If the students who come to learn Chinese in China are interested in tradictinal Chinese medical science, they must have heard about the doctor Zhang Zhongjing in ancient China. Lived in Eastern Han Dynasty, he is one of the most respectable doctors in Chinese medical history. He is regarded as “the medical sage” in China by the later generations because of his extraordinary medical skills.

In the young period, Zhang Zhongjing was very clever and modest. He had different thinking way and was eager to learn knowledge. He had read many books especially the medical books. The times he lived in had frequent wars and unstable society environment. There were many people died because of pestilence. Facing this miserable situation, he decided to be a doctor to help the patients.

Therefore, he started to read more medical books written by the former generations and collect the medical herbs to do research. At the time of curing the disease, he didn’t forget to learn new knowledge. After collecting the samples, he observed carefully and summarized. Foreigners who study Chinese in China should know that he paid much attention to the curing of the typhoid diseases.

As well all know, it is very dangerous to contact with the infections. In the ancient times, the scientific conditions were poor, it became more dangerous. However, Zhang Zhongjing didn’t care so much about him and usually went to the infective areas to do investigation for the purpose of finding the way to cure diseases.

With the extraordinary medical skill, Zhang Zhongjing created a formula called “fang jing” and it is used even in today’s medical science. When you study Mandarin in China, teachers may tell you that he ever acted as the prefecture chief of Changsha. During his tenure, he cared the health of the common people very much. He cured the diseases but never charged from the patients.

The important thing is that he developed the extract of the medical theories and combined with his practice, finishing writing the medical book “Treatise on Febrile and Miscellaneous Diseases” which has great significance in Chinese medical science. Foreigners who learn Chinese in China should know that this book established the theory of “treatment based on syndrome differentiation” and has great influence in Chinese medical science.

We can see that Zhang Zhongjing spent almost his whole life in researching the medical science. He was not only a person cared much about the patients but also a doctor had great influence on Chinese medical science.