Chapter 846 Tiansheng Bronze Man

What’s so special, it’s the famous bronze statue of acupuncture and moxibustion!

This bronze statue of acupuncture and moxibustion is the world’s first textbook text on acupuncture and acupuncture methods. Even in the 1990s, the acupuncture teaching publications published by the World Health Organization, who, were based on this bronze statue.

It can be seen from this that this bronze figurine’s contribution to the world’s medicine, it can even be said to be the most important contribution of the Chinese people to the world’s medicine, cannot be overstated. Most of them are modern copies, or they are semi-finished products from the Qing Dynasty. The real authentic bronze statues of acupuncture and moxibustion have long been lost overseas. . .

The technique of acupuncture and moxibustion can be said to be a magical treasure of our traditional Chinese medicine. Old Chinese medicine practitioners often use it to describe the idiom of “medicine and stone to help the world”. The “stone” in it refers to acupuncture technology.

In ancient times, it was quite difficult to learn and inherit acupuncture techniques. Because the basis of acupuncture is the theory of meridians, acupuncture can be effective only when the acupuncture points are accurately identified.

However, the acupuncture points on the human body cannot be seen with the naked eye, and the text description is relatively vague. How can students better grasp it in medical education? So our smart ancestors invented the acupuncture bronze figure to solve this problem.

In the fourth year of Tiansheng in the Song Dynasty, that is, in AD 1206, Song Renzong ordered the Tai Hospital to cast a simulated human body bronze model for medical students to study and examine acupuncture and moxibustion.

In the second year, Shang Yao, a medical officer of the Imperial Academy, made two bronze figurines, known as “Heavenly Holy Bronze Men”.

According to historical records, these two bronze figures are very realistic. They have wooden internal organs and bones. There are 354 small holes on the body surface, representing 354 acupoints on the human body. The acupoints are also marked with wrong gold characters next to each small hole. name.

Even more amazing. Mercury can be poured into the inside of the bronze figure. If a fine needle is accurately inserted into the “acupoint”, the mercury will flow out. Because of this peculiar function of “needle in and out of mercury”. Every time the Taiyuan Hospital conducts acupuncture examinations, the small holes and acupoint names on the surface of the copper body are sealed with yellow wax. Each candidate should apply needles on the bronze figurines according to the questions given by the teacher. If there is mercury flowing out, the exam is passed; otherwise, it is failed.

This shows the creativity and wisdom of our ancestors!

In the next 1207 years, China also became the first country in the world to have a national standard for acupuncture and moxibustion.

Because in this year, one of the most famous medical books in the history of Chinese medicine, “The Classic of Acupuncture and Moxibustion of Tongren” was born.

Because it was completed in the Tiansheng period of the Northern Song Dynasty. Therefore, it is also known as the “Heavenly Holy Needle Scripture”.

This standard also created a great initiative: in addition to the text, it also created two bronze acupuncture meridian models, namely “Song Tiansheng Acupuncture Bronze Figure”. This is the first time that a three-dimensional human model is used to mark the meridian and acupoint locations, so as to ensure people’s correct understanding of the standard acupoint location.

After the standard text was completed, it was engraved on the stone tablet in the traditional paper book style and stone stele style, respectively, and promulgated to the whole country. It can be seen that the government at that time attached great importance to this standard.

After the standard was promulgated, it became the norm for acupuncture education and clinical acupoint selection at that time. For example, in the Song Dynasty acupuncture examination papers, it was indicated that candidates should answer the questions according to the “Tongren Acupuncture and Moxibustion Diagram”, while acupuncture and moxibustion Tongren was used to assess the mastery of acupoint positioning by medical students and medical officials.

Such an ingenious design makes Tiansheng Bronze Figure a rare treasure that combines medical theory, handicraft technology and artistic inspiration. Naturally, it was coveted by the rulers of other regimes. It is said that the Tiansheng Bronze Man was listed in the list of trophies requested after the Jin Kingdom defeated the Song Dynasty. But of course it didn’t work out in the end.

After the Tiansheng bronze figures of the Song Dynasty were cast, one was placed in the hospital of the medical officer, and the other was placed in the Daxiangguo Temple.

During the Jingkang Rebellion at the end of the Northern Song Dynasty, the two bronze figures in Bianjing at that time were exiled to the people one after another. Dedicated to Mongolia by the cowardly Southern Song court. became a tribute to the Mongol Empire.

But because it has been in the folk for too long, the bronze man. Dilapidated, after the Mongol Empire took over. Immediately started repairs.

According to the “Biography of Anigo in the History of the Yuan Dynasty”, the Yuan government specially invited the famous Nepalese craftsman Anigo to repair the bronze figure during the Yuanzhongtong period (1260-1263). The Yuan government sent a special army to **** the bronze figure from Bianjing to Beijing.

Later, the Yuan Empire perished the Jin Kingdom, then the Southern Song Dynasty, and then the Ming Dynasty perished the Yuan Dynasty, and the Tiansheng Bronze Man was also removed and taken to the Imperial Hospital of the Ming Dynasty.

However, because of the change of four dynasties after hundreds of years of war, the bronze statue of Tiansheng has been severely damaged at this time, and the names of the acupuncture points are also ambiguous.

Therefore, in the eighth year of orthodoxy, that is, in 1443, Ming Yingzong ordered the Taiyuan Hospital to imitate the Tiansheng bronze figurine to make another bronze figurine. Later generations called this imitation bronze figurine “orthodox bronze figurine”.

