CANG GONG

 VALDEMIR MOTA DE MENEZES

1. Two Famous Acupuncturists in Ancient China
2. In the early Han dynasty, around BCE 200,
3. there was another important medical practitioner whose name is often mentioned along with Bian Que.
4. This is Chun Yuyi,
5. better known as Cang Gong,
6. who practiced the medical traditions of the Yellow Emperor and Bian Que.
7. Cang Gong made his diagnoses based on the “five colors,”
8. part of the ancient Chinese system of Five Elements active
9. in the human body:
10. metal, wood, water, fire, earth.
11. Wood, for example, represents the color blue;
12. fire is red;
13. earth is yellow;
14. metal is white;
15. and water is black.
16. Our internal organs, and their functions, are also part of this five-part system:
17. the liver corresponds to wood;
18. the heart to fire;
19. the lungs to metal;
20. the gall bladder to the yellow earth;
21. and the kidneys to black water.
22. These correspondences help TCM doctors diagnose illnesses
23. by the color of the patient’s complexion.
24. The Historical Annals recounts how the Han emperor Wendi once held
25. a conversation with Cang Gong
26. in which the doctor recited a list of 25 different illnesses
27. he had cured in his lifetime,
28. based solely on the patients’ external appearance.
29. In another famous incident,
30. Cang Gong was treating a patient with dental cavities,
31. which he cured by applying a stone needle to an acupuncture point
32. on the patient’s left hand.
33. Other famous doctors in the history
34. of TCM include Zhang Zhongjing,
35. Sun Simiao and a long, long list of others.