Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon

The Yellow Emperor's Inner Classic is the earliest extant and most influential classic of traditional Chinese medicine. It was not the work of a single person or a single era, but rather a crystallization of wisdom compiled, edited, and supplemented by generations of physicians from the Warring States period through the Qin and Han dynasties and even later. The entire text is attributed to dialogues between the Yellow Emperor and his ministers, such as Qibo, and is divided into two parts: Plain Questions and Miraculous Pivot, comprising 18 volumes and 162 chapters. It is ranked among the Four Great Classics of Chinese Medicine alongside The Classic of Difficult Issues, Treatise on Cold Damage and Miscellaneous Diseases, and Shennong's Classic of the Materia Medica.

In terms of content and structure, Plain Questions focuses on foundational theories, elucidating core doctrines such as yin-yang and the five phases, the viscera and bowels, the channels and collaterals, and the causes and mechanisms of disease through a question-and-answer format. Miraculous Pivot, on the other hand, places greater emphasis on practical techniques, particularly the application of acupuncture and moxibustion and the channels and collaterals; hence it was once called the Acupuncture Classic. The theoretical system constructed by this classic not only profoundly influenced clinical Chinese medicine but also integrated ancient Chinese philosophical thought and logical methods.

The historical transmission of The Yellow Emperor's Inner Classic was fraught with vicissitudes. According to the "Treatise on Literature" in the Book of Han, the earliest Yellow Emperor's Inner Classic consisted of eighteen volumes, along with an Outer Classic in thirty-seven volumes, which unfortunately has been lost. In the late Western Han dynasty, Li Zhuguo formally recorded the title when collating medical texts, making it the earliest historical reference. Subsequently, during the Jin dynasty, Huangfu Mi compiled the then-extant Plain Questions and Acupuncture Classic into The A-B Classic of Acupuncture and Moxibustion. By the Tang dynasty, Wang Bing spent twelve years supplementing the seven volumes that had been scattered, using a "Master Zhang's secret copy" from his family collection, and systematically annotated and arranged them, ultimately forming the twenty-four-volume edition of The Yellow Emperor's Inner Classic: Plain Questions. In the Northern Song dynasty, Lin Yi and others re-collated it based on this edition, producing the authoritative version that has been passed down to the present day: The Re-Annotated and Supplemented Yellow Emperor's Inner Classic: Plain Questions.

The text puts forward the core concept of "treating not when disease has already arisen, but before it arises; bringing order not when disorder has already occurred, but before it occurs," which is essentially an ancient precursor to preventive medicine. The Yellow Emperor's Inner Classic holds that the foundation of nourishing life and dispelling disease lies in conforming to the laws of nature, that is, "following the patterns of yin and yang, and harmonizing with the methods of calculation." The life rhythms of the human body are intimately connected with the qi of heaven and earth, and the occurrence of disease often stems from an imbalance between internal and external environments. Therefore, treatment must also heed that "if one does not follow the laws of heaven and does not use the principles of earth, then disasters will arrive." Centered on this idea, the text delves deeply into theories of bi syndrome, epidemic disease, and constitution. The theory of bi syndrome analyzes conditions such as joint and muscle pain and numbness, caused by external pathogens like wind, cold, dampness, and heat that obstruct the channels, differentiating and treating them at five levels: skin, muscle, vessel, sinew, and bone.

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