Huangdi Neijing

Kong, Y.C.

Published by The Chinese University of Hong Kong Press

Kong, Y.C.
Huangdi Neijing: A Synopsis with Commentaries.
The Chinese University of Hong Kong Press, 2010.
Project MUSE.muse.jhu.edu/book/24634.

For additional information about this book

https://muse.jhu.edu/book/24634

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 Preface

It may be appropriate to explain the reasons for rendering an English transla-

tion of Huangdi Neijing 黃 帝 內 經. It has been argued that Neijing is tradi-
tional Chinese medicine; it encompasses all the central tenets of Chinese
medicine practised today. It is further argued that to read Neijing and other
medical classics, a knowledge of the archaic form of Chinese language (gu
hanyu 古漢語) is essential.1 Nowadays it is sad to note that not every Chinese,
or persons from ethnic groups with similar cultural backgrounds, or even
many sinologists, can use “gu hanyu” as a tool to further their knowledge of
Chinese culture. This situation is worsened by the fact that the Chinese
language used in the media such as newspapers, television and radio, adver-
tisements and titles of popular novels is very often at a low level of literacy,
and it steers clear of all complicated terms and quotations (diangu 典故, “allu-
sions to the classics”). What remains is a colloquial form of the Chinese
language which has become cosmopolitan; it is even bleached of all the
colourful nuances of the dialects (fangyan 方 言), being overwhelmed by the
popularity of putonghua 普 通 話 (the lingua franca in Beijing). In daily life
putonghua is a far cry from gu hanyu.
While some people may worry about the future of the Chinese language,
China is growing in importance in the international arena, wielding increasing
political and economic power. Anyone with even a slight interest in China will
have heard of “Chinese medicine” (zhongyi 中醫). Many terminally ill patients
with Chinese culture will not hesitate to seek relief from Chinese medicine,
albeit often too late. Nowadays, the qualifying term “traditional” is hardly
needed, as Chinese medicine is very much a part of daily life, enjoying great
popularity and inspiring confidence all over China. The Chinese economy
thrives on exports. If there is anything uniquely Chinese that China can export
today, it must be Chinese medicine. (Some efforts are made to “export”
Confucianism.) This is underscored by the wide acceptance of acupuncture
outside China (e.g. anaesthesia by acupuncture) and the discovery of qing-
haosu 青 蒿 素 (artemisinin, an antimalarial) laid to rest all criticism that
Chinese medicine is not evidence-based.
An alternative approach to health management, apart from a reductionist

1
Y. C. Kong et al., Zhongyi wenxuan 中 醫 文 選 (Literature Classics in Chinese
Medicine) (Hong Kong: The Chinese University Press, 1998).

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 xvi | Preface

strategy down to the gene level, calls for a better understanding of Chinese
medicine. The argument that Chinese medicine has been practised over two
millennia by millions of people is no longer a valid reason to keep Chinese
medicine in its traditional format. There is much to gain by interpreting
Chinese medicine in the light of modern biomedical knowledge and informa-
tion technology. This will serve as a modern continuation of the unending
efforts devoted to annotation, commentaries and emendation down the ages,
breaking away from the circular argument of explaining a classic with a classic
(yi jing jie jing 以 經 解 經). This methodology, honed to perfection by Zhang
Yin-an 張 隱 菴 (ref. 12), is after all more suited to the study of humanities, for
instance Confucianism, which involves ethics and morality rather than science
and medicine.
If Chinese medicine is to add another dimension to the advance of
modern medicine, but not in the guise of complementary or alternative medi-
cine, it requires the participation of experts who are equally competent in
both modern and traditional medicine. Such people are rare, and there needs
to be a channel open to interested parties who are hindered by the language
gap. An English translation of Neijing will reach an international readership,
some of whom may benefit from this rendering to gain access to pertinent
aspects of Chinese medicine. No matter where they come from, those who use
English as their working language will be able to shed new light, from a
professional point of view, on the time-tested tenets of medical thinking in
Neijing. In this context, this book has benefited greatly from the comments of
two doctors who read the manuscript carefully, trying to reconcile each state-
ment in Neijing with modern medical practice. It is not enough merely to
render a translation (fanyi 翻 譯) for a reader who cannot read Chinese, it is
also important to give adequate hermeneutic evidence (xungu 訓 詁) that the
translation is valid beyond linguistic constraints. Hence the title of this book
(Yigu 譯 詁). A similar use of the term, as in Zhuangzi yigu 莊 子 譯 詁 (Trans-
lation and Annotation of Zhuangzi) was compiled by its author under harsh
conditions in the 1960s.2 Here the word yi 譯 does not simply mean a transla-
tion into a foreign language. It was rather like seeking the original meaning as
yi 繹 in yan yi 演繹 (interpretation).
It seems an exercise in futility to explore the hermeneutics of ancient
Chinese texts in English when doing the same in Chinese requires only half
the effort by this author. However, English is now used almost universally for

