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Qin Bo-wei(1901～1970), a Chinese medicine practitioner. He devoted his life to Chinese medicine education and clinical practice. Practicing medicine for over 50 years, he authored numerous works. His writings cover the basic theory of Chinese medicine and various clinical aspects, with a particular focus on in-depth research of the Neijing. Clinically, he had significant insights into the treatment of warm febrile diseases, liver diseases, blood disorders, heart conditions, and ulcer diseases. He contributed to the development of contemporary Chinese medicine.

Qin Bo-wei, named Zhiji, styled Qianzhai, was born in 1901 in Chenhang Town, Shanghai. Coming from a family of Chinese medicine practitioners, his grandfather Diqiao, uncle Xitian, and father Xiqing were all well-versed in Confucianism and skilled in medicine. Influenced by his family, he developed a deep love for classical literature and medical texts from a young age, covering a wide range of subjects including classics, history, philosophy, medical texts, poetry, and arts, laying a solid foundation for his future studies and achievements in Chinese medicine.

Practicing medicine for 50 years, he achieved remarkable results and was highly ethical, earning him the title of a contemporary Chinese medicine clinician.

In over 50 years of clinical practice, Qin Bo-wei accumulated extensive clinical experience. With his superb medical skills, he relieved countless patients from their suffering, earning praise from his peers and patients alike. For example, in treating dampness warm disease fever, he believed that the appropriate treatment should include clearing and transforming, supplemented by dispersing and venting, with soybean sprouts being the best among dispersing and venting herbs. They can vent the stale qi from the middle jiao through the exterior, differing from lung-dispersing and sweat-inducing methods. He also often reminded practitioners to avoid rushing, to observe the balance between dampness and heat, and to adjust treatments accordingly, progressing steadily. Therefore, he often added soybean sprouts in treating dampness warm disease fever. Another example is his self-made "Yinyun Decoction" for treating leukoplakia, which uses soybean sprouts as the sovereign medicinal. In treating liver stagnation syndrome, he differentiated between earth stagnation and wood stagnation, using different herbs accordingly. For the former, he often used cultivated purple perilla leaf instead of Bupleurum, as it can soothe liver stagnation and harmonize the spleen and stomach, promoting the smooth flow of liver qi without directly treating the liver as in the latter case, achieving frequent clinical success.

He believed that cold pathogens damaging the liver should be treated with warm and pungent dispersing herbs; insufficient liver yang should be nourished to promote the growth of vital qi. Therefore, in treating liver diseases with warming methods, whether expelling cold or restoring yang, he avoided Aconite Lateral Root and Dried Ginger, instead using Cinnamon Twig, Asarum, Evodia, and Pricklyash Peel, especially favoring Cassia Bark for deficiency patterns, as it enters the liver and blood aspect, promoting the growth of blood and qi.

Qin Bo-wei traveled to the Soviet Union and Mongolia in 1953 and 1960 for consultations and lectures. Later, he collaborated with the Peking Union Medical College Hospital and the Institute of Dermatology and Sexually Transmitted Diseases, achieving significant results in treating difficult diseases such as leukemia and tabes dorsalis through the integration of Chinese and Western medicine. In addition, he was frequently invited across the country to participate in consultations, lectures, and various academic activities, leaving his footprints throughout the regions south and north of the Yangtze River and inside and outside the Great Wall. Qin Bo-wei, despite his rich clinical experience, never relaxed his clinical practice. After being transferred to work at the Ministry of Health for a period, he voluntarily moved out of the Ministry of Health dormitory area and relocated his family to the Dongzhimen Hospital affiliated with the Beijing College of Chinese Medicine to be closer to clinical work. During his time at the hospital, while teaching, he also undertook a large amount of clinical work, spending two half-days each week at the high-ranking officials' outpatient clinic, one half-day on ward rounds at Dongzhimen Hospital, and another half-day on ward rounds at Beijing Hospital. Additionally, he had numerous external consultations, all of which undoubtedly greatly enriched his clinical experience. Although Qin Bo-wei was already a renowned Chinese medicine expert at the time, he always maintained a good medical demeanor, treating foreign guests, overseas Chinese, leaders, and the general public equally and meticulously whenever they were ill. After each consultation, he always kept the patients in mind, actively inquired about their treatment progress, and even visited them, showing genuine care and responsibility towards his patients.

Dedicated to education, he pioneered correspondence and publication-based Chinese medicine education.

