Bian Que - Ancestor of TCM

Who is Bian Que 扁 鹊

Bian Que was a physician in the periods  (BC 407 - 310) in China. In the “Records of the Grand Historian,” a history book of the Chinese Western Han Dynasty, Bian Que, born in Zheng of Bohai Commander, was formally named Qin Yueren. Bohai Commander was today’s Cangzhou City, Hebei Province, China. 

He is the foundation of TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) and carries forward Acupuncture and Moxibustion, a kind of magical skill that could bring the dead back to life. 

There is a lacquer human statue marked with the meridian network and acupoint of the Chinese Han Dynasty, it being about 14 centimeters tall, has very accurately carved features and limbs. In the human statue, the meridian system and acupoint marked in white or red. It’s the earliest human statue with a total mark for Acupuncture and Moxibustion of Traditional Chinese Medicine that found in China as of now. Ancients Chinese called Acupuncture and Moxibustion, a kind of magical skill that could bring the dead back to life, and this was because of Bian Que, the founder of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

The story of bringing a dead person back to life

It said when he was young; he managed inns for nobles in his hometown. By accident, Bian Que learned medicine from a highly skilled doctor called Chang Sangjun, who stayed at the hotel. After he grasped the skills, he started traveling to different states to cure patients.

Once Bian Que led his disciples to the State of Guo, where he saw the people of Guo holding an activity to pray to gods. Bian Que and his disciples asked around and got to know that the Crown Prince of Guo got a weird illness, and had already been in a coma. At that time, people thought he was dead. The ruler of Guo was very sad and ordered his people to pray for the Crown Prince, and he prepared to hold a grand funeral for the Crown Prince. Out of his sensitivity as a physician, he asked an attendant of the Crown Prince about the Crown Prince’s condition. This guy knew a little medicine and told Bian Que that the circulation of blood and qi in the Crown Prince’s body blocked, and the internal pathogenic factors couldn’t be removed or defeated by the active elements, so the Crown Prince died all of a sudden. After hearing it out, he said he could save the Crown Prince.

Seeing that Bian Que was a mediocre man, the attendant asked disdainfully: “Can you bring a dead person back to life?” As the attendant suspected his skills, Bian Que replied: “If you don’t believe in me, you can go to the room and touch the Crown Prince’s thighs. They should still be warm. You can also carefully listen to the Crown Prince’s breathing or test it with a lock of hair, and I think he can still breathe weakly. If what I say is right, I may save him.” The attendant did as Bian Que had said, and out of his expectations, he proved what Bian Que said was right.

Immediately, Bian Que was invited to the imperial palace to treat the Crown Prince. He carefully checked over the Crown Prince’s body, and then he took out a thin needle and stabbed several acupoints of the Crown Prince with it. He also asked his disciples to massage the Crown Prince. After a short while, the Crown Prince magically woke up. All the people present were incredibly shocked.

Soon, the news that Bian Que brought the Crown Prince back to life was spread out. The needle that he used to stab the acupoint of the Crown Prince was called the Magical Needle of Bian Que.

Didn't treat patients that believed sorcery could cure diseases

After curing the Crown Prince of Guo, many people asked Bian Que for medical advice. But they found that Bian Que followed a weird rule, that is, he didn't treat patients that believed sorcery could cure diseases.

For a period, Bian Que practiced medicine in the State of Wei, which was today is north of Henan Province and south of Hebei Province. Once, Bian Que got to know that a local person was seriously ill. As a physician, he visited the patient’s home and wanted to treat him. But after seeing Bian Que, the patient’s father disdainfully said: “You can’t cure my son’s disease. I’ve already sent someone to cure him.” It turned out that the patient’s father had sent for a sorcerer. In front of him, the sorcerer started saying incantations to the patient. In the end, the patient got more severely ill, because he did not treat at all, and then he died. Bian Que couldn’t save the patient and saw that the patient died because of sorcery. At that time, there were still many people that believed witchcraft was more effective than medicine.

In ancient China, people mainly relied on sorcery to cure diseases. In the Spring and Autumn and the Warring States periods, there were doctors, but still, many people believed that witchcraft could cure diseases. So after Bian Que healed the Crown Prince of Guo, some people thought that Bian Que used sorcery and brought the Crown Prince back to life. Because of this, Bian Que told people that he couldn’t bring a dead person back to life, and since the Crown Prince of Guo wasn’t dead, what he did was just curing the Crown Prince. Because of this reason, Bian Que refused to treat patients that believed in sorcery.

