Health Care in Eleventh-Century China

“Sivin’s synthesis successfully shows how in eleventh-century China the therapeutic practices of elite physicians, officials, monks, priests or popular ritual masters, given their respective backgrounds, all converged towards a similar goal: finding an efficacious way to bring order to what was perceived as a disorder of the body, of society or of the spiritual world.” (Matthias Hayek, Medical History, Vol. 60 (4), October, 2016)“In his book, Sivin integrates his research with the study of religious history, especially that of Daoism, and begins by examining how some of the most common religions treated diseases at that time. … Based on existing research on medicine and religions in the Song dynasty, this book represents health care in eleventh-century China in a whole new light, with its rich knowledge of medical anthropology, historyof religion, Chinese medicine and Western medical history.” (Ka-wai Fan, Metascience, Vol. 25, 2016)

• Chapter 1: Introduction.- Chapter 2: The Question of Efficacy.- Chapter 3: Classical Medicine.- Chapter 4: Therapy in Popular Religion.- Chapter 5: Therapy in Elite Religions.- Chapter 6: Therapy in the State Religion.- Chapter 7: Conclusions.- Appendix.