Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, December 19 (Reporter Tian Xiaohang) The landmark achievement of the national survey of ancient Chinese medicine literature resources, the "New Catalogue of Ancient Chinese Medicine Books" was officially released in Beijing on the 19th, including a total of 8,650 kinds of ancient Chinese medicine books written and printed before 1912 collected by 379 book collection institutions across the country.
Ancient books of Chinese medicine are an important carrier of the inheritance of Chinese medicine, and also a source of academic progress and innovation in Chinese medicine. The "Opinions on Promoting the Work of Ancient Books in the New Era" issued by the General Office of the Communist Party of China and the General Office of the Communist Party of China in 2022 proposes to sort out and excavate the essence of classical medical books, promote the inheritance, innovation and development of traditional Chinese medicine, and improve people's health and well-being.
According to reports, since the 60s of the 20th century, the Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine Information of the China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences has continued to carry out three national surveys and bibliographies of ancient Chinese medicine literature resources that have lasted for half a centuryFrom 2012 to 2022, the scope and depth of the census were further expanded, and bibliographic information of 231 publicly-owned library institutions was newly collected through surveys in 31 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) across the country, as well as Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan260,000 items, after reviewing the information, improving the gaps, and compiling the "New Catalogue of Ancient Books of Chinese Traditional Chinese Medicine".
The new edition of the General Catalogue of Ancient Books of Chinese Medicine is divided into two volumes, the first volume contains bibliographic information according to discipline classification in the main text, and the main body of the second volume is the index. This bibliography has made significant adjustments and improvements to the original classification of ancient Chinese medicine books, expanded the scope of collection, examined and clarified the ancient books of Chinese medicine and modern Chinese medicine literature, and its item organization system shows the inheritance and development of ancient Chinese medicine literature and the classification layout, providing bibliographic reserves and support for the protection and sorting of ancient Chinese medicine literature.
The new edition of the General Catalogue of Ancient Books of Chinese Traditional Chinese Medicine comprehensively reveals the origin of Chinese medicine and promotes the academic research and open sharing of ancient books of Chinese medicine. Yang Hongjun, vice president of the China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, said that the China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences will continue to increase the protection and inheritance of ancient Chinese medicine books, and constantly improve the construction of relevant databases and digital platforms.