By ZHU Jian-ping  China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences

Translated by LIN Jie, ZHANG Saijun  Zhejiang Chinese Medical University

Located on the shores of the East China Sea, Zhejiang is a place of great wealth and talent. Zhejiang has a long history of traditional Chinese medicine, with many famous doctors and works.

The “Four Great Physicians” of the School of Zhe’s TCM include: Zhu Danxi, one of the Four Great Masters of the Jin and Yuan Dynasties, created the School of Nourishing Yin; Yang Jizhou, who wrote The Great Compendium of Acupuncture and Moxibustion (Zhen Jiu Da Cheng,《针灸大成》) and was honored as one of the “Three Sages of Acupuncture and Moxibustion”; Zhang Jingyue, the representative of the School of Warming and Supplementing and has written a great number of books; and Wang Shixiong, one of the Four Great Masters of Warm Disease in the Qing Dynasty.

“Ten Masterpieces” of the School of Zhe’s TCM. The ten contributions of the School of Zhe’s TCM to the development of Chinese medicine are mainly recorded and presented by medical works, among which ten are the most famous: Further Discourses on the Acquisition of Knowledge through Profound Study (Ge Zhi Yu Lun,《格致余论》) , which created the theory of “Yang is often in excess, while Yin is often insufficient”; The Complete Works of [Zhang] Jing-yue (Jing Yue Quan Shu,《景岳全书》)，which created the theory of “Yang is not in excess, while true Yin is insufficient”; Key Link of Medicine (Yi Guan,《医贯》), which advocated the theory of “fire of the life gate and kidney water”; Treatise on Diseases, Patterns, and Formulas Related to the Unification of the Three Etiologies (San Yin Ji Yi Bing Zheng Fang Lun,《三因极一病证方论》), which put forward the three etiologies of diseases; The Great Compendium of Acupuncture and Moxibustion (Zhen Jiu Da Cheng,《针灸大成》) and A chapter of Warp and Woof of Warm-Heat Diseases (Wen Re Jing Wei,《温热经纬》), which were the compilation of great masters; the first monograph on venereal diseases - Secret Record on Syphilis (Mei Chuang Mi Lu,《霉疮秘录》); the first monograph on exogenous diseases in different seasons - Treatise on Seasonal Diseases (Shi Bing Lun,《时病论》); the first monograph on external treatment methods - Rhymed Discourse on External Remedies (Li Yue Pian Wen,《理瀹骈文》); Supplement to ‘The Grand Compendium of Materia Medica’ (Ben Cao Gang Mu Shi Yi,《本草纲目拾遗》), which made supplement for the great works.

Considering the contribution of the School of Zhe’s TCM to the development of Chinese medicine, it can be summarized into ten aspects.

Initiating the School of Nourishing Yin

In the Yuan Dynasty, Zhu Danxi, on the basis of a thorough study of various doctrines of “ministerial fire (相火)”, explored them in depth and brought them into play, creatively elucidating the ever-changing laws of ministerial fire, proposing “Yang is often in excess, while Yin is often insufficient” and advocating “enriching yin and subduing fire” as the main treatment method, and was later called “the School of Nourishing Yin”. His masterpiece is Further Discourses on the Acquisition of Knowledge through Profound Study.

Zhu’s disciples, Dai Yuanli, Zhao Liangren and Wang Lv, were all very accomplished, and other scholars who succeeded him were Wang Ji, Wang Lun and Yu Tuan. Zhu’s theory of ministerial fire and the School of Hejian’s theory of fire-heat had a major impact on the formation of warm disease theories in the Ming and Qing dynasties. The doctrines of Danxi were influential not only in China but also in Japan and Korea.

