Chen Bang-xian (1889–1976), courtesy name Ye Yu, was born in Zhenjiang, Jiangsu. In 1909, he was admitted to the Suzhou Normal School. He later taught in Yangzhou, Wuxi, Zhenjiang, and Qixia, Nanjing. In 1910, when Ding Fu-bao established the New Medicine Correspondence Society in Shanghai, Chen wrote to him to become his student. Influenced by Ding Fu-bao, Chen devoted himself to the study of Chinese medical history. In 1919, he completed "A History of Chinese Medicine," which was published the following year by the Shanghai Medical Publishing House. This work was the first modern monograph on the history of medicine in China. A revised edition of "A History of Chinese Medicine" was included in the "Chinese Culture Series" and published by the Commercial Press in Shanghai in 1937. The book was translated into Japanese by Dr. Yamamoto Narisuke. In 1938, due to wartime turmoil, Chen relocated to Chongqing. He served as a member of the Medical Education Committee of the Ministry of Education and as a full-time member and secretary of the Chinese Medicine Education Committee. Later, he focused on research at the National Compilation and Translation Bureau. At the Chinese Medicine Research Institute of the Ministry of Health, he held the positions of Deputy Director and Associate Researcher of the Medical History Research Office. He was also a standing committee member of the Chinese Medical History Association, a member of the 4th National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, and a member of the Central Committee of the Chinese Peasants' and Workers' Democratic Party. Chen Bang-xian was a pioneer in the field of modern Chinese medical history research.