Epidemics and medicine during the Northern Song dynasty: The revival of cold damage disorders (Shanghan)

This study focuses on the revival of a third-century medical genre- Cold Damage Disorders-during the Northern Song dynasty. Looking for the causes that facilitated this revival, the author begins with a historical survey of epidemics during the Northern Song. The data reveal a wave of recorded epidemics during the years 1045-1060. In reaction to these epidemics, the Northern Song government established a bureau to revise and publish medical books. This bureau published ten medical treatises while deviating from the list of medical canons specified in the imperial edict announcing its establishment. Three of the most prominent editors appear to have had a personal knowledge of a unique medical approach-Cold Damage Disorders. The result was that out of the ten books the bureau published three focused solely on Cold Damage Disorders and three others were tied, to a certain degree, to this approach.