It is often said that the ancient imperial doctors were of very high level in Chinese medicine, but when we look at these ancient emperors, their life spans were very short. Does this mean that the level of Chinese medicine is actually not very good? People often take the short life of the ancient royal family as saying that the level of Chinese medicine is not good. Many friends ask me this question.
Let’s talk to you today, why did the ancient emperors have a short lifespan?
We mainly take the emperor of Qing Dynasty . Why did the emperor have a shorter lifespan? Does this have anything to do with the level of the imperial physician? I think this is mainly a sociological issue, and it has nothing to do with the level of imperial physicians.
Today we will analyze one by one.
First of all, if we rank the emperor's lifespan and the lifespan of his children, you will find that when the Qing Dynasty opened, the lifespan was higher, and the lifespan will be shorter in the future. Then this phenomenon also occurred in other dynasties in China. Why is this so?
Reason 1: Physical exercise problem
founding emperors are generally horse emperors, often riding horses, archery, etc., so they exercise a lot, so this physique is not bad, and the life span is relatively long.
So what about the back? Behind the scenes became more and more pampered, riding, fighting, and bowing, often no longer possible. So these royal children later became worse and worse. So some people say that this is the arrival of Daqing’s Qi Luck. In fact, this is a very normal reason, that is, more and more pampering, so the health is getting worse. This is the first reason, that is, lack of exercise.
Reason 2: Diet problems
We all know that we can eat three meals a day. Many modern studies have shown that the more you eat, the more affected this life span may be. This is an experiment with a white mouse in foreign countries, and the white mouse is especially delicious and full. It has a short lifespan. It is very obese and bloated. It does not want to move and has a short lifespan. What about another group of mice? The amount of food you give it is not so sufficient, making it a little hungry, but it will not starve to death. As a result, it has a very long lifespan. This is based on animal experiments, so eating well is not a good thing.
like the royal family eat, everyone knows how? Fatty and sweet, right? According to the rules of the Qing Dynasty, how many dishes should the emperor eat for each meal? There should be 120 channels, which is normal. Then some emperors want to be frugal, so they say that this is not necessary, but even if they are frugal, there are dozens of dishes. Then an emperor like Qianlong knew a little about health preservation, so he would add some medicinal materials to his dishes, and his lifespan was good. This was the longest lifespan among the emperors. Then if the others don’t understand this, I will taste good, which is terrible.
By the end of the Qing Dynasty, this rule became more and more exquisite, so there were more and more dishes. By the time of Cixi , 120 dishes may not be enough. The question is, are these 120 dishes made fresh? This is the case. You think that the palace also needs to follow the procedures. You have to cook freshly, and you can’t be too busy. Therefore, the emperor’s favorite dishes here will be cooked for you. Then some dishes are just cooked. Yes, it has been simmering on the fire, and when the emperor says to have a meal, he will immediately come up and set it in the distance. The emperor will not eat it. So just knowing that this dish will not be passive, I just stop it from heating up, so that I don't have to change it. Therefore, like Emperor Guangxu, he didn't have much authority himself. His dishes were only a few of the dishes cooked in the immediate vicinity, and the dishes in the distance were all served back and forth. So you said 120 dishes are good? In fact, it may not be true. Some emperors eat well, and some eat really badly.
So the emperor’s diet, according to what we see today, is really messy. If it is powerful, like Qianlong, the meal is so good to eat. If the emperor has no power, then the food may be something he can deal with. So these 120 dishes are often very, very unpalatable. So it can be said that everyone thinks this Qing emperor should eat very well, right? In fact, the situation is often very complicated. This royal diet is not as suitable for our health as we imagined. It does not promote health and is often destructive. So, can the royal doctors control things like royal diet? No, the doctor can’t intervene because there is a specialThere are rules in this palace. So this diet is the second factor.
Reason three: living habits problem
, the emperor's life, the imperial doctor really can't interfere. For example, the Emperor Zhengde of the Ming Dynasty, this emperor especially likes to play, he built various kinds of leopard houses in the suburbs of Beijing, etc., various recreational places, in which tigers, leopards, and various Kind of rare animals. What are you doing? Also collect beautiful women from all over. According to the literature, he has a wide range of beauties, such as the Western Regions, the blond and blue-eyed people, and the beauties from Korea, Korea, for example. So friends, think about it, will the emperor's health be better if this goes on? A man from the Central Plains, you are looking for a blonde and blue-eyed woman, one, I guess it makes sense, you are looking for ten, you are looking for dozens, a hundred? I guess this body is useless. So it took a lot of effort for the imperial doctor to regulate his body.
