Lu Xun once said:

"Traditional Chinese medicine is just a liar, intentional or unintentional."

But is he really anti-TCM?

How did Lu Xun treat traditional Chinese medicine?

Come and take a look!

Lu Xun’s attitude towards traditional Chinese medicine can be roughly divided into two stages:

Both violent criticism and research and application

In Lu Xun’s works, the earliest image of traditional Chinese medicine appeared It was Mr. He in "Diary of a Madman" in April 1918, who was described as a cannibal "executioner": "My eldest brother attracted an old man and walked slowly towards him. His eyes were full of fierceness, and he was afraid that I would see it, so he just lowered his head and looked at him. He looked at me secretly from the side of his glasses.

Brother said: "Please come and give me a consultation today, Mr. He"

I said: "Okay"! >

The elder brother said: "Let Mr. He come and give you a diagnosis today"

I said: "Okay"!

In fact, don't I know that this old man is the executioner? Pretending!

There is also an image of a traditional Chinese medicine doctor in the novel "Tomorrow" in June 1920: "He Xiaoxian stretched out two fingers to feel the pulse, and the nails were more than four inches long. He didn't care about the condition of Bao'er, the youngest son of Shan Si's sister-in-law, a working woman. He just lazily "stretched out two fingers to feel the pulse" and "said half a sentence, then closed his eyes."

Then, Sister-in-law Shan's "thirteen small silver dollars and one hundred and eighty copper coins saved every day" were easily taken away. As a result, "Bao'er"'s life was not saved.

< p>In December 1922, Lu Xun said something in "The Scream: Preface" that is often quoted by those who oppose traditional Chinese medicine: "I still remember the previous doctors' discussions and prescriptions, and compared them with what I know now, I gradually understood Chinese medicine is nothing more than a liar, intentional or unintentional, and at the same time arouses sympathy for the deceived patient and his family. ”

Roughly before 1925, the Chinese medicine practitioners who appeared in Lu Xun’s works were all villains, and they were all objects of ridicule.

From the background of the times, Lu Xun was an opponent of The pioneer of traditional feudal culture, from the standpoint of anti-feudal principles, is bound to criticize and deny the old traditional cultural ideological system.

In 1925, he once said in "Sudden Thoughts": "We. The top priorities right now are: first, survival, second, food and clothing, and third, development. There is no one who can hinder this future, whether ancient or modern, human or ghost, "Three Tombs", "Five Classics", Hundreds of Songs and Thousand Yuan Dynasties, the Celestial Sphere and River Map, the Golden Man and the Jade Buddha, the ancestral pills and powders, the secret elixir, all of them. Tread him down. ”

Traditional Chinese medicine is part of traditional culture, and of course it is no exception to be “overthrown”. This has a lot to do with the historical background of the New Culture Movement at that time. In the anti-feudal culture, science and democracy were advocated In the trend of Chinese medicine, some cultural celebrities such as Hu Shi, Chen Duxiu, Liang Qichao, Chen Yinke, etc. all opposed traditional Chinese medicine. Liang Qichao even had the wrong kidney removed by Western medicine without any regrets.

From his personal life experience, Lu Xun's father had no regrets. He once died due to ineffective treatment by local traditional Chinese medicine. "Not only was he embarrassed, but his family also fell from prosperity to poverty." These painful memories and heavy burdens left an indelible mark on the heart of young Lu Xun.

Lu Xun also talked about his previous dissatisfaction with Chinese medicine in his 1925 "Grave: From Beard to Teeth": "Most of them were because they delayed my father's illness. Well, I'm afraid it's also carrying some personal grudges that are painful to me. "Having resentment in his heart, it is not surprising that he criticized and satirized it in his works.

Although Lu Xun criticized Chinese medicine in his early days, he was not isolated from Chinese medicine. On the contrary, he still applied and studied it.< /p>

It can be seen from "Lu Xun's Diary" that he used traditional Chinese medicine to treat illnesses from time to time for a long period of time. For example, it was recorded that on November 10, 1912, "Drinking ginger juice to treat stomach pain. "Xiaoyu"; November 23, 1912, "I had abdominal pain in the afternoon, so I drank some ginger juice"; January 22, 1916, "I drank Acanthopanax bark wine at night because of shoulder pain."