Advocating Doctrines of Warming and Supplementing

Zhang Jingyue of Shaoxing and Zhao Xianke of Ningbo were representatives of the School of Warming and Supplementing in the Ming Dynasty. In his early years, Jingyue promoted the Danxi School and respected Xue Ji (the School of Warming and Supplementing) as his teacher, authored The Complete Works of [Zhang] Jing-yue and created the doctrine of “Yang is not in excess, while true Yin is insufficient”; he created new formulas such as Grand Tonic Decoction (大补元煎) and Left-Restoring Pill (左归丸), which had considerable influence on later generations. Zhao promoted Xue Ji’s doctrine of warming and supplementing and brought the doctrine of Gate of Life (命门) into play, emphasizing kidney water and fire of the life gate, and authored Key Link of Medicine. It is believed that the master of the human body is the life gate rather than the heart, and the water and fire of the life gate are the yin-yang of human beings. He advocated the use of Cui’s Eight-Flavour Pills (崔氏八味丸) and Qian Yi’s Six-Ingredient Rehmannia Pill (六味地黄丸) to nourish true fire and true water. In addition, Gao Gufeng, a native of Ningbo in the late Ming Dynasty, respected Zhang Jingyue and advocated warming and supplementing; Feng Zhaozhang, a native of Haiyan in the Ming and Qing Dynasties, revered warming and supplementing and praised the life-gate theory in Key Link of Medicine highly.

Enriching New knowledge on Medications

The School of Zhe’s TCM has a long and varied history of promoting new knowledge of medicine. As early as the Tang Dynasty, Chen Cangqi’s Supplement to ‘The Materia Medica’ (Ben Cao Shi Yi,《本草拾遗》) was a supplement to the Newly Revised Materia Medica (Xin Xiu Ben Cao,《新修本草》) and advocated the classification of drugs into “ten formula types”. Since then, new publications of Materia Medica have come out from generation to generation; for example, Chen Yan wrote the Essence of Materia Medica from the Baoqing Era (Bao Qing Ben Cao Zhe Zhong,《宝庆本草折衷》). In the late Yuan and early Ming dynasties, Xu Yongcheng, a native of Shaoxing, wrote Elaboration on Materia Medica (Ben Cao Fa Hui,《本草发挥》), containing nearly 300 kinds of medicines. Wang Lun, a native of Cixi in the Ming Dynasty, wrote the Collection of Materia Medica (Ben Cao Ji Yao,《本草集要》), which developed a classification of commonly used herbal medicines. Miao Xiyong, an expatriate in Changxing, wrote Commentary on ‘Shen Nong’s Classic of the Materia Medica’ (Shen Nong Ben Cao Jing Shu,《神农本草经疏》), which expounded on the theory of medicinal properties and experience in the use of medicines, and Great Method on Medicinal Processing (Pao Zhi Da Fa,《炮炙大法》) to supplement Master Lei's Discourse on Medicinal Processing (Lei Gong Pao Zhi Lun,《雷公炮炙论》). In the late Ming Dynasty, Jia Suoxue of Jiaxing wrote Transforming the Significance of Medicinal Substances (Yao Pin Hua Yi,《药品化义》), which contains 148 kinds of medicines and is explained according to the eight methods of identifying medicines. Edible Flora (Ru Cao Bian,《茹草编》), by Zhou Lvjing, a native of Jiaxing, at the end of the Ming Dynasty, contains 102 species of edible wild plants, with a picture and a poem for each object. At the end of the Ming Dynasty, Lu Fu wrote Discussion on The Grand Compendium of Materia Medica (Ben Cao Gang Mu Bo Yi,《本草纲目博议》), and his son, Lu Zhiyi, wrote Materia Medica Compilation by Half (Ben Cao Sheng Ya Ban Ji,《本草乘雅半偈》), which often uses Confucian and Buddhist principles to deduce the theory of medicine.

