Rebirth 1977 Great Era

Chapter 843 Wang Qizhang, the number two figure in the destruction of traditional Chinese medicine, and Gu Mingyuan, who has a connection to him (Bonus chapter for monthly votes)
Wang Qizhang was born in 1885, six years younger than Yu Yunxiu.

He is from Shanghai and was a classmate of Yu Yunxiu at Osaka Medical University in Japan.

During their studies in Japan, they were influenced by Western medicine and also came into contact with the Meiji Restoration movement that advocated abolishing traditional Chinese medicine.

He also believed that abolishing traditional Chinese medicine was the only way to replace it with modern medicine. After graduating and returning to China, he actively advocated eliminating traditional Chinese medicine and replacing it with Western medicine.

In 1925, he initiated the establishment of the Shanghai Medical Association and served as its secretary. He was praised by Yu Yunxiu as "the most like-minded person".

He subsequently participated in all of Yu Yunxiu's actions.

In February 1929, at the first meeting of the Central Health Committee of the Ministry of Health of the National Government held in Nanjing, Yu Yunxiu and Wang Qizhang jointly proposed the "Proposal to Abolish Traditional Chinese Medicine and Remove Obstacles to Medical Affairs," attempting to eliminate traditional Chinese medicine through administrative means. They claimed that the theories used in traditional Chinese medicine were all fabricated out of thin air, hindering scientific development, and put forward six methods to eliminate traditional Chinese medicine.

Although it was not fully implemented due to social protests, it resulted in traditional Chinese medicine being excluded from the mainstream medical system and unable to obtain official recognition and educational resources for a long time.

Wang Qizhang, citing Yu Yunxiu's views, referred to traditional Chinese medicine as "mystical medicine" and actively advocated for its elimination and replacement with Western medicine. They both believed that traditional Chinese medicine theory was unscientific, did not meet the standards of modern medicine, and hindered the progress of Chinese medicine and the development of health administration.

Because his actions in 1929 failed, he published a book in 1935 entitled "A Preliminary Discussion on Chinese Medical Affairs in the Past Twenty Years," and invited Chu Minyi, a senior member of the Kuomintang, to inscribe the title.

The book embodies his thoughts. Like Yu Yunxiu, he systematically criticizes traditional Chinese medicine theory in the book and puts forward the famous "abolish medicine and retain medicine" proposition, which means abolishing the theoretical system of traditional Chinese medicine and only retaining the experience of Chinese medicine. This argument was later cited by Yu Yunxiu and by many people in later generations, such as Fang Zhouzi, who was mentioned earlier.

He advocated separating traditional Chinese medicine theory from practice, turning Chinese medicine into "experience-based medicines" that are detached from syndrome differentiation and treatment, thus weakening the overall therapeutic advantages of traditional Chinese medicine.

Wang Qizhang's criticism accelerated the decline of traditional Chinese medicine education.

Between 1929 and 1949, the number of traditional Chinese medicine schools nationwide plummeted from over 50 to less than 10, leading to a shortage of TCM talent.

Its propositions have influenced some practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine to turn to the "scientification of traditional Chinese medicine" movement, attempting to explain traditional Chinese medicine with Western medical theories, resulting in the self-alienation of the traditional Chinese medicine theoretical system.

His and Yu Yunxiu's radical attitude of completely rejecting traditional Chinese medicine theory led to the systematic suppression of traditional Chinese medicine, exacerbated its survival crisis, and resulted in the loss of a large number of valuable traditional Chinese medicine experiences.

Before 1949, he served as a professor at Zhejiang Medical College, the principal of Jiangsu Medical College, and the director of Jiangsu Hospital. Later, he practiced medicine in Shanghai and concurrently served as a member of the Health Committee of the Songhu Commercial Port Health Bureau, a member of the Central Health Committee of the Kuomintang Ministry of Health, and the vice president of the Shanghai Medical Association.

He also participated in the founding of Sheng Sheng Midwifery School and Shanghai Pulmonary Hospital.

Through his writings and his public influence, he spread the label that "traditional Chinese medicine is unscientific," reinforcing the negative stereotypes about traditional Chinese medicine and leading to its marginalization in the process of modernization.

After 1949, he served as a member of the Shanghai Medical Workers Committee and then as a member of the Pharmacopoeia Compilation Committee of the Ministry of Health. He participated in the compilation of the first edition of the Chinese Pharmacopoeia. Wang Qizhang put forward qualitative and quantitative testing requirements for Chinese medicine in the pharmacopoeia, demanding scientific and international standards, requiring the abolition of the theory of properties, flavors and meridians of Chinese medicine, emphasizing the standardization of chemical components, denying the theoretical value of classic prescriptions, and requiring the reduction of practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine among the editorial board members.