From 1912 Since 2000, records of this kind of activity can be seen in many places in "Lu Xun's Diary".

This is related to Lu Xun's physical illness. Xu Guangping recalled: "Lu Xun, who was thirty-three years old in his youth, was in trouble every day, which tortured him to the point of 'stomach pain', 'nervous excitement' and a sharp mind. "Toothache", "Headache", "Fever", "Cough", just take 1913 as an example, January, February, March, May, August, October, November and December of this year There are records of harmful diseases in Chinese medicine." It can be seen that Lu Xun continued to look for solutions in traditional Chinese medicine due to his many illnesses, which shows that he did not deny the entirety of traditional Chinese medicine.

Although Lu Xun made remarks that ridiculed traditional Chinese medicine, he also read some ancient Chinese medicine books and did some research.

For example, "Lu Xun's Diary" records: "Bought the second volume of "Emergency Moxibustion Prescriptions with Acupuncture Selection Days" on September 12, 1914; and "Go to the book store on February 21, 1915 Bought an eight-volume volume of Mao Shiji's Ancient Compilations and a four-volume volume of Wang Shuhe's "Mai Jing" of Jing and Song dynasties; on February 2, 1923, "went to Liuli Factory in the afternoon to buy two volumes of Jing Yuan's "Compendium of Materia Medica" "Volume, two yuan and eight anise"; February 26, 1923, "I borrowed ten volumes of "Chao's Treatise on the Causes and Symptoms of Diseases" from Zhongtang Bookstore in the afternoon"; April 27, 1923, "went to the Normal University to lecture on Zhili Books in the morning. The bureau bought two volumes of "Tongren Acupoint Acupuncture Illustrations" for one yuan and four cents; on August 2, 1927, "bought a volume of twenty-two volumes of "Liu Li Zhai Medical Book". This set of medical books includes "Chu's Suicide Notes" "Emergency Prescriptions", "Yuanhe Ji Yong Jing", "Su Chen's Good Prescriptions", "The Book of Ten Medicines", "Eighteen Secret Prescriptions with Additions and Subtractions", "Han's Medical Tong", "The Heart of Acne", "The Broken Humeral Man" "Records" and "Five Books of Shenrou", etc.

Lu Xun not only went to bookstores many times to buy Chinese medicine books, but also repaired Chinese medicine books himself.

For example, in the diary on August 12, 1927, it was written that "I repaired the "Liu Li Zhai Medical Book" in the afternoon"; on August 17 of the same year, "I finished repairing the "Liu Li Zhai Medical Book" in the afternoon." Lu Xun also shared ancient Chinese medicine books with his younger brother, such as in his diary on July 29, 1915: "I sent a letter to my second brother in the morning and spent one hundred yuan (fifty-two) on my family this month, as well as four copies of the Pulse Classic."

It can be seen from the above that Lu Xun was involved in the etiology, pulseology, acupuncture, and prescriptions of traditional Chinese medicine. I am afraid that he did not buy these ancient Chinese medicine books for the purpose of criticism.

Concepts gradually changed, and evaluations became objective

After 1930, Lu Xun’s criticism of traditional Chinese medicine was almost never seen, and most of them treated traditional Chinese medicine with a plain attitude: using traditional Chinese medicine in daily life. When family members treat diseases, they recommend effective methods to relatives and friends, and give objective evaluations of traditional Chinese medicine.

In his diary from August 30 to September 6, 1930, Lu Xun wrote four times that he went to Renji Hall to buy medicine for his son Zhou Haiying. Zhou Haiying talked about Lu Xun's past treatment of his illness in "Lu Xun and Me for Seventy Years". Lu Xun used "mint-flavored" "Anfu Anti-inflammatory Ointment" and hot compresses on his back with mustard paste to treat his son's asthma. Mustard paste was his "ace". He often "felt his breathing became much smoother after this hot compress." ”, the effect is quite good.