Circulation of Song Hejijufang Prescriptions as Nabyak - Focused on Uwhangcheongsimwon -
- Author:
Xingyu LI
1
Author Information
- Publication Type:Article
- From:Korean Journal of Medical History 2026;35(1):1-40
- CountryRepublic of Korea
- Language:Korean
- Abstract: This study analyzes the influence of the “Taipinghuiminhejijufang” (hereafter “Hejijufang”), an official Song Dynasty medical text, on the formation of Joseon’s Nabyak (year-end medicine) and examines the bidirectional nature of Korea-China medical exchange and the circular process of knowledge. This study confirms that the prescriptions in “Nabyakjeungchibang” and “Eonhaenabyakjeungchibang”, which were specialized medical books on Joseon’s Nabyak, originated from the original Nabyak prescriptions of “Hejijufang”.This research examines the localization of these original prescriptions across two dimensions: textual knowledge and social function. Regarding textual knowledge, Joseon medical texts exhibited a “standardization reliance” on Chinese medical techniques while simultaneously pursuing a “regional reconstruction” of medical terminology. In terms of social function, Uwhangcheongsimwon and Sohaphyangwon -- universal medicines for treating Feng and Qi disorders -- performed multifaceted roles in Joseon as emergency medicines, imperial gifts, and relief supplies.Furthermore, the study tracks the case of Uwhangcheongsimwon, where Joseonized knowledge was converted into material form and reintroduced to China. The treasurization of the Joseon Uwhangcheongsimwon in the Qing Dynasty was preceded by the decline in authority of the original “Hejijufang” version within China. Against this backdrop, Joseon-manufactured Uwhangcheongsimwon entered China through diplomatic envoys and became extensively popular.The factors behind the treasurization of Joseon Uwhangcheongsimwon are as follows: First, its material superiority characterized by outstanding efficacy and high-quality authentic medicinal herbs -- Joseon’s ginseng and bezoar. Second, the psychological tendencies of “valuing the distant over the near” and “preferring the expensive over the cheap” endowed the Joseon medicine with a sense of mystery. Third, attendants of diplomatic envoys sold counterfeit pills, which paradoxically maximized the craving for authentic Joseon products.In conclusion, the acceptation, reverse inflow, and treasurization of “Hejijufang” prescriptions represent a large-scale practice of the “comigration of knowledge and material”, showing how knowledge that acquired locality in a new space (Joseon) flows back to its original space (China) in the form of material (patented medicine). This vividly proves that medical exchange between Korea and China was not a one-way dissemination from China to Joseon, but a process of creative transformation and mutual circulation.