In the Qing dynasty, the best work by Zhao Xuemin was Supplement to ‘The Grand Compendium of Materia Medica’, containing 921 kinds of drugs, 716 of which were not recorded in The Grand Compendium of Materia Medica (Ben Cao Gang Mu,《本草纲目》). Before Zhao's work, Chen Shiduo, a native of Shaoxing in the early Qing dynasty, wrote Compilation of Materia Medica (Ben Cao Hui Bian,《本草会编》), which examined the nature of medicines and detailed the channel entry and indicative symptoms; Zhang Zhicong of Hangzhou wrote Reverence for the Origin of the Materia Medica (Ben Cao Chong Yuan,《本草崇原》), which contained 289 kinds of medicines, examined the varieties of medicines, clarified their identification characteristics, and attached importance to the original nature of medicines, which had a profound influence on famous doctors such as Xu Dachun and Chen Xiuyuan; Wu Yiluo of Haiyan wrote Thoroughly Revised Materia Medica (Ben Cao Cong Xin,《本草从新》), which added nearly 300 kinds of medicines and included cordyceps and Radix Pseudostellariae (太子参); Shi Wen, a native of Yuyao, wrote Materia Medica of Combinations (De Pei Ben Cao,《得配本草》), containing 647 kinds of medicines, specifying their functions and describing their combination of medicinals. After Zhao's work, Cao Bingzhang, a native of Shaoxing in the Republic of China, wrote Additions on the Identification of Forged Medicinal Articles (Zeng Ding Wei Yao Tiao Bian,《增订伪药条辨》), adding 110 medicines to the original book, which was widely influential in identifying their authenticity. In addition, the heritage and innovation of the drug development, business philosophy and model of Hu Qing Yu Tang (Hu Qing Yu Chinese Pharmacy, 胡庆余堂) in Hangzhou is quite inspiring.

Collecting Great Compendia of Acupuncture and Moxibustion

The most prominent representative is Yang Jizhou of Quzhou in the Ming dynasty and his book The Great Compendium of Acupuncture and Moxibustion, which is a rich, systematic and far-reaching collection of the achievements of previous acupuncturists. In addition, in the Southern Song Dynasty, Wang Zhizhong wrote the Classic of Nourishing Life with Acupuncture and Moxibustion (Zhen Jiu Zi Sheng Jing,《针灸资生经》), which defines the “proportional body unit (同身寸)” and is still in use today. In the Yuan dynasty, Wang Kai of Lanxi wrote Re-Note the Song to Elucidate Mysteries (Chong Zhu Biao You Fu,《重注标幽赋》), and his son Guorui followed his father’s footsteps and wrote Jade Dragon Sutra of Bian Que’s Miraculous Effective Acupuncture (Bian Que Shen Ying Yu Long Jing,《扁鹊神应针灸玉龙经》), which was a great achievement in terms of ebb and flow acupuncture, the eightfold soaring method and point-through-point method in acupuncture. Hua Shou wrote Elucidation on Fourteen Channels (Shi Si Jing Fa Hui,《十四经发挥》), initiating the clinical study of the ren mai (任脉) and du mai (督脉) in acupuncture. In the Ming Dynasty, Gao Wu wrote A Collection of Gems in Acupuncture and Moxibustion (Zhen Jiu Ju Ying,《针灸聚英》) and cast three bronze figures of a man, a woman and a child. Yang Jingzhai wrote the Secret Book of Complete Acupuncture and Moxibustion by Yang Jingzhai (Mi Chuan Yang Jing Zhai Zhen Jiu Quan Shu,《秘传杨敬斋针灸全书》), matching diagrams with diseases and acupoints to facilitate clinical practice.