Qin Bo-wei deeply felt during his study of Chinese medicine that the vast sea of Chinese medical literature and the numerous schools of thought, along with the traditional apprenticeship-based learning, each inheriting family techniques, though beneficial, were inevitably limited. Establishing schools could pool collective wisdom, broaden horizons, and was a good way to develop Chinese medicine and accelerate talent cultivation. He devoted himself to medical education. While teaching and guiding clinical internships, he organized the compilation of various practical Chinese medicine textbooks, edited and published essential medical texts, and founded Chinese medicine societies. In 1928, together with Wang Yiren from Hangzhou and Wang Shenxuan from Suzhou, he established the "Shanghai Chinese Medical College," personally authored multiple lecture notes, and taught and guided internships. The "National Medical Lecture Notes" (6 types) and "Practical Chinese Medicine" (12 types) published at that time were Qin Bo-wei's repeatedly revised teaching materials through Chinese medicine teaching practice, closely aligned with clinical reality, and remain of significant reference value today. Chinese medicine is the summary of centuries of human struggle against diseases, deeply rooted among the people. Many in society love, study, and practice Chinese medicine, but due to historical limitations, before the establishment of the People's Republic of China, there were few Chinese medicine schools, and even fewer could systematically study. Recognizing this, Qin Bo-wei founded the "Chinese Medicine Guidance Society" in 1930 to provide guidance for Chinese medicine practitioners and enthusiasts. The society reached out to the nation and overseas Chinese, with members eventually exceeding a thousand. The society published various books and periodicals to impart Chinese medicine knowledge, exchange academic views and clinical experiences, and answer related questions. Main contents included: "Basic Theories of Chinese Medicine," "Essentials of the Classics (Neijing, Jin Gui, Cold-Damage Disease Theory)," "Various Research Methods," "Pathology Lectures," etc. This form of education pioneered correspondence and publication-based Chinese medicine education. After the establishment of the People's Republic of China, Qin Bo-wei enthusiastically engaged in Chinese medicine education. In 1954, he was appointed as a Chinese medicine advisor to the Ministry of Health. In 1955, he taught at the first national Western Medicine Learning Chinese Medicine class held by the Chinese Medicine Research Institute, cultivating the first batch of high-level integration of Chinese and Western medicine talents for the country.After 1959, he has been engaged in medical teaching and research at the Beijing Chinese Medicine Institute. His lectures are profound yet easy to understand, well-documented, thorough in reasoning, and clearly organized, earning high praise from students. He also adopts various methods for his disciples, such as large lectures, assigning homework, writing medical theses, accompanying the teacher in clinical diagnosis, organizing medical records, and summarizing cases, closely integrating theory with practice, while simultaneously improving professional and writing skills. Qin Bo-wei participated in the compilation and review of the first and second editions of the national higher Chinese medicine series textbooks in 1960 and 1962, serving as one of the chief editors.

Diligent in writing to develop Chinese medicine

In 1919, Qin Bo-wei studied at the Shanghai Chinese Medicine Special School founded by Ding Gan-ren , as a third-term student, alongside classmates such as Cheng Men-lian and Zhang Cigong. At that time, renowned physicians from Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Shanghai, Cao Ying-fu , Xie Li-heng , Xia Yingtang , and Ding Zhongying , all gathered to teach. Qin Bo-wei frequently listened to the teachings of these famous doctors and discussed the subtleties of Chinese medicine with them. Diligent and studious, he built a solid foundation in Chinese medicine theory. By the time he graduated in 1923, he was already well-known in the medical community and was invited to be a lecturer at his alma mater. He devoted himself to research and writing, maintaining a routine for decades, rising at 6 a.m. daily to write, continuously enriching his academic works; he also wrote short essays or medical notes based on his clinical experiences and reading insights from the previous day. Over his 50-year medical career, he authored more than 60 books and hundreds of papers. His major works include "Essence of Medical Records from Famous Qing Dynasty Doctors," "Essence of Medical Talks from Famous Qing Dynasty Doctors," "A Simple Explanation of Neijing Zhiyao," "Neijing Category Evidence," "Qin's Neijing Studies," and " Qianzhai Medical Lecture Notes," most of which have been reprinted several times and are beloved by readers. These works not only inherit the legacy of predecessors but also explore ancient meanings, enlightening future generations; they contain unique theoretical insights and practical experiences, contributing to the enrichment of the Chinese medicine treasure trove.

Diligent in thinking and adopting new knowledge, with unique insights in Chinese medicine

Emphasizing the study of Neijing Qin Bo-wei extensively read in the field of Chinese medicine, especially focusing on the study of Neijing, earning the nickname "Qin Neijing." He believed that Neijing summarized the practical experiences of predecessors and expressed the ancient medical ideological system, forming the foundation for the development of Chinese medicine. Studying Chinese medicine should start with learning Neijing, then proceed to other medical texts; otherwise, it would be like losing the key to the treasure trove of Chinese medicine. He authored several works on Neijing, including "Qin's Neijing Studies," "Reading Notes on Neijing," "Research on the Nineteen Pathogenic Mechanisms in Neijing," "A Simple Explanation of Neijing Zhiyao," "Neijing Category Evidence," and "Essence of Su Ling," conducting in-depth and meticulous analysis, summarization, organization, and research on Neijing.

