Wu Shang-xian (1806-1886), styled Shiji, was a native of Qiantang, Zhejiang (present-day Hangzhou). In the third year of the Xianfeng reign (1853), during the Taiping Rebellion, Wu Shang-xian took refuge in the rural areas of Taizhou in northern Jiangsu. Witnessing the local people suffering from both poverty and illness, often unable to afford medical treatment, he collected folk remedies for external treatments and consulted medical texts from various dynasties, eventually creating thin paste (plaster) to treat various internal and external diseases. Later, in 1865, Wu returned to Yangzhou and established a medicine dispensing institution—Cunji Pharmacy, inviting skilled practitioners to specialize in applying plaster. Summarizing his lifelong medical experience and revising it ten times, he finally completed an academic monograph, initially titled "Wai Shi Yishuo." Later, because the main text was written in parallel prose and inspired by the meaning of "medicine is principle, and drugs are to regulate," it was renamed "Liyue Pianwen" upon publication (1870).

Wu Shang-xian's main contribution lies in expanding the application range of plaster. Through practice, he proposed: "The principle of external treatment is the same as that of internal treatment," and that thin paste plaster "can treat all diseases" and "any decoction or pill that is effective can be made into an ointment" for treatment. Wu Shang-xian made significant contributions to the development of Chinese medicine and is regarded as the master of modern external treatment methods.