Bian Que and Qin Yueren
Author: Dr. Lee
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Time: 2010/11/20 16:50:43
Before the Qin Dynasty, only one doctor was recorded in history. This doctor was known as Bian Que. In the great history book entitled Shi Ji (Analects of History) written in the Han Dynasty by Sima Qian (c. 145 BC-?), there was a biography of Bian Que. It said that Bian Que was also called Qin Yueren. When he was young, he was taught by sages to see through a wall and diagnose diseases by looking into the body of the patient. Later on he traveled to many places to practice medicine. When he was staying in Handan, a city in Hebei Province, he worked as a gynecologist because women were respected there; in Luoyang, a city in Henan Province, he treated deafness and blurred vision because old people were respected there; in Xianyang, he worked as a pediatrician because children were well cared there. Li Xi, the imperial doctor in the Imperial Court of the Qin Kingdom, was jealous of him and assassinated him.
The biography of Bian Que records three cases treated by him. Once Zhao Jianzi, the prime minister of the Jin Kingdom,suddenly became unconscious. Bian Que predicted that he would come round after three days after diagnosis. It eventually turned out true. Once Bian Que traveled into Guo Kingdom and witnessed the funeral of the prince. He said that he could revive the prince with acupuncture, moxibustion and decoction. People scorned him on hearing his suggestion. However after being treated by him, the prince was really revived. The third case was his diagnosis of Duke Huan in the Qi Kingdom. Simply by observation Bian Que discovered that Duke Huan was seriously ill. He offered to treat the Duke, but the Duke refused. When the Duke realized that he wasreally ill, it was too late to take measures to cure him.
Since these three cases ranging from the Spring and Autumn Period to the Warring States Period, about several hundred years, historians were confused. How could Bian Que live for several hundred years? The reasonable explanation is that Bian Que and Qing Yueren were two people, not one.
The diagnosis made by Bian Que about the three cases mentioned above was all made simply by observation. Observation, or inspection, was always emphasized and used in diagnosing diseases. In Huang Di Nei Jing (Yellow Emperor's Canon of Medicine), it says, "to make diagnosis through observation is magic and the diagnosis made by taking pulse is just a skill."