Who was the imperial physician of Emperor Zhengde at that time? It is Xue Lizhai, a well-known TCM physician. Xue Lizhai was the magistrate of the Taiyuan Hospital, that is, the dean. He said in his medical books, how far did he serve the emperor? I am tired and sick, and I need to treat myself, why? The emperor does not listen to you! When the emperor said you want to abstain from lust, what did the emperor say you mean? You don't want to live anymore? Right, they went to play, and after the play, tell you, give me some aphrodisiac. You said if you don't make up, if you don't make up, then you can't watch him die. After you make up, he will be even more proud. Therefore, this imperial doctor is particularly difficult to deal with. Xue Lizhai has bothered to worry about himself. He has a bad mood for himself, and his body has problems. He has to prescribe prescriptions for himself to adjust. Where do you think this makes sense? These living habits of
emperors are far beyond the intervention of imperial physicians. For example, in the Qing Dynasty, Emperor Xianfeng of the Qing Dynasty died earlier, at the age of 31, why? Because Emperor Xianfeng of the Qing Dynasty was a well-known lecherous emperor. Xianfeng's character is relatively weak, so when he is catching up with internal and external troubles, and catching up with the Opium War, he feels very sad inside. What can you rely on to relieve your worries? One is drinking, and the other is Guangzheng beauties, who specifically ask the eunuchs to go out to find beauties, especially those of the Han nationality. Generally, in this marriage of the royal family of the Qing Dynasty, the women selected were Manchu, Mongolian, etc., but Emperor Xianfeng liked Han beauties, so he went to the south to recruit beautiful women. As a result, with the company of these beauties, this body is getting worse and worse. Before she died, her body was already very weak and she kept coughing up blood. So everyone see, what does this have to do with? This is related to wine color.
something like this has little to do with the doctor, and the doctor cannot control it. You said that I made a suggestion to tell the emperor that your Sannomiya and Sixth Hospital are not suitable and should be changed to monogamy. Do you dare to mention it? After you mention it, it is looking for death. So, the work of the imperial physician is basically on a decayed wood. I will try to repair you and make you decay slowly. But in the overall environment, the work done by the imperial physician is actually very limited. .
Reason 4: The royal marriage problem
first is the marriage of close relatives and incest, this matter is far from what we modern people can imagine. Because the Manchus were a nomadic tribe at the time, they still retained many nomadic customs after entering the customs. At the time, it seemed that women were their own property, so nomadic tribes had a habit that after the leader died, many of his wives would inherit to their sons or distribute them to these brothers. Well, it feels unbelievable now, but it is normal in ancient Chinese nomadic tribes, for example, the Huns are this habit. This phenomenon was more obvious when there was no entry into the customs in the early Qing Dynasty, and then after entering the customs, they accepted the Han culture and adjusted.
What are the problems with the Qing emperor's marriage? There is also political marriage, that is, who to marry in order to win over the tribe he belongs to. Let me give you an example. For example, Huangtaiji , his first canonized concubine of the Five Palaces, these five women all come from the same Mongolian tribe, the Mongolian Bolzigit family. What is the relationship between the three imperial concubines? It's a nephew relationship. What does that mean? It was this girl who married Huang Taiji, so her aunt also married Huang Taiji with her. We modern people find it unacceptable at first sight, but in the ancient times, it felt normal.
give another example, such asSpeaking of Emperor Shunzhi, he married two wives, both of his uncle's daughters, what do you mean, they are his cousins? Later, a grand niece of Empress Xiaozhuangwen also married Shunzhi. What is this? This is his junior again. This kind of close relative marriage, we now know that it will cause genetic problems, so children will get sick especially. This is also an important reason why the Qing imperial family became weaker and weaker. Then you said that the reason can be determined by the royal doctor? Can't decide, then the whole atmosphere was like this at the time, and there was very, very little that this imperial physician could do.
Reason 5: Early marriage and early childbearing
Like these royal families, at what age do girls usually get married? Married at the age of twelve or thirteen, sometimes even earlier than this, before the age of 12. Huang Taiji once personally issued a manuscript about this matter. What is it? It is said that if a woman marries before the age of 12, she must be punished severely and must wait until she is 12 to marry. This was a late marriage in those days, that is to say, Huang Taiji personally issued a manuscript, saying that everyone is going to get married late and must be late to marry and give birth. So what is a late marriage? Marrying at the age of 12 is considered late, and you must not marry before the age of 12.
