英文摘要
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Does Chinese medicine include surgery? If yes, what is its content? Modern Chinese medicine seldom talks about this area, and it is possibly because of the stereotype that Chinese medicine does not have anatomy and does little about the human body. On the contrary, Western medicine has sophisticated anatomy, and detailed researches on the human body organs and functions. The stereotype that Chinese medicine is specialized in internal medicine, and Western medicine emphasizes on surgery. This bias is then confirmed by the lack of clinical research and treatment on surgery in Chinese medicine. In the history of Chinese medicine, what was surgery like? This paper discusses this issue based on the book "Essences of Surgery" written by Chen Tze-ming (1190-1270), a doctor in South Song Dynasty. This book was the first known publication on surgery, and the author examined the actions taken by doctors in the surgical field, patients’ imagination of surgical treatment, and the dilemma faced by the field of surgery in China at that time. This paper intends to construct the features and development context of surgery from multiple perspectives, including doctors, patients, human body, science, and society. Suggestions on future observations and thoughts are also proposed.
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