Differentiating Cold Damage and Warm Disease

In terms of Cold Damage, the contributions of Zhu Gong and Ke Qin are the first and foremost. In the Song dynasty, Zhu Gong of Wuxing wrote Book to Safeguard Life from Nanyang (Nan Yang Huo Ren Shu,《南阳活人书》), which combined the identification of diseases with syndrome differentiation; it was a pioneer in the use of prescriptions to classify syndromes and to discuss prescriptions with syndromes and was highly respected by medical practitioners of all generations. At that time, “only Book to Safeguard Life Arranged (Huo Ren Shu,《活人书》) was known to the public, but not the prescriptions by Zhongjing”; Xu Lingtai of the Qing dynasty highly praised of it, “Among the medical books written by the Song people, the Book of Book to Safeguard Life Arranged is the first to have contributed to the development of Zhongjing’s academic thought by making innovations to Treatise on Cold Damage (Shang Han Lun,《伤寒论》) and making it easier to understand for those who study it.” In the Qing Dynasty, Ke Qin, a native of Cixi, wrote Collected Writings on the Renewal of the ‘Treatise on Cold Damage’ (Shang Han Lai Su Ji,《伤寒来苏集》), in which he used prescriptions to classify the syndromes, and the syndromes differentiation was divided from the six channels, promoting and developing the theories of the six-channel pattern differentiation and the triple-yin combination of diseases, which had a great influence on later generations and was one of the models for studying and researching Treatise on Cold Damage. In addition, Six Texts on Cold Damage (Shang Han Liu Shu,《伤寒六书》) by Tao Hua, a native of Yuhang in the Ming Dynasty, and the Zhang Qingzi Treatise on Cold Damage (Zhang Qing Zi Shang Han Lun,《张卿子伤寒论》) by Zhang Qingzi, a native of Hangzhou in the late Ming Dynasty, also made contributions. It is important to note that the Shang Han Fang Lun (《伤寒方论》) by Xu Bin, a Jiaxing native of the Qing dynasty, Pattern Differentiation and Treatment of the Six Channel Divisions of Cold Damage (Shang Han Liu Jing Bian Zheng Zhi Fa,《伤寒六经辨证治法》) by Shen Mingzong, The Outlined Classic on Cold Damage (Shang Han Fen Jing,《伤寒分经》) by Wu Yiluo of Haiyan, and A Stick to Awaken Physicians (Yi Mem Bang He,《医门棒喝》) by Zhang Nan of Shangyu, were all influenced by the thought of reordering the misordered cold damage by Fang Youzhi and Yu Chang of the Ming dynasty. Yu Genchu of Shaoxing in the Qing Dynasty explicitly proposed the integration theory of cold damage and warm disease. He wrote the Popular Guide to ‘Treatise on Cold Damage’ (Tong Su Shang Han Lun,《通俗伤寒论》) and established the Shao School of Cold Damage, which has its influence today.

In terms of warm disease, Wang Shixiong and Lei Feng of the Qing dynasty were the most prominent. Wang Shixiong, a native of Hangzhou, wrote A chapter of Warp and Woof of Warm-Heat Diseases, which collected all the schools of thought on warm disease and made it more comprehensive. He also wrote the Treatise on Sudden Turmoil (Huo Luan Lun,《霍乱论》), which distinguishes syndromes between cold and hot cholera and attaches importance to prevention. Lei Feng, a native of Quzhou, wrote the Treatise on Seasonal Diseases, discussing in detail the diagnosis and treatment of more than 70 types of seasonal external diseases, with personal cases, which are relevant to clinical practice.

Proficient in Clinical Diagnosis and Treatment

In terms of diagnostic methods, Hua Shou’s The Core of Diagnosis (Zhen Jia Shu Yao,《诊家枢要》) proposed six pulses (float, sink, slow, rapid, slippery, choppy) as the principle of all pulses and analysed the 30 pulses and their main diseases, which had a great influence on later generations. In terms of treatment, Wu Shangxian, a native of Hangzhou in the Qing Dynasty, wrote the first monograph on external treatment methods - Rhymed Discourse on External Remedies, which was the most prominent. The book was based on the principles, methods, formulas, and medicinals of internal medicine and was highly influential in its use of external treatments such as thin plasters (ointments) to “cure hundreds of diseases”. In addition, Secret Records in a Stone Room (Shi Shi Mi Lu,《石室秘录》) by Chen Shiduo of Shaoxing lists 128 kinds of treatment methods, among which Method of Bullying Attack (霸治法) and Sniffing Method (吸治法) also have their own characteristics.