So the emperor gave this order, has everyone implemented it? It was not executed, and Huang Taiji himself did not execute it. It was Huang Taiji's own princess, and his own daughter married very early. For example, his first daughter, Princess Gulun, married before the age of 12. The second daughter was married before she was 11, and his fourteenth daughter was just over 9 years old and married. So everyone can see that the early marriage situation in the entire Qing Dynasty imperial family is very, very serious. What would happen to
getting married so early? Will give birth early. At this time, your body hasn't taken shape, you're only nine years old, and you have children when your body is not completely strong. This torture to women is particularly serious. So why do some imperial children often get sick when they are very young, die when they are sick, and some die when they are born? Many people say that this is because the level of the imperial doctor is not good. In fact, it has nothing to do with the imperial doctor. You have a generation of close relatives who get married and then get married and give birth early. This physical fitness must be very, very problematic, even with congenital diseases. This is not something the imperial doctor can intervene.
The example just now is a princess, but the emperor is also like this. For example, the Emperor Shunzhi of the Qing Dynasty is familiar to everyone. Do you know how old Shunzhi emperor succeeded? He succeeded at the age of six, and after the emperor succeeded to the throne, there will be a queen, so he got married very early, and he had his first son at the age of 14. Emperor Shunzhi only lived to be 23 years old, so how many children did he have between the ages of 14 and 23? A total of eight sons and six daughters were born. The emperor at such a young age and the young concubines and concubines who have been married to such a young age, etc., when their bodies have not yet grown up, what is the quality of their children? It's definitely not good, right. So the first child, born at the age of 14, only lived for two months, the first daughter lived for one year and seven months, and then the second son, who was okay, lived for fifty. This was considered longevity at the time. Then the second daughter lived to be 32 years old, which is not bad. She became an adult, and the third daughter died when she was only five years old. Then the third son, Emperor Kangxi, lived 69 years old, which is considered longevity. The fourth daughter is seven years old, the fifth daughter is six years old, and so on, so I won't talk more.
On the whole, the quality of survival is very poor. Why? It has a lot to do with his young, early marriage and early childbirth. This was the custom of the royal family at the time. These things were not something that the imperial doctor could intervene, so the quality of the children he gave birth was very low. No matter how you manage it, I think it will be difficult to adjust.
Reason 6: Prescribe
for the Empress This is not a simple medical problem, there are many complicated reasons.
For example, how did Cixi die in the end? She suffered from severe diarrhea, and finally the diarrhea was so bad that she died of weakness. The imperial doctor at the time actually took these issues into consideration. At that time, there was an imperial doctor named Shi Huan, who was a famous doctor who had just been recruited from outside. It was the emperor of the Qing Dynasty who recruited famous Chinese medicine doctors from all over the country to Beijing to treat himself, so Shi Huan was recruited.
He said at the time that this should beTreat with ebony pill. Wumei pills are very effective in treating diarrhea and other problems, especially those with mixed cold and heat. In this recipe, there are hot medicines, such as aconite, dried ginger, etc., as well as cold medicines, such as Coptis and Phellodendron. It is a combination of cold and heat. However, this prescription was handed over, and the military department took a look and said that the prescription was very hard and the medication was a bit harsh. Who will make this board? What if it doesn't work well? So this recipe was going around among the few masters in the middle hall, and no one decided. In this way everyone would understand that the prescription for the emperor's medical treatment was not actually determined by the imperial physician, but was ultimately determined by the bureaucracy. So everyone said that this side is not good, and you have to make a calmer and more mundane recipe and present it to you. So he started to deal with the prescription, and the result was that Cixi died. So Cixi couldn't eat a good recipe herself.
At that time, the famous doctors recruited from all over the country included a doctor from Jiangnan named Du Zhongjun. This Du Zhongjun has a lot of knowledge and he has a good cure effect. After he was recruited, he treated the emperor and the empress, and later he wrote a book about the process. Then at the time he diagnosed Emperor Guangxu's pulse, Emperor Guangxu said, if you have a good diagnosis, you can prescribe the prescription according to your thinking, don't change it, don't listen to others. The meaning is that you have to stick to your own method, don't be influenced by bureaucrats to change the prescription, just follow your prescription. So he thought that he should be able to cure Emperor Guangxu's illness. But it didn't take long for him to discover a problem, that is, their doctors were on duty. Today, the two doctors asked for a pulse together, and the next day they changed two doctors to ask for a pulse together. This Du Zhongjun discovered that the consequence of this shift is that the recipe you prescribed will change immediately and cannot be implemented. How can he be cured? He himself said that when we came to Beijing to treat the emperor, what we thought was that we could cure the emperor’s disease and then gain prestige. Now it seems that this reputation must not be obtained, and not only does it not get the reputation, it is not bad if there is no problem.