The story of using the Four Diagnostic Methods

To learn medical skills, Bian Que traveled around and visited many places, including today’s Henan, Hebei, Shandong, Shanxi, and Shaanxi. At that time, there was no branch under medicine, and Bian Que studied all aspects of medicine. When he practiced medicine in Handan, he found that many women there were ill, so he worked as a gynecologist and treated women. In Luoyang, Bian Que heard that many people there got an eye or ear diseases, then Bian Que became a doctor of ophthalmology and otorhinolaryngology. In Xianyang, he saw that local children had a high incidence of getting ill, and later he studied the reasons causing that as a pediatrician.

Gradually, he accumulated rich experience in clinical medicine. He summarised treatment methods like Acupuncture and Moxibustion, massage and taking decoction, and he was good at using the well-known four diagnostic methods of Traditional Chinese Medicine to diagnose illness.

Four Diagnostic Methods of Traditional Chinese Medicine:

Inspection: observing the patient with eyes.

Smelling and Listening: smelling with nose and listening with ears.

Inquiry: asks the patient or the patient’s family about

Palpation: one is feeling the impulse. 

As you know, Traditional Chinese Medicine doctors need to contact the impulse and diagnose according to the changes in the pulse. The other one is pressing the chest and abdomen. He was the first one that used the four diagnostic methods.  In the “Records of the Grand Historian,” there is a story about Bian Que curing a patient with the four diagnostic methods.

At that time, Bian Que practiced medicine in the State of Jin, which was today’s Shanxi and Shaanxi. One day, a retainer of Zhao Jianzi, who was a Grand Master of Jin, visited Bian Que and invited him to check on Zhao Jianzi. The fastener told Bian Que that Zhao Jianzi suddenly fainted several days ago, and didn’t take any medicine. Doctors that had come to check over Zhao Jianzi couldn’t do anything. Then, Bian Que got to Zhao Jianzi’s mansion. Seeing Zhao Jianzi being in a coma, Bian Que lifted a corner of the quilt and felt the impulse of Zhao Jianzi. Then he observed Zhao Jianzi’s look listened to his breathing and asked people around. Then he got to know that Zhao Jianzi had been exhausted after being busy with work. “Because of exhaustion, his qi and blood consumed, and the lack of qi and blood would lead to the lack of blood in the head. As he lacked blood in his head, he fell into a coma. “

So he stood up, and told all people to present there: “Everyone, don’t worry. Grand Master Zhao got ill because he was too exhausted. Duke Mu of Qin, the ruler of Qin, once got ill like this. He was unconscious for seven days and nights. Later he gradually woke up. Grand Master Zhao got ill in the same way as Duke Mu of Qin. Don’t let him take any medicine or treat him with sorcery because those will be of no help.” Two and a half days later, Zhao Jianzi gave a long breath out, and slowly woke up. People were astonished to see that Bian Que was right.

Envied and Assassinated

After curing Zhao Jianzi and the Crown Prince of Guo, Bian Que was gradually recognized by people because of his medical skills. When he practiced medicine in the State of Qin, that is, today’s Shaanxi, Gansu, and Sichuan, he went to provide medical advice for King Wu of Qin, the ruler of Qin. But he was assassinated during this process.

In 309 BC, King Wu of Qin got ill, and Bian Que went on to give medical advice. But some officials of Qin didn’t believe in Bian Que’s medical skills and tried to persuade King Wu of Qin not to let Bian Que treats him. Bian Que got to know this and became angry. He told King Wu of Qin: “You discussed how to cure your illness with me, but you also discussed it with people that know nothing about medicine, which disturbed my treatment. If you manage your country like this, the State of Qin may perish at any time.” With this, Bian Que left. Li Xi, Chief Imperial Physician in the Qin imperial palace, knew Bian Que had excellent medical skills, and fearing that Bian Que would be called in to treat King Wu of Qin’s illness again and become a threat to his status, he dispatched people and had Bian Que assassinated on the way.

