Introduction to the Work of the *Chinese-Medicine Classics: Annotated-Vernacular Series*
The Chinese-Medicine Classics: Annotated-Vernacular Series (中醫古籍名著編譯叢書) is a systematic, complete, refined, readable collection of TCM classics in vernacular translation. The full series in modern Chinese will total over thirty million characters; after publishing the modern-Chinese editions, English editions and editions in other world languages will follow.
Chinese traditional medicine is the scientific theory and method built by the Chinese nation across millennia of practice — billions of times over. Its precious value shows itself ever more clearly in world medicine, life science, and future-science. But on our own soil today, its inheritance and development face great challenges: successor scarcity and craft scarcity are real; political movements, market temptations, and academic confusion are pushing research on TCM theory toward shallowness and disorder. To leave such a Chinese traditional medicine to descendants — to send it to the world — would harm and shame our ancestors. The inheritance and development of Chinese traditional medicine must therefore proceed from the root; we must right the root and clear the source. Only thus will successors have a sound road, and learners and researchers abroad have a fine model.
There are TCM specialists who have, with feet on the ground and head down, spent decades on the classics — and have reached deep mastery. But they are now near 70; their students are nearing retirement. To organize these masters — versed in classics, in medicine, and in modern language — to rescue the classics is urgent. We have already organized specialists from TCM research institutes nationwide to begin the modern-Chinese annotation work; the first batch of books is to be submitted within the year. At the same time, trial translation into Japanese and English begins.
This series' edition is distinctive:
1. The series is guided by Chinese traditional medicine's own scientific-academic thinking, respecting its philosophical mode, life-principle, diagnostic means, treatment laws — clearing-the-source root-and-branch.
2. Title selection has been deliberated by national-level specialists, drawing on the best editions through history, selecting dozens of refined classics from over ten thousand. Systematic, representative, and practical. All 51 titles are confirmed.
3. The format is original-text and translation side by side. Respect for the original — best historical edition; building on past textual-critical work, further correcting errors and oversights; preserving the original flavor. Concise modern Chinese makes the medical reasoning accessible, building a bridge for the reader to read the original.
4. The series departs from past tendencies toward over-philological apparatus or over-simplified popularization. It emphasizes the exposition of medical theory. With enhanced annotation, the reasoning is made clear; alongside, a specialized dictionary for use with the series is being compiled.
5. The series takes a new approach to the English translation. When Western medicine entered China, it borrowed many TCM terms; over a century, custom inverted the meanings — TCM terms became Western-medical signifiers; to translate back from those terms is to lose the TCM meaning, or to invert it. The series will make up this loss, restoring Chinese traditional medicine's original face.
The work is vast, the difficulty is great, the funding is tight. We plan to edit the series in stages — by category and language. The modern-Chinese editions are to be done in two or three years; the whole work may need ten years or more.
This is a century-project for humankind, a world project — and the largest unfulfilled wish of Mr. Cui Yueli (former Minister of Health of the PRC). For years he raised funds and made trials. Sadly, just as he resolved, in age and ill health, to organize the work himself, he left us too early. We have now built the Beijing Cui Yueli Center for Traditional Medicine to carry on his wish. We will give our lifetimes to this series, doing it well — showing forth the level and ground of the Chinese nation — offering it to our descendants, to other peoples of the world, and to Mr. Cui Yueli's spirit in Heaven.