So, he found an official at that time, called Lu Runyu . This Lu Runxu came from a family of Chinese medicine, and his father knew medicine. He was admitted to the top prize and was an official in Beijing at the time. Because he was the top prize, the emperor also valued him very much. Sometimes he often discussed medical matters with him. So sometimes when you enter the palace to see a doctor for the empress, Lu Runxu will also come. Du Zhongjun said to Lu Runxu, Master Lu, you also know medicine, and the medical skills at your home are also good. Do you have this opinion about seeing a doctor? Looking at it this way, not only does it look bad, but it will also bear responsibility in the future. How can this be done? Tell me about it. Do you know how Lu Runxiang answered him? He said that the rules in the palace have always been this way, so if you see a doctor, you can do nothing. Go in and ask for a pulse every day, just follow the process. Don't say more about this. In the palace, it's not good for you to say more about this. This is the rule of the palace, so don't ask more about this. This system of
is so corrupt and rigid, so the imperial physicians simply cannot display their talents. This Doctor Du Zhongjun, he was actually on the scene until Guangxu's death, but it was a pity that he could not display his talents at all.
So do you say that the level of the doctor is not good? no. Later, after the establishment of the Republic of China, Yuan Shikai once fell ill, so he recruited Du Zhongjun to Beijing and stayed there for a year. At that time, Yuan Shikai had a stomach problem, which was very serious. As a result, Du Zhongjun took a pair of medicine and Yuan Shikai's stomach problem was basically relieved at once. Yuan Shikai found it particularly amazing. He said that my stomach troubles were not a matter of a day or two. So many doctors hadn't looked at it well. This western doctor has already read it all over. Everyone has no idea. Your medicine will solve the problem. So he kept this Du Zhongjun by his side and stayed for a year to make him an official. But what about Du Zhongjun? Later, he returned to the folk and practiced medicine in Beijing. Well, the descendants of Du Zhongjun, we may be familiar with, she is the host of China Central Television Du Xian, and her husband is the actor Chen Daoming. Well, Du Zhongjun, once wrote down the story of entering the palace to ask the empress for pulse. From this we can see that it is very difficult for this imperial doctor to see the empress and ask for pulse. In fact, many things are beyond his control. .
Is the level of the imperial physician high? Is high. It should be said that the doctors in the country were at least the best, not the best, but they were also excellent. Because the recruits from all over the country are well-experienced doctors, then go to the palaceHowever, due to various reasons, these various management system problems, it turned out that I was unable to display my ambitions, and my own methods could not be used at all. So why is the emperor's life span so short? In fact, this does not have much to do with doctors, because there are many influencing factors. This issue should be viewed more from a sociological perspective. I think this is a relatively objective academic view. It would be unfair to judge the level of imperial doctors solely by this matter.
So of course, do you say that the level of medical doctors is that high? It may not be that the level of the famous doctors recruited in this place is very high, but in the Taiyuan Hospital, there are many doctors after a long time, because the entire management system is particularly stale, so they have slowly cultivated this imperial doctor. The prescription is as plain as possible, and it is a style that can handle it. This is because the imperial doctor wanted to try not to cause trouble and not to lose his head. So what does the folk rumors say, "Articles of the Hanlin Academy and the prescriptions of the Imperial Hospital", what does it mean? It's just not as good as everyone thought. If you think about it carefully, it was also caused by the decadent management system at that time.
So today I will show you this matter from beginning to end, so that everyone can understand it. It turns out that looking at a problem, we should put this problem into the social environment at the time, and then look at these factors. What works, how did it lead to this result, so that we can look at a problem in a comprehensive, fair, and fair manner without being biased. Otherwise, if you don’t look at many factors, you will catch a little bit. This is called stubbornness. It is easy to be biased when you look at the problem. If we can measure everything in the world from all angles and aspects, then you will see things more comprehensively and your conclusions will be more correct.
I will talk about this to you today. I have the opportunity to share some of the past of Chinese medicine with you in the future. I hope you can learn something from it.
The source of the article is the public channel Luo Dalun, if there is any infringement, please contact and delete
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