Seasonal Qi. "), Section 1.2. Edition used is Ren Yingqiu (editor), Huangdi neijing zhangju suoyin. 1986. Beijing: Renmin weisheng chubanshe.

[31] On medicine as art and science with specific reference to the Romaticist valuation of the artistic in medicine see Wieland, W., "The concept of the art of medicine", in Science, Technology, and the Art of Medicine: European American Dialogues, C. Delkescamp-Hayes and M.A.G. Cutter (editors). 1993, Kluwer Academic Publishers: Dordrecht, 165-181.

[32] Jiu Tang shu: Xu Yinzong chuan ("History of the Former Tang: Xu Yinzong"), cited in Ma Boying, 1993, 779.

[33] Attributed to Zhu Danxi in Zhengzhi zhunsheng: erke ("Standards of Patterns and Treatments: Paediatrics"), juan 4, dou chuang shang ("Pox Sores, Part One), cited in Huang Zili, Zhongyi baijia yilun huicui ("A Collection of Medical Writings from the Hundred Medical Schools"). 1988, Chongqing: Chongqing chubanshe, 11.

[34] Zhenben tushu jicheng ("Pearl Volume Medical Collection"), c.1725, cited in Huang Zili, 1988, 11.

[35] Linzheng zhinan yi'an (A Compass of Clinical Patterns Based on Case Histories). Ye Tianshi. 1766, Shanghai kexue jishu chubanshe, 1959: Shanghai. Foreword by Wu Jiangli, 3.

[36] On the importance of methods and procedures in ancient Chinese science and medicine see Lloyd, G.E.R., Adversaries and Authorities: Investigations into Ancient Greek and Chinese Science. 1996, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 27, 59-65.

[37] Fu zhai ri ji (" Diary from the Restorative Studio ") by Xu Hao, cited in Ma Boying, 1993, 783.

[38] Ge zhi yu lun (" Inquiry into the Propensities of Things"), 1347, in Danxi xinfa ("[Zhu] Danxi's Collected Medical Works"), Zhejiang Province Academy of Chinese Medicine Bureau for Literature (editors). Renminweisheng chubanshe, 1993: Beijing. p. 3-44. On the background of the debate touched upon here which regards the social status of physicians see Heymes, R.P., "Not quite gentlemen? Doctors in Song and Yuan". Chinese Science, 1987. 8, 9-76.

[39] Ye shi yi'an cun zhen ("A Collection of True Case Histories by Mr Ye"), Ye Tianshi, edited by Ye Wanqing, in Ye Tianshi yi'an daquan ("Great Compendium of Ye Tianshi's Case Histories), Pan Huaxin and Zhu Weichang (editors). 1994. Shanghai zhongyiyao daxue chubanshe. Foreword by Hu Guoying, 617.

[40] See Scheid, 1997, Chapter 7.

[41] For a discussion of the relation between art and science in modern biomedicine see the papers collected in C. Delkescamp-Hayes and M.A.G. Cutter (editors). 1993. Gadamer, H. G., The Enigma of Health: The Art of Healing in a Scienific Age. 1996. Cambridge: Polity Press is a collection of essays which clears the way for potential comparisons between the yì fâ dialectic discussed in our paper, and Greek notions of episteme and techne which still form the background to modern medical practice.

[42] Yue Meizhong, Wu heng nan yi zuo yisheng ("Without persevering it is difficult to become a physician"), in Ming laozhongyi zhi lu ("Paths of Renowned Senior Chinese Physicians"), vol.1, Zhou Fengwu, Zhang Qiwen, and Cong Lin, Editors. 1981, Shandong kexue jishu chubanshe: Jinan. p. 1-19.