Transcript The Glimpse of Chinese Culture

A Glimpse of Chinese Traditional
Culture
Chapter 2
Historical Figures
Yuanmou Man and Peking Man
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The first primitive man
known to have existed in
China is Yuanmou Man,
who lived 1.7 million years
ago.
Peking Man, who existed
more than 400,000 years
ago, could walk upright,
make and use simple tools,
and make use of fire.
The Ancient Period
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Why are we called “the descendants of Yan
and Huang (炎黄子孙)”?
Chinese history began with two legendary
figures—Emperor Huang and Emperor Yan,
who, together with their tribes, inhabited the
drainage area along the middle reaches of
the Yellow River. By the time of Xia Dynasty,
after centuries of living side by side, these
two tribes had gradually merged into one.
Consequently, the Chinese people usually
themselves “the descendants of Yan and
Huang”.
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Yu conquering the flood
Yu inspired people to dig ditches to divert water
instead of building dams. He worked ceaselessly
for 13 years and succeeded in controlling the floods.
The First Emperor of Qin
He unified the Language, the measurement system
and the currency, set up the prefectures and
counties system, constructed the famous Great Wall
and built extravagant palaces and mausoleums.
Printing
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Printing, known as “mother of civilization”,
was a great invention of the Chinese people.
It has a long history and includes block
printing (雕版印刷) and movable type
printing (活字印刷).
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Block Printing was probably
invented between the Sui and Tang
dynasties. The process of block
printing started with the cutting of
wood into blocks, and then
characters were engraved in relief
(凸起) on the blocks. Ink was
brushed on the engraved block and a
white sheet of paper was spread
across it and then brushed with a
clean brush on its back leaving an
image when the paper was removed.
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The world’s oldest surviving
book printed on paper is
Vajra Sutra (《金刚经》).
It is the earliest woodcut
illustration in a printed book.
Bi Sheng: Founder of Movable Type
Printing
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Movable Type Printing
involved engraving single
words into pieces of clay,
firing them until hardened
and using them as
permanent type. The type
was then set into printing
plates.
Traditional Chinese Medicine
（TCM）
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Traditional Chinese painting, Beijing Opera,
and traditional Chinese medicine are known
throughout the world as the three treasures
of China.
Traditional Chinese medicine is very
different from Western Medicine in its
means of diagnosis, treatment and its
composition of drugs and prescriptions.
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Chinese practitioners of traditional
medicine take a holistic approach
to diagnosis. They consider the
whole body of the patient: his/her
diet, age, habits, emotions, lifestyle and living environment. They
pay particular attention to the
causes of the sickness rather than
the symptoms.
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Observing, smelling,
inquiring, and feeling
the pulse (望、闻、问、
切) are four diagnostic
(诊断的) methods in
traditional Chinese
medicine.
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There were a large number of great men of
medical science and materia medica (草药
学) in ancient China. How many do you
know?
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Bian Que (扁鹊), of the
Spring and Autumn and the
Warring States Period,
specialized in treating
diseases of women and
children and the five sense
organs. He invented the four
diagnostic methods.
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Hua Tuo (华佗), of the Eastern
Han Dynasty, specialized in
medicine (内科), surgery (外科),
gynecology (妇科) and pediatrics
(儿科). He invented a general
anesthetic Mafeisan (麻醉剂“麻
沸散”) and a system of
therapeutical (医疗的) exercises
called “the Five-animal exercises”
(五禽戏).
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Zhang Zhongjing (张仲景), of
the Eastern Han Dynasty, was
the author of a famous medical
works called Treatise on Febrile
and Miscellaneous Disease
《伤寒杂病论》. The works
consists of over 300
prescriptions and 200
medicines.
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Li Shizhen (李时珍) of the Ming
Dynasty, whose monumental
masterpiece, Compendium of
Meteria Medica (本草纲目),
includes 1,892 medicinal
substances, 11,096 prescriptions,
and 1,162 illustrations.
Discussion(10 minutes)
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Chinese traditional medicine and
Western medicine, which do you prefer?