In the Ming Dynasty, Dai Yuanli, a native of Pujiang, wrote The Secret Method of Treating Evidence and Similar Formulas (Mi Chuan Zheng Zhi Yao Jue Ji Lei Fang,《秘传证治要诀及类方》) and Seeking the Advice of Master (Tui Qiu Shi Yi,《推求师意》). He inherited the teachings of his teacher Zhu Danxi, and proposed the differentiation of “six constraints” and corresponding treating methods, which is particularly useful for symptoms of constraints. For vomiting of blood, Miao Xiyong’s Xianxingzhai Medical Notes (Xian Xing Zhai Yi Xue Guang Bi Ji,《先醒斋医学广笔记》) proposed three keys to treating vomiting of blood: “it is better to move blood than to stop it; it is better to supplement the liver than to suppress it; it is better to subdue qi than to subdue fire”, which was quite influential. For stroke, atrophy, wind damage and phlegm, Xu Yongcheng, a native of Shaoxing in the late Yuan and early Ming dynasties, respected Zhu Danxi and wrote Medical Eclecticism (Yi Xue Zhe Zhong,《医学折衷》), which focused on nourishing yin. Zhang Shanlei’s On Stroke (Zhong Feng Jiao Quan,《中风斠诠》) argued that stroke is mainly internal wind and subdue [liver wind] and astringe [kidney qi].

In the field of surgery, it is remarkable that Chen Sicheng, a native of Haining in the Ming Dynasty, wrote the Secret Record on Syphilis, which was the first systematic treatment of syphilis and the first to use arsenical as its treatment. In addition, there was also Insight into the Profound Themes of Truth (Dong Tian Ao Zhi,《洞天奥旨》) by Chen Shiduo, a native of Shaoxing in the Qing Dynasty, and Surgical Da Cheng (Wai Ke Da Cheng,《外科大成》) by Qi Kun, a judge of the Qing Imperial Hospital. The latter was used as a blueprint by his grandson, Qi Hongyuan, to compile a textbook - Golden Mirror of the Medical Tradition·Essential Teachings on External Medicine (Yi Zong Jin Jian Wai Ke Xin Fa Yao Jue,《医宗金鉴·外科心法要诀》), which has been influential for centuries.

Not only special monographs on specialties and diseases but also comprehensive clinical medical books are not uncommon. For example, in the Ming Dynasty, Lou Ying of Xiaoshan wrote Medical Compendium (Yi Xue Gang Mu,《医学纲目》), Sun Zhihong of Hangzhou wrote Concise Medicine Book (Jian Ming Yi Gou,《简明医彀》), Chen Shiduo of the Qing Dynasty wrote Record of Syndrome Differentiation (Bian Zheng Lu,《辨证录》), and Li Yongcui of Ningbo wrote Supplementary to Evidence and Treatment (Zheng Zhi Hui Bu,《证治汇补》), discussing the diagnosis and treatment of various diseases, each with its own distinctive features.

Valuing Experience and Medical Cases

Emphasis was placed on the collection and summary of folk experience. For example, Zhao Xuemin’s Folk Medicine (Chuan Ya,《串雅》) pioneered the compilation and study of folk medicine. For example, in the Qing Dynasty, the Hangzhou native Wei Zhixiu compiled the 60-volume Supplement to ‘Classified Case Records of Famous Physicians’ (Xu Ming Yi Lei An,《续名医类案》), which contains 345 types of symptoms. In the Republic of China, He Lianchen of Shaoxing wrote A National Collection of Famous Medical Cases (Quan Guo Ming Yi Yan An Lei Bian,《全国名医验案类编》), an album on acute febrile diseases, which had a great impact. Zhang Taiyan, a master of Chinese culture, said, “The achievements of Chinese medicine are best documented medical cases. To seek the experience and insights of previous practitioners, medical cases are the most important clues to be found. If you follow them, you will get twice the result with half the effort”, which indicates the importance of medical cases. There are many famous medical cases in the School of Zhe’s TCM, including Jin Zijiu’s Medical Case (《金子久医案》) of Deqing, Lianchen’s Medical Case (《廉臣医案》) and Yuan’s Medical Case (《圆医案》) of Shaoxing, and Fan Wenhu’s Medical Case (《范文虎医案》) of Ningbo.

