Abstract:This article tries to reveal the close connection between culture and politics by Confucian physician Miao Xiyong’s daily life in the Yangtze River in the late Ming Dynasty. Miao Xiyong practiced medicine by learning Confucian and medical classics. Although not active in politics, he was unintentionally involved in political agitation in late Ming Dynasty due to his close relationship with patients and his medical inheritance. In the book DonglinDianjianglu, edited by eunuchs during the reign of the Tianqi Emperor(1605-1627), he was called “Divine Physician An Daoquan”. He was also deemed as the first rate doctor who may heal the disease of society by Qian Qianyi in the preface of a medical book written for him. Therefore, to the people who appreciated him, Miao was unearthly unique and free from vulgarity. They also thought he was a Confucian, physician and swordsman who was actually an intellectual commoner. Miu Xiyong acted like a first rate physician and wanted to heal the disease of society in his daily medical life. However, he also called himself “retired scholar of Juexiu” and “drifting people of Haiyu”, which showed discrepancy of his will of salvation and powerlessness to accomplish it. By observing his way of practicing medicine and dealing things, we can get a glimpse of physicians’ social involvement and the political ecology of that time.
冯玉荣. 上医医国:一位晚明医家日常生活中的医疗与政治[J]. 华中师范大学学报(人文社会科学版), 2018, 57(3): 115-126.
Fong Yurong. The Relationship between Medicine and Politics Reflected in the Daily Life of a Late Ming Healer. journal1, 2018, 57(3): 115-126.