Yellow Emperor’s Canon of Medicine

Yellow Emperor’s Canon of Medicine, comprising Su Wen (Basic Questions) and Ling Shu (Spiritual Pivot), is the earliest extant medical classic in China. It embodies the achievements of ancient Chinese medicine, having laid the foundational framework for its development, and is revered as the origin of Chinese medicine and the authoritative source for all physicians. As Wang Bing of the Tang Dynasty wrote in his Preface to the Annotated Su Wen: "Its language is concise, its meaning vast, its principles profound, and its insights deep. It distinguishes the phenomena of heaven and earth, sequences the manifestations of yin and yang, reveals the causes of transformation, and elucidates the signs of life and death. Without prior arrangement, distant truths converge; without explicit stipulation, the hidden and the manifest correspond. Its statements can be verified, and its teachings prove infallible in practice." Throughout the millennia of Chinese history, Yellow Emperor’s Canon of Medicine has continually guided the evolution of Chinese medicine. The theoretical viewpoints of the numerous schools within Chinese medicine all trace their origins to the fundamental ideas articulated in this seminal work.

The Yellow Emperor's Internal Classic, also known as the Neijing, is one of the earliest Chinese classics and is considered the foremost of the four canonical texts of traditional Chinese medicine. Although traditionally attributed to the legendary Yellow Emperor (from whom it derives its name), modern scholarship widely agrees that the text reached its finalized form during the Western Han dynasty. It was not the work of a single author but rather the cumulative creation of successive generations of physicians in the Huang-Lao Daoist tradition, who expanded and refined its content over time. The text did not take shape at a single point in time; it is a compilation by multiple authors spanning an extended period. Its compilation likely began to take written form during the Warring States period, with some chapters being added or finalized during the Han dynasty.