Respecting Health and Fitness

The School of Zhe’s TCM has a long and rich history of health and fitness. As early as the Wei and Jin dynasties, Ji Kang, one of the Seven Sages of the Bamboo Grove, wrote the famous Treatise on Health Cultivation (Yang Sheng Lun,《养生论》), proposing the five difficulties of health cultivation, which was reproduced in many later writings, including the Tang dynasty’s Important Formulas Worth a Thousand Gold Pieces (Qian Jin Yao Fang,《千金要方》). In the Sui Dynasty, Zhiyi of the Tiantai sect founded the concentrated observation method, which is concerned with regulating breath and mind. In the Song Dynasty, Zhang Boduan, a native of Tiantai, advocated the cultivation of body and mind and wrote the first work on internal alchemy - The Book of Enlightenment (Wu Zhen Pian,《悟真篇》). In the early Ming Dynasty, the Hangzhou native Leng Qian wrote The Essentials of Cultivating Age (Xiu Ling Yao Zhi,《修龄要旨》), which contained health maintenance in four seasons, the six words for prolonging life, the shiliuduan jin exercise (十六段锦), and the baduan jin exercise (八段锦) and was widely circulated. Zhou Lvjing, a native of Jiaxing in the Ming Dynasty, was a master of health and qigong and compiled Yimen Guangdu (《夷门广牍》). In the Qing Dynasty, Wu Yiluo of Haiyan compiled the Effective Use of Established Formulas (Cheng Fang Qie Yong,《成方切用》), advocating Taoists’ Xiao Zhou Tian Gong (小周天功). In addition, Cao Tingdong’s Lao Lao Heng Yan (《老老恒言》) and Wang Shixiong’s Food and Drink Recipes of Sui-xi Ju (Sui Xi Ju Yin Shi Pu,《随息居饮食谱》), both written in the Qing dynasty, are essential books for health maintenance. Zun Sheng Ba Jian (《遵生八笺》), written by Gao Lian, a native of Hangzhou in the Ming Dynasty, is the most comprehensive work on health preservation in ancient China.

Expertise in Literature Compilation

The School of Zhe’s TCM valued and was good at studying and compiling medical literature. The earliest surviving work on medical cataloguing publications in China is the Catalogue of Medical Collections (Yi Cang Mu Lu,《医藏目录》), compiled by Yin Zhongchun, a native of Jiaxing in the late Ming Dynasty.

