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Title: Shang Han Lun: On Cold Damage, Translation & Commentaries
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Manufacturer: Paradigm Publications (MA)
List Price: $84.95
Our Price: $84.89
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| Customer Reviews: |
| Shang Han Lun: On Cold Damage, Translation & Commentaries by Paradigm Publications (MA) Thank you! | | Mitchell, Ye, and Wiseman's translation of the Shang Han Lun is without a doubt among the treasures of my Chinese medicine library. By providing the Chinese medicine community with a line by line translation of this classic work, the translators have enabled a depth of study unparalleled in any other translation of a Chinese medical text. Furthermore, the inclusion of the original Chinese (both in simplified and traditional characters) along with pinyin, linguistic clarification, and an extensive language appendix (worthy of a book unto itself!) studying this text allows the reader to simultaneously learn Chinese medical language while immersing oneself in a seminal and indispensable classic of Chinese medical literature. Aside from its own inherent clinical and academic value - which is undeniably great - this work therefore offers a gateway to a vast treasure house of un-translated Chinese medical literature. This book is an exceptionally valuable gift to the Chinese medicine profession in English speaking countries. It should set the standard for all future translations of classical Chinese medical texts. I hope the Jin Gui Yao Lue follows... | | Shang Han Lun: On Cold Damage, Translation & Commentaries by Paradigm Publications (MA) "A Readers" review is factually incorrect and misleading | As the publisher of this book, there are several factual errors in the anonymous review posted here that I would like to address.
First, the "translation of a translation" comment is misleading. First century texts such as the Shang Han Lun are not books one pulls off a shelf. They were typically prepared on silk or bamboo, and their content is today known via a process called "collation" where archeological artifacts and references in later texts are studied to create a best possible idea of the orginal. The Shang Han Lun Yi Shi, on which this text is based, has been considered the standard by scholars for some time.
Secondly, the "translation of a translation" issue is germane only in texts that do not contain the source Chinese. Not only does this text contain the source Chinese, there are appendicies that contain a ground-breaking study of the Shang Han Lun terminology, and alternate orderings of the Chinese text. Importantly, the translators decisions are openly and transparently justified giving readers the opportunity and tools they need to decide questions for themselves. In the case of this translation, each passage in the text is accompanied, not only by the English translation, but by commentary on the terminology and translational decisions.
As regards the anonymous writer's contention that the commentaries are not by the author. This is simply false. Feng Ye, Md. Phd., is listed as an author; he is a professor at Chang Gung Medical College where he supervises and instructs graduate Chinese medicial doctors in a teaching hospital. Dr. Wiseman, the primary linguist, also teaches at Chang Gung Medical College and has widely published not only the term set but also the research on which this translation is based.
Everyone will make their own decision as to which Shang Han Lun best suits their needs, but that decision should not be informed by "a Reader's" factual errors.
Bob Felt
Publisher
Paradigm Publications
| | Shang Han Lun: On Cold Damage, Translation & Commentaries by Paradigm Publications (MA) All form and no substance | I would like to point out a few things about this book. Yes, I do have a personal beef with a translator who has a book signing. I mean the real star here is the Shang Han Lun, not him.
1) Most important point, though no one will say it, this is not a real translation of the classical Shang Han Lun. It is a translation of a translation into modern Chinese. As one esteemed Chinese teacher said, when listing books that needed to be written into english;" We need a new translation of the Shang Han Lun, not the Easy Shang Han Lun."
2) Notice that the comentaries are not by Mitchell, but instead by a Shang Han Lun expert in China. This means that you do not get any kind of cross cultural translation.
You are better off getting a much less expensive, old copy of the Shang Han Lun and reading that. | | Shang Han Lun: On Cold Damage, Translation & Commentaries by Paradigm Publications (MA) Book Description | | The Shang Han Lun has been a primary treatment theory and practice source for nearly two millenia. Its author, Zhang Zhong Jing, has been named the "Chinese Hippocrates" to highlight the depth and breadth of his contribution to traditional Chinese drug therapy. This edition features the Chinese text, Pinyin transliteration, and an English translation of the entire Song Dynasty text, the content and textual order most used in Asia. Just as in Chinese language editions, it is fully supplemented with notes and commentaries. The notes describe the clinical symptoms Zhang Zhong Jing associated with the Chinese terms. For example, modern interpretations of a "moderate" pulse often refer to the speed of its beats. The same term, when used in the Shang Han Lun, refers to a pulse that is loose, soft, and harmonious. Such notes provide practitioners with the clinical observations necessary to properly apply the information. The commentaries further enhance the text's clinical utility by explaining the theoretical and practical foundations behind the lines of text. Because entire bodies of theory and practice can be associated with the terms and expressions used in cannonical works like the Shang Han Lun, commentaries have become a standard means of knowledge acquisition for Asian students. The commentaries in this edition serve exactly the same purpose, greatly enhancing its utility. The introductory matter explains the background of the text, the conceptual structure of its contents, and the problems of exegesis. The appendices are designed to assist those studying Chinese and the glossary and the full Pinyin-English index make this an easily accessed reference. |
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