Introduction to the Digitized Texts
1. Zhencun mifang with the Shifu mifang. 1 volume, 34 pages. This is a short manuscript composed by traditional Chinese medical doctors written in several different hands providing secret formulas for various disorders in women. The probable date is the late nineteenth or early twentieth century.
2. Chongding Jiyin gangmu. 8 volumes, 14 chapters, 960 pages. Composed by the famous Ming doctor Wu Zhiwang (courtesy name Shuqing) (1552-1628) of Shaanxi province and first published in a keben edition of 1620 (Ming Wanli 48), this work To Benefit Yin: A Comprehensive Guide, was enormously popular and influential in the late imperial period. According to the Quanguo Zhongyi tushu lianhe mulu (Beijing: Zhongyi guji chuban she, 1991), this work has been republished 46 times. For a detailed discussion of the key concepts and the influence of the text, see Charlotte Furth, A Flourishing Yin: Gender in China's Medical History, 960-1665 (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999), chapter 5, pp.155-86. McGill's edition was published in 1728 (Yongzheng year 6) with Wang Qi's commentary and explanations.
3. Fu Qingzhu nüke. 1 volume, 2 chapter, 240 pages. This work, Fu Qingzhu on Gynecology, was composed by Fu Shan (courtesy name Qingzhu; alternative names Qingzhu, Gongta, Selu, Shi daoren, Zhuyi daoren) of Shanxi province, a friend of the eminent scholar Gu Yanwu. It was written in the early Qing dynasty but first published only in 1827 (Daoguang year 7). It has been reprinted 66 times. McGill's edition was published in 1869 (Tongzhi year 8) by the Hubei Chongwen shuju.
4. Nüke jiyao. 2 volumes, 2 chapters, 234 pages. Composed by Shen Youpeng (courtesy name Yaofeng), a specialist from the southern province of Zhejiang in 1764 in the Qianlong reign period, this work, Essentials of Gynecology, also known as Shenshi Nüke jiyao, was first printed in 1850. It draws heavily on the principal works of traditional Chinese medicine of historical significance from the canons composed two thousand years ago down to its own day. McGill's copy is an 1862 (Tongzhi year 1) keben reprint. In 1917 Zhang Shouyi composed a commentary to this work, Shenshi Nüke jiyao jianshu, that was published five times in the 1920's and 1930's and three more times in the 1950's.
