Nathan Sivin, History and Sociology of Science, University of Pennsylvania
Almost everything we know about Chinese medicine before modern times is about classical physicians and their work. But most people before modern times—rural, illiterate, and poor—had no access to elite practitioners. The majority depended instead on healers who employed mostly local drugs, or on ritualists of the popular religion, Buddhism, or Daoism. This talk will discuss for the first time the whole spectrum of health care, and explore the interactions of ritual medicine with other kinds. It will also remark on the uses of this understanding in studying literature, history, and other fields.