The so-called "scientific" approach means that Chinese medicine should not be called by its own name. For example, according to his opinion, Angelica sinensis extract should be called Angelica sinensis extract.

Furthermore, the requirement to include chemical drugs and traditional Chinese medicine together, without a separate chapter on "traditional Chinese medicine," reveals a malicious mindset and aligns with the tendency of the abolitionists to strip away traditional Chinese medicine theory.

However, he had already become famous for what he did before liberation, so in the end, none of his methods succeeded.

The first edition of the Pharmacopoeia was completed in 1953, directly refuting Wang Qizhang's core proposition to abolish traditional Chinese medicine.

In 1954, Yu Yunxiu passed away, and in mid-1955, he followed suit.

However, his proposals were not entirely without impact; the 1955 edition of the Chinese Pharmacopoeia in Taiwan completely removed descriptions of the properties, flavors, and effects of Chinese medicinal herbs.

Furthermore, after Yu Yunxiu's campaign to eradicate traditional Chinese medicine failed, with his help, they began to promote the integration of traditional Chinese and Western medicine in universities, cultivating many people who believed in their ideas.

With their help, these students successfully entered middle and upper management positions.

If Gu Mingyuan's father was a student of Wang Qizhang, then judging from his age, he is very likely one of the people who succeeded Wang Qizhang, and is one of the pillars who are still promoting the integration of traditional Chinese and Western medicine.

As a direct student of Wang Qizhang, belonging to the group that inherited his ideas, he was certainly committed to promoting the "integration of traditional Chinese and Western medicine," advocating the "scientification" of traditional Chinese medicine theory. In reality, he was deconstructing the core diagnostic system of traditional Chinese medicine within the framework of Western medicine, essentially continuing the ideas of the abolitionists. "What's his father's background?" Fang Yan asked Chen Keji.

Chen Keji asked:

"Gu Wei, have you heard of this?"

"Never heard of it," Fang Yan shook his head.

Chen Keji said:

"It's normal that you haven't heard of him. He's not very famous now, but he used to be quite famous in the medical education field."

Fang Yan frowned; he genuinely had never heard of it.

All that was heard was Chen Keji saying:

"He was a direct student of Wang Qizhang, and studied at the Jiangsu Medical College where Wang Qizhang taught in the 1930s."

"In 1952, he served as a policy advisor for the Ministry of Health on the integration of traditional Chinese and Western medicine, and deputy leader of the scientific reform group of traditional Chinese medicine. He participated in the formulation of the 1952 'Regulations for the Examination of Traditional Chinese Medicine Practitioners'. In 1956, at a meeting of the Ministry of Health, he demanded the 'abolition of independent colleges of traditional Chinese medicine' and requested that the university of traditional Chinese medicine be merged into the medical school of Peking Union Medical College as the 'Department of Traditional Medicine'. However, due to a joint protest by many professors and famous doctors, the project was unsuccessful. Later, in 1958, he wrote a book called 'Chemical Research on Empirical Drugs of Traditional Chinese Medicine'. In 1962, he participated in the reform of medical school textbooks. In 1965, his book 'From Metaphysics to Science: On the Deconstruction of the Theoretical System of Traditional Chinese Medicine' was blocked for some reasons and was not successfully published."

Fang Yan was somewhat surprised; he had no idea this person was so influential in the field of traditional Chinese medicine education.

He exclaimed:

"That's amazing! It's practically a continuation of Wang Qizhang's life."

Then Fang Yan asked again:
"So what does he do now? Why can't Gu Mingyuan persuade him to quit?"

Chen Keji said:

"This person is a professor at Capital Medical University who specializes in the integration of traditional Chinese and Western medicine."

Upon hearing this, Fang Yan suddenly realized that this kid was a relative.

No wonder Gu Mingyuan couldn't stand him; the enemy had already infiltrated and was trying to stir up internal conflicts within traditional Chinese medicine.

"Isn't he against traditional Chinese medicine? Why doesn't he let Gu Mingyuan study Western medicine?" Song Jianzhong asked from the side.

Before Song Jianzhong could answer, Zhang Yanchang said:
"Although he supports Western medicine, he practices a combination of Chinese and Western medicine. He wants his son to take over the business. He can't make a living just by studying Western medicine."

"Smart!" Fang Yan gave Zhang Yanchang a thumbs up.

After finishing his sentence, Chen Keji said:

"Therefore, if he wants his son to succeed him, he would absolutely not allow his son to have such a stain."

Song Jianzhong said:
"That would be even worse. His previous ailments were already enough to cause patients a lot of trouble, and now he's added anti-traditional Chinese medicine to the mix. What will happen then?"

P.S.: I still owe you 65000 words after finishing this chapter.

There will be more this afternoon.

(End of this chapter)