2
Yang Liu-qiao 楊 柳 橋, Zhuangzi yigu 莊 子 譯 詁 (Translation and Annotation of
Zhuangzi) (Shanghai: Shanghai guji chubanshe, 1991).

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 Preface | xvii

cross-cultural communication; it is also the language of biomedical science. A

statement in scientific English should not be watered down and rendered
vague and ambiguous, whereas an ethnic Chinese reading a Chinese text may
think that he/she knows what “qi” 氣, “shen” 神, “xu” 虛 or “shi” 實 are, but in
fact does not. Furthermore, if the translation, based on the exegesis, explana-
tory notes and footnotes, is valid, it should be as sound in English as in
Chinese. To translate this book back into Chinese should be a readable version
in its own right. To conclude, in order to render an English translation of an
established version of a synopsis of Neijing, the author and his collaborators
tried hard to reconcile medical statements in archaic Chinese language with
present-day colloquial expressions in English. If there are any discrepancies
between the old and new versions, these must be due to misprints of the
ancient script, or a misinterpretation of the translators.
The initial attempt to translate Neijing into English was that of Ilza Veith,
as long ago as 1949 (ref. 56). Although hers was only a partial translation of
Suwen, it is still considered a “classic” of its genre even up to this day. There-
after, some 15 editions of complete or partial translation of Neijing/Suwen
(many fewer of Lingshu), appeared on the market, but none could be consid-
ered a serious academic undertaking. There were no previous publications by
any of these authors indicating that they had been engaged in any previous
study of Neijing before. A recent work by Zhu Ming (ref. 57), who enjoyed the
patronage of the Foreign Languages Press in Beijing, falls into the same cate-
gory. Paul U. Unschuld drew attention through a series of pedantic publica-
tions on Chinese medicine. In his recent work entitled Huang Di Nei Jing Su
Wen (ref. 51) he stated that he had completed a translation of Neijing. But up
to the time of writing (January 2009), nothing of this sort had appeared on
the market. Had he read Zhang Can-jia 張 灿 玾 (ref. 29) before he made this
declaration, he might have second thoughts. In an earlier publication (ref. 52),
Unschuld translated a selection of 10 chapters from Suwen, some in excerpts,
as an example of the primary text among other classics. The complete transla-
tion of Neijing still awaits a polymath of national standing like Lin Yu-tang 林
語 堂, Liang Shi-qiu 梁 實 秋 or Qian Zhong-shu 錢 鍾 書 to give an accurate
translation of Neijing in English. Present day English translators of writings
on Chinese medicine (refs. 48, 49) have never lost sight of this aspect, as is
shown by the many bilingual textbooks on Chinese medicine produced by the
Shanghai TCM University Press; one of its editors even published a guidebook
in translation ten years ago (ref. 45). Recently the same author published a
complete translation of Suwen (ref. 60). Other popular English titles on
Chinese medicine such as those by Kaptchuk (ref. 54 and many editions later)
and Maciocia (ref. 55) gave Neijing a wide berth.

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