[A new perspective on Su Wen re-collated in the Song Dynasty]

Abstract

The government of the Northern Song Dynasty collated and annotated Su Wen four times from 1026-1118. It examined a large number of errors in the collated edition by Wang Bing, and corrected the edition. However, for reasons of time and conditions, there still existed some mistakes, even serious ones, such as the selection of the original texts and the determination of the titles and many other details as well. Among these mistakes, the one which seriously prevented learning medical classics for following generations was that the quoted texts from early medical books were modified based on the Su Wen collated by Wang Bing and Jia Yi Jing on Acupuncture and Moxibustion. This led to the distortion of some early important medical books. This paper examines the re-collation of Su Wen by the officials of the Song Dynasty in a specific historical background and environment, focuses on the errors that have not been perceived today, and pays attention to the investigation and analysis of the causes of those errors, so as to provide a reference for collation of ancient medical classics today.