After that, scholars of the Ming Dynasty, and later rulers of the Qing Dynasty, also ordered many times to reproduce such bronze figures.

For example, in the Jiajing period of the Ming Dynasty, acupuncturist Gao Wu also cast acupuncture bronze figures in the shapes of men, women and children.

And now we have the only acupuncture bronze figurine in the collection of the Palace Museum in the Ming Dynasty, which was left by Gao Wu, a boy bronze figurine with a height of 89 cm and the shape of a boy.

The acupuncture bronze figurines in the Qing Dynasty were made in the seventh year of Qianlong (1742). When the Qing government ordered Wu Qian and others to compile the “Golden Mirror of Medicine”, in order to encourage the editor-in-chief, they cast several small acupuncture bronze figurines as prizes. All awards were given to those editors.

Most of the bronze figurines with acupuncture and moxibustion recently discovered in our country are replicas of these Qing Dynasty eras.

For example, the one now in the collection of the Medical History Museum of Puhai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine is a work of the Qing Dynasty in the shape of a woman, 46 cm high, solid, with meridians and acupoints on the surface.

Now there is also an acupuncture bronze figure in the Chinese History Museum. It is 178 cm high. It was made in the late Qing Dynasty. The workmanship is not comparable to that of the Tiansheng bronze figure of the Song Dynasty. Compare.

After the liberation, various medical units in our country have tried every means to copy it. This day, the Holy Bronze Man came out, but the effect was not very satisfactory.

Now the popular imitation-cast acupuncture bronze figure on the market in China is the imitation of Song Dynasty acupuncture bronze figure developed in 1978 by the Jinling Medical College and the Institute of Medical History and Documentation of the China Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

It is made of bronze smelting and casting. The front and back sides of the chest and back can be opened and closed. After opening, you can see the relief-style organs. After closing, the whole body is integrated, with a height of 172.5 cm and a weight of 210 kg.

Moreover, in 1987, He Baoyi, a traditional Chinese medicine practitioner from Kaifeng, Henan, and others also cast an acupuncture bronze figurine based on historical documents for restoration.

In addition, there are still some bronze figures made by modern technology that have been put on the market for commercial purposes.

After the real orthodox bronze figurines were made in history, they were kept in the Imperial Hospital of the Ming Dynasty; after the Ming Dynasty died, the bronze figurines continued to be kept in the Qing Tai Hospital.

Until the twenty-sixth year of Guangxu, that is, in 1900, the Eight-Power Allied Forces invaded Beijing. The Empress Dowager Cixi fled with Emperor Guangxu and a group of officials in a hurry, leaving the huge city of Beijing and many treasures including the orthodox bronze figures to the invading army.

The coalition forces ransacked Beijing for several days. After they evacuated, the imperial physicians who returned to Beijing found that the orthodox bronze figurines that had been placed in the Yaowang Temple of the Imperial Hospital had disappeared!

Before the Taiyuan Hospital was the temporary residence of the Russian team, the Qing government once sent someone to ask for it from the Russian side.

At that time, in addition to the orthodox bronze figures of the Ming Dynasty, there were also bronze statues of the three emperors hidden in the Qingtai Hospital. It is certain that they were all snatched by the Russian army.

At that time, the medical officers of the Taiyuan Hospital had negotiated many times with the Russian team in order to get the bronze statue back. In the end, they only redeemed the bronze statue of the Three Emperors, while the orthodox bronze statue of the Ming Dynasty was not returned. His whereabouts have always been a mystery to historians.

Later, in 1958, when a Chinese medical delegation visited the former Soviet Union, they discovered an ancient Chinese acupuncture bronze figure.

A member of the delegation at that time, Sun Zhenhuan, when visiting the Hermitage Museum in Leningrad, noticed an acupuncture bronze figurine, very similar to the orthodox bronze figurine. This news came back to China, and although it attracted the attention of domestic scholars, it could not be confirmed due to the Sino-Soviet feud afterward.

Later, until 2003, Huang Longxiang, a researcher from the China Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine, inadvertently turned to an article introducing this bronze figure~www.readmtl.com~ and was very excited, and immediately took his assistant to St. Petersburg for a field trip. After careful observation and meticulous research, Mr. Huang presented ten more evidences and concluded with confidence: This is the orthodox bronze figurine!

In fact, long before this, in 1877, the Japanese shogunate quietly collected a bronze figure, and there is also a set of the original Song Dynasty “Tongren Acupuncture and Moxibustion Picture Classic”, but it did not attract anyone at that time. of attention.

Later, after the Fall of the Curtain War, this bronze figurine collected by the shogunate became the property of the Emperor of Heaven, but the Emperor of Heaven did not pay much attention to it at that time. Later, when the earliest Tokyo National Museum was established, it was sent here for display. .

Later, in 1920, the famous Japanese scholar of traditional Chinese medicine, Hiroshi Yoshida, discovered this bronze figure when he visited the museum, and conducted a serious research. To be continued”.

It was also this book that attracted the attention of Chinese scholar Chen Cunren. Later, Chen Cunren traveled east to Japan several times to inspect this bronze statue. Finally, after many arguments, it was finally determined that this bronze statue was actually the day of the Song Dynasty. Holy Bronze Man!

And this discovery immediately shocked the entire East Asian cultural circle! (To be continued.)