Chinese medicine is all about holistic therapies that balance the body's energies. Right?
Not so fast, says Yan Liu. Countering stereotypes about Chinese medicine, Liu's new book Healing with Poisons examines the little-known “tradition of harnessing toxic drugs that would forcefully destroy or expel pathogenic entities” (p. 4). He shows how highly dangerous poisons such as aconite, arsenic, mercury, and realgar were among the most popular medicines in the medieval era (defined here as the third to tenth centuries CE). The medieval understanding of the efficacy of these substances centered around the notion of du 毒, a term meaning both “toxic” and “potent,” which in Liu's words belies an “inherent tension between poison and medicine” (p. 15) in Chinese pharmacology.
Scholars will find this fascinating exploration of Chinese pharmacology a pleasure to read, with short, well-structured chapters and a coherent arc to the argument throughout. Each chapter begins with a vignette revolving around a patient, a doctor, an author, or another historical figure's encounter with du, and how they navigated (or failed to navigate) the poison/medicine duality. These narratives are both instructive and entertaining and, combined with Liu's clear and compelling prose, make sections of this book assignable to undergraduate students. Given the large numbers of people across the Anglophone world who are involved with various types of Chinese medical practice today, there should also be a fair amount of interest in this research among contemporary practitioners. The availability of the book free of charge through an open access arrangement will be much appreciated by all of the above.
The book is divided into three parts. Part one focuses on the late classical and early medieval periods. In this section, chapter 1 unpacks the multivalent meaning of the word du and the role of this term in the pharmacology of the classical period. Chapter 2 explores the procedures employed to process, manage, and attenuate poisons to render them more suitable for human consumption.
Part two focuses on the later medieval period. Here, chapter 3 examines the use of poisons in combating epidemics, demons, and witchcraft, but also in perpetrating certain types of sorcery. Chapter 4 traces both the emergence of government regulation of these dangerous medicines in the Tang dynasty (618–907) as well as local adaptations of this knowledge at Dunhuang. Chapter 5 focuses on writings about poison by the influential physician Sun Simiao (581–682), unpacking both his formularies and case studies.
Part three extends beyond the cure of disease to look at how poisonous substances were used to enhance one's health and vitality. Chapter 6 focuses on the popular formula Five Stone Powder widely used as a tonic and stimulant among elites. Chapter