Traditional Chinese Medicine Books

After Bian Que passed away, his medical skills were passed down by his disciples and became a treasure of the Chinese civilization. Sima Qian, who compiled the “Records of the Grand Historian,” specially wrote a biography for Bian Que, so that the name of Bian Que, the founder of Traditional Chinese Medicine went down in history.

Regarding Bian Que’s medical achievements, according to the record of the ancient book “Book of Han: Yiwenzhi,” Bian Que once wrote two books including “Bian Que Waijing (External Classic of Bian Que)” and “Bian Que Neijing (Internal Classic of Bian Que).” Pitifully, since a long time has passed by, both masterpieces have been lost. Over thousands of years, doctors have handed down the medical theories of Bian Que from generation to generation by personal examples and verbal instructions.

However, archaeologists have achieved little after making lots of effort. Until 2012, they found 920 pieces of bamboo slips of all sizes included seven ancient medical books in Chengdu City, Sichuan Province, China.

Among the seven medical books, only one’s title could found, and it was called “Reversed and Sequential Ways of Verifying the Mentality with Five Veins.” In the book, the qi of the five organs in the human body depicted in five colors including red, white, green, yellow and black, which were very vivid. As for the other several books without titles, experts defined short names for them by the contents of the books. For example, the names included “Book of Pulse,” “Sixty Illnesses Prescriptions,” “Cishu” and others. The seven medical books took the pulse condition of the human body as the clue and included essential parts of ancient Traditional Chinese Medicine science. Such a medical theory greatly resembled Bian Que’s medical theory which was popular currently.  We couldn’t prove that these words came from “Bian Que Neijing” or “Bian Que Waijing” yet, but they were satisfied that the owner must have grasped extensive and profound medical theories.

Acupoint with Acupuncture and Moxibustion

There is a lacquer human statue housed in Chengdu Museum, which marked with the meridian network and acupoint. The formal name of the little woodman is the Human Body Channel Wood Puppet Painted with Lacquer.

Through careful observation, we find that the secret lies in the little wooden puppet. These fine lines represent the meridian system in Traditional Chinese Medicine theories, and there are as many as tens of them. Besides the lines, Acupuncture and Moxibustion points on the human body have also marked with 117 densely spotted dots on the little wood puppet’s body. Meanwhile, it’s also carved with such small characters as “Xin (heart),” “Fei (lung),” “Shen (kidney)” and others with the meridian system connecting one another and spreading all over the body. They combine all tissues, viscera, and organs in all parts of the human body to form an organic whole. The wood puppet’s owner at that time could refer to it to find Acupuncture and Moxibustion points on a patient’s body to treat him using Acupuncture and Moxibustion therapy.

Half-Human-Half-Bird image

This piece of portrait stone of the Han Dynasty, which kept in the National Museum of China, has been carved with the image of Bian Que practicing medicine. To people’s surprise, on this piece of portrait stone of the Eastern Han Dynasty in China, the legendary physician Bian Que has been carved in the half-human-half-bird image. In the face of him, a patient is sitting on his knees. Bian Que who has depicted as a bird with a human head is taking the pulse of the patient with one hand and raising the silver needle in preparation for treating a patient using acupuncture and moxibustion with the other.

Apparently, the image on this piece of portrait stone was imagined by people by the Chinese character “Que (magpie)” in Bian Que’s name. Magpie is meant to be a good, happy, flying bird for Chinese, so the ancients Chinese, hoping to be helpless, Bian Que can have the wings of a bird, and can operate to help them cure various diseases at any time.

As a publicly recognized legendary physician in history, Bian Que excelled in pulse-taking diagnostic method and Acupuncture and Moxibustion therapy. This evidence revealed to people the unique position of Bian Que's medical sect in the extensive and profound Traditional Chinese Medicine system, which was long-lasting and well established.

key persons in the history of traditional Chinese medicine

Bian Que                 BC 407 - 310      Ancestor of traditional Chinese medicine

Hua Tuo                  AD 145 - 208      Ancestor of Surgery

Zhang Zhongjing   AD 150 - 215      Sage of traditional Chinese medicine

Ge Hong                 AD 284 - 364      Ancestor of first-aid

Sun Simiao             AD 541 - 682       King of the traditional Chinese medicine

Li Shizhen               AD 1518 - 1593   Sage of Medicine and Herbal