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(Medical Literature Unearthed from the Mawangdui Han Tombs) In the winter of 1973, a total of 14 medical texts were unearthed from the Western Han Dynasty Tomb No. 3 at Mawangdui in Changsha, Hunan Province. The tomb dates back to the 12th year of the reign of Emperor Wen of Han (163 BC), and the texts are estimated to have been transcribed around the end of the 4th century BC or the beginning of the 3rd century BC based on the style of the characters. These medical texts were written on five pieces of silk of varying sizes and 200 bamboo and wooden slips (including 10 wooden slips). At the time of excavation, they were already partially damaged and fragmented. After restoration and identification, the total number of characters is estimated to be around 30,000, with approximately 23,000 characters being identifiable.

The original texts were unnamed. The Mawangdui Silk Texts Research Group tentatively named them based on their content as follows: The silk medical texts include *Zubi Shiyimai Jiujing*, *Yinyang Shiyimai Jiujing* (Version A), *Mai Fa*, *Yin-Yang Mai Si Hou*, and *Wushi'er Bingfang* (these five texts are combined into one scroll). Additionally, there are *Que Gu Shi Qi*, *Yinyang Shiyimai Jiujing* (Version B), and *Conduction Exercise Diagrams* (these three texts are each a separate scroll). Among the 11 medical texts mentioned, *Yinyang Shiyimai Jiujing* exists in two versions with essentially the same content, so the silk medical texts actually consist of 10 distinct works.

The bamboo and wooden slip medical texts include four types: three bamboo slip texts?*Ten Questions*, *Midnight Yang*, and *Tianxia Zhidao Tan*?and one wooden slip text?*Zajin Fang*. The content of *Zubi Shiyimai Jiujing* and *Yinyang Shiyimai Jiujing* primarily discusses the pathways, associated diseases, and moxibustion of the eleven meridians in the human body, which is similar to the section on the twelve meridians in the *Lingshu?Meridian* chapter. However, it lacks the jueyin meridian. The descriptions of the meridian pathways, directions, and associated diseases are more concise than those in the *Meridian* chapter, and some descriptions even contradict it. These are the earliest extant specialized texts on human meridians and moxibustion in China. The identifiable parts of *Mai Fa* mainly describe the use of stone needles to drain pus and blood from meridians to treat abscesses. *Yin-Yang Mai Si Hou* is an ancient diagnostic text, and its descriptions of the "five fatal conditions" are similar to those in the *Lingshu?Meridian* chapter but lack the influence of the five elements theory. It is estimated to have been written earlier than the *Neijing*.

*Wushi'er Bingfang* is the oldest medical formulary discovered in China, documenting the symptoms and treatments of 52 diseases. The diseases cover internal medicine, surgery, gynecology, pediatrics, and diseases of the five sense organs, with a focus on surgical and dermatological conditions. Each disease is accompanied by one or two prescriptions, with some having up to twenty or thirty. The text contains a total of 291 prescriptions, including treatments using herbs, moxibustion, stone needles, and surgical procedures. It mentions over 240 Chinese medicinal substances. *Que Gu Shi Qi* is one of the earliest extant texts on qigong. *Conduction Exercise Diagrams* is the earliest extant collection of conduction exercise illustrations, featuring 44 colored diagrams depicting various postures, each labeled with the name of the disease it treats or the animal it imitates. *Tai Chan Shu* discusses the dos and don'ts during pregnancy and childbirth, with the "Ten Months of Fetal Nourishment" section serving as the precursor to later texts like *Xu Zhi-cai's Monthly Fetal Nourishment Prescriptions*. The bamboo slip texts *Ten Questions*, *Tianxia Zhidao Tan*, and *Midnight Yang*, as well as the silk texts *Yang Sheng Fang* and *Za Liao Fang*, primarily belong to the category of sexual health literature. The wooden slip text *Zajin Fang* and parts of *Yang Sheng Fang* and *Za Liao Fang* pertain to magical and ritual practices.

In 1981, the Cultural Relics Publishing House published facsimiles of these 14 medical texts, accompanied by transcriptions and annotations.