The Yongle Encyclopedia Annotated Treatise on Cold Damage

The Yongle Encyclopedia: Treatise on Cold Damage groups its material according to the rhyme of the character "cold," compiling the finest commentaries on Treatise on Cold Damage by physicians throughout history. Drawing extensively on nearly a hundred medical texts from the Han dynasties through the early Ming, it brings together the interpretations of Cheng Wuji, Xu Shuwei, Liu Wansu, and others, arranging the writing by rhyme and analyzing it point by point. Whenever a line ends with a character rhyming with "cold," it cites various commentaries: some explain the meaning of words, some explore the subtle details of pulse signs and symptoms, and others distinguish among prescriptions and medicines. In this way, it connects a thousand years of scholarship on cold damage. Readers can follow the rhymes to explore multiple interpretations of the same passage, or survey the work across the centuries to trace the evolution of different schools of thought. It is truly a rich resource for cross-referencing and verifying interpretations for anyone studying Treatise on Cold Damage, as well as a bridge to research on the history of Chinese medical scholarship.