Revitalizing medical schools in late sixteenth-century China: Lü Kun and the medical reform program in his Shizheng Lu

Abstract

This article takes a glance at the medial reform program recorded in the book Shizheng Lu 實政錄 (Records of Practical Policies for Governing) by Lü Kun, a scholar-official from Ming China who was active more than 400 years ago. The Shizheng Lu is a compilation of varied policies and plans designed by Lü Kun as a local official to restore and improve administration of civic affairs. A sub-chapter in this book is devoted to the subject of public health service. Analysis of this text yields knowledge of how the local public health system in Ming China was supposed to operate, pivoting on the key role of medical schools and highlighting the severe malfunction of this system in Lü Kun’s time. The same text also sheds light on a handful of popular medical books from the era that could have been used for medical education.