As for the collation of Inner Classic (Nei Jing,《内经》), Hua Shou of the Yuan dynasty first made categorized commentary on Basic Questions (Su Wen,《素问》), compiling it into Copy of Reading Su Wen (Du Su Wen Chao,《读素问钞》); Zhang Jingyue’s compilation of The Classified Classic (Lei Jing,《类经》) was the first to classify and study the full text of Inner Classic; Ma Shi’s Annotation and Elaboration the Essence of Basic Questions (Su Wen Zhu Zheng Fa Wei,《素问注证发微》) and Annotation and Elaboration the Essence of Spiritual Pivot (Ling Shu Zhu Zheng Fa Wei,《灵枢注证发微》) were the earliest full commentaries on Inner Classic; Zhang Zhicong’s Collected Commentaries on the ‘Basic Questions’ (Su Wen Ji Zhu,《素问集注》) and Collected Commentaries on the ‘Spiritual Pivot’ (Ling Shu Ji Zhu,《灵枢集注》) brought together the commentaries of various schools and incorporate their own views; Gao Shishi of Hangzhou rewrote the commentary to Inner Classic in his Direct Explanation of ‘Basic Questions’ (Su Wen Zhi Jie,《素问直解》), making it straightforward and clear; Yu Yue of Deqing wrote the insightful Discourse on Inner Classic (Nei Jing Bian Yan,《内经辨言》). For the collation of The Classic of Difficult Issues (Nan Jing,《难经》), Illustrated Note on Eighty-one Difficult Issues (Tu Zhu Ba Shi Yi Nan Jing,《图注八十一难经》) by Zhang Shixian, a Ningbo native of the Ming dynasty, has been widely circulated. For the collation of Essentials from the Golden Cabinet (Jin Gui,《金匮》), Annotation for Essentials from the Golden Cabinet (Jin Gui Fang Lun Yan Yi,《金匮方论衍义》) by Zhao Liangren from Pujiang in the late Yuan Dynasty was the earliest extant full commentary on Essentials from the Golden Cabinet and the contemporary monograph by He Ren from Hangzhou. During the Republican period, Zhejiang saw the emergence of the “Three Elites of Chinese Medicine”, among whom He Lianchen revised and published 110 kinds of ancient medical books, which was called the Shaoxing Medicine Series; Qiu Jisheng compiled and printed a large number of medical books, including 99 titles in The Conscientious Practice of Medicine (San San Yi Shu,《三三医书》) and 90 titles in Collection of Rare Medical Books (Zhen Ben Yi Shu Ji Cheng,《珍本医书集成》); and 128 titles in Cao Bingzhang’s Comprehensive Collection of Chinese Medicine (Zhong Guo Yi Xue Da Cheng,《中国医学大成》), continuing the legacy of Chinese medicine.

Opening Up New Paths to Inheritance

The inheritance of the School of Zhe’s TCM has evolved with the times and taken many forms. In addition to self-learning, it has been passed down from generation to generation through family traditions, mentorship and institutional education.

In terms of family traditions, the Yao family of the Deqing in the Northern Zhou Dynasty was a family of medical practitioners, with three prominent generations of Yao Puti, Yao Sengyuan and Yao Zui, among whom Yao Sengyuan was the best and the author of the Collection of Experimental Recipes (Ji Yan Fang,《集验方》). In terms of mentorship, the gynaecology of Xiaoshan’s Zhulin Temple lasted for 107 generations until the end of the Qing Dynasty and has never declined. There are also schools of gynaecology, such as Ningbo Song’s Gynaecology, Shaoxing Qian’s Gynaecology, Haining Chen’s Gynaecology and Hangzhou He’s Gynaecology, which are taught by teachers and passed down from family traditions. Each school was passed down in an orderly manner, such as the Danxi School, Luo Zhiti passed on to Zhu Danxi and Zhu Danxi passed on to Dai Yuanli and Wang Lv. There were also disciples who had not taken lessons directly from the master, such as Yu Tuan.

For institutional education, there were lecture halls in the early times. For example, Lu Zhiyi in Hangzhou of the Ming Dynasty wrote his own teaching materials and gave lectures on medicine, and Zhang Zhicong in Hangzhou of the early Qing Dynasty opened Lvshan Academy and had many disciples.

In the modern era, Chen Qiu, a native of Wenzhou, founded the Liji Medical Academy in 1885, and in 1915, Fu Lanyuan founded the Zhejiang Specialized School of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Hangzhou. The Lanxi Specialized School of Traditional Chinese Medicine was established in 1919 and trained more than 600 students. The Zhejiang School of Further Training in Chinese Medicine was established in 1953, the Zhejiang College of Traditional Chinese Medicine was founded in 1959, and the latter was renamed Zhejiang Chinese Medical University in 2006.