In clinical mathematics and practice, Qin Bo-wei extensively applied the theories of Neijing as guidance. For example, when discussing the treatment of "edema," he analyzed the scattered discussions on edema in various chapters of Neijing, connected them with texts such as Jingui Yaolue and Waitai Miyao, and combined them with his own clinical experience to summarize six basic principles for treating diseases with edema: inducing sweating, promoting urination, drying dampness, warming transformation, expelling water, and regulating qi. He also listed representative formulas and principles for adapting to changes in accompanying symptoms. These principles, methods, prescriptions, and medications related to "diseases with edema" have achieved good clinical efficacy.

Emphasizing pattern identification and treatment

"Pattern identification and treatment" is one of the fundamental theories of Chinese medicine. However, in the early 1960s, the field of Chinese medicine saw a tendency to neglect the basic theories of Chinese medicine, emphasizing single prescriptions or relying solely on Western medical diagnoses and laboratory indicators for medication without pattern identification. In response to this situation, Qin Bo-wei devoted a section titled "A Brief Discussion on Pattern Identification and Treatment" in his book Qianzhai Medical Manuscripts, stating that "pattern identification and treatment is the diagnostic and therapeutic law of Chinese medicine, encompassing a complete and rich body of knowledge and experience from recognizing syndromes to providing appropriate treatment." He further explained, "The reason pattern identification and treatment has become the diagnostic and therapeutic law of Chinese medicine lies in the integration of theory and practice... Pattern identification and treatment is the process and method by which Chinese medicine handles diseases, based on clinical manifestations, through the four examinations and the eight principles to make diagnoses and treatments. Therefore, pattern identification and treatment are inseparable from diagnosis. Depending on the different stages of the disease, one must continuously differentiate and discuss, not just once. This is the spirit of Chinese medicine in treating diseases." While emphasizing pattern identification and treatment, Qin Bo-wei did not negate the primary treatment methods, main prescriptions, and key medications for a disease. He believed that this is also a fundamental principle in treatment. Clinically, based on this principle, adjustments can be made according to specific conditions, and flexible application can yield good results. In treating headache syndromes, he classified them into exogenous and endogenous types. Exogenous headaches were further divided into wind-cold, wind-heat, and dampness types, while endogenous headaches were categorized into qi deficiency, blood deficiency, phlegm turbidity, liver fire, cold reversal, and phlegm turbidity. For ulcer diseases, he considered them mostly as deficiency-cold syndromes of the middle jiao, and chose "Astragalus Center-Fortifying Decoction" as the main prescription with modifications, achieving excellent results.

Qin Bo-wei has profound theoretical attainments and innovative ideas in the fields of warm disease, liver disease, disease with edema, diarrhea, pain syndromes, ulcer disease, chronic pestilential hepatitis, and heart colicky pain. He has also accumulated rich clinical experience and summarized the patterns of diagnosis and treatment. For example, in the field of warm disease, he proposed that warm disease should be categorized by wind-warmth and divided into four stages based on his clinical experience: aversion to wind, heat transformation, entering the nutrient phase, and yin damage. He also proposed 12 treatment methods for warm disease. He emphasized the unity of cold and warmth, believing that warm disease is a development of cold-damage disease, and that there is no divergence between cold-damage disease and warm disease. To oppose the two is a bias and completely meaningless. In the field of liver disease, he distinguished several important concepts such as "liver qi and liver depression," "liver fire and liver heat," and "liver wind and liver yang." He believed that "liver qi" refers to the excessive function of the liver and its resulting syndromes, which are aggressive in nature, while "liver depression" refers to the syndrome where the liver's qi and blood cannot flow smoothly, which is depressive in nature. The former involves excessive dispersion, while the latter involves deficient dispersion, leading to differences in treatment and medication.

Emphasizing both inheritance and development

Qin Bo-wei believed that Chinese medicine, through its long struggle against diseases, has gained deep understanding and rich treatment experience for many diseases, and has made preliminary summaries that should be well inherited. Without inheritance, there can be no development, like a castle in the air or a mirage, which ultimately becomes an illusion. However, Qin Bo-wei did not advocate blindly copying the experiences of predecessors but rather critically accepting and innovatively inheriting. He often connected theory with practice, using the rich experiential knowledge of ancient practitioners to guide clinical work, refining the essence, summarizing comprehensively, and forming a more accurate and complete theoretical system. In his article "Clinical Research on Diarrhea" (from Qianzhai Medical Lectures), he proposed a diagnostic and treatment pattern based on the records of diarrhea's etiology, disease names, and treatment principles in ancient texts such as Neijing, Nan Jing, Zhubing Yuanhou Lun, and Yizong Bidu. He categorized diarrhea into fulminant diarrhea and chronic diarrhea, and differentiated treatment based on deficiency and excess patterns. Deficiency patterns involve internal damage, with the shallow affecting the spleen and the deep affecting the kidneys. Excess patterns belong to pathogenic factors, primarily dampness, combined with cold, heat, and food stagnation. He employed various purgative methods such as resolving dampness, promoting diuresis, dispersing, clearing heat, eliminating stagnation, and regulating qi, as well as various tonifying methods such as strengthening the spleen, warming the kidneys, boosting qi, lifting, and astringing. Qin Bo-wei applied these theories in clinical practice, curing many patients with refractory diarrhea. For example, a patient named Xu suffered from recurrent diarrhea that could only be stopped by taking chloramphenicol. Upon consultation, the symptoms included borborygmus, abdominal pain, loose stools, bitter taste in the mouth, fetid mouth odor, dry mouth without desire to drink, yellow urine, white greasy tongue coating, and slippery rapid pulse. At that time, Qin Bo-wei diagnosed the condition as weak spleen and stomach with internal damp-heat obstruction, leading to dysfunction in the clear and turbid qi's ascent and descent. He believed that although the disease was chronic, the treatment should focus not on stopping diarrhea but on clearing the damp-heat. Once the damp-heat was removed, the intestines and stomach would naturally recover. He prescribed a modified Pueraria, Skullcap, and Coptis Decoction. After two doses, the stool formed, and the abdominal pain and borborygmus disappeared. Qin Bo-wei was very adept at summarizing the experiences of predecessors, especially valuing the role of medical case records and discussions. As early as 1928, in his compilation "Essence of Medical Cases from Famous Qing Dynasty Physicians," he pointed out: "Medical cases are the true evidence of the value of Chinese medicine." "Medical cases are a characteristic of Chinese medicine, being practical, vivid, and lively, most suitable for observation and learning among Chinese medicine practitioners. There is a necessity to widely collect and promptly publish them. They are summaries based on specific clinical facts, with theory and principles, and these theories and principles have certain foundations, thus being guiding and enlightening... Reading various medical cases as references can also help in learning from others' strengths to improve one's own wisdom and continuously enhance professional skills."Qin Bo-wei placed great emphasis on accumulating and organizing medical records in clinical practice, leaving a valuable legacy for future generations.

He emphasized the correct understanding of the integration of Chinese and Western medicine.

Qin Bo-wei was adept at learning in his academic pursuits. He believed that Western medical diagnoses could sometimes aid in understanding the nature, progression, and outcomes of certain diseases. Therefore, in his clinical practice, he often referred to Western medical diagnoses while using Chinese medicine theory as a guide for pattern identification and treatment, fully leveraging the unique characteristics of Chinese medicine, often achieving excellent results. However, he also advocated that Western medical diagnoses should only serve as references and not be overly relied upon. He stressed the importance of having the confidence and courage to use the principle-method-recipe-medicinal approach of Chinese medicine for treatment, ensuring that the essence of Chinese medicine is not lost. For every disease he treated, he would conduct a detailed analysis based on the patient's age, constitution, clinical manifestations, and disease progression, applying Chinese medicine theory to determine the treatment principles, methods, and prescription of medications, and then summarizing the lessons learned. Through practice, he further realized that to achieve efficacy in treating diseases diagnosed by Western medicine using Chinese medicine, it is crucial to apply Chinese medicine theory as a guide, conduct careful observations, not overlook the basis of Chinese medicine pattern identification, and maintain a rigorous scientific attitude. His insights remain highly relevant today. For example, in treating neurasthenia diagnosed by Western medicine, he analyzed the clinical manifestations based on Chinese medicine theory and concluded that the pathogenesis primarily involves the liver, with conditions being either deficient, excessive, or a combination of both, leading to the identification of 14 basic treatment methods.

Qin Bo-wei dedicated his life to the development of Chinese medicine with diligence and wholehearted devotion. He served as a Chinese medicine advisor to the Ministry of Health, vice president of the Chinese Medical Association, a member of the Weizhong (BL40) medical group of the National Science Committee, a member of the Pharmacopoeia Editorial Committee, and a member of the Second, Third, and Fourth National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. He made significant contributions to the nation and its people, earning the respect and praise of the public.