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QIN BO-WEI'S56 TREATMENT METHODS: WRITING PRECISE PRESCRIPTIONS. Clinical Commentary by Wu Bo-Ping, translated and edited by Jason Blalack, Eastland Press, softback, 384 pages, £27.55
In 2007 Jason Blalack asked his teacher WuBo-Ping what he thought was the most important medical text to translate into English? Wu chose the original 1953 edition of Guidelines for Treatment written by his teacher Qin Bo-Wei, which forms the basis of this latest publication by Eastland Press. Qin Bo-Wei (1901-1970) was famous for his clinical skills and an author of over fifty books. His pragmatic approach to clinical practice was not restricted to any one school or style, and he was renowned for synthesising complex and often contradictory theories into clear systematic ideas. Qin was critical of the direction TCM took under Mao Ze-Dong - in which Chinese medicine was integrated into the Westernmedical model - and believed that Chinese medicine should be rooted in the Chinese medical classics. Based upon his extensive clinical experience and detailed knowledge of these classics Qin synthesised the most important ideas from the history of Chinese medicine into 56 core treatment methods, each with key diagnostic criteria and an associated seven-ingrethent formula with modifications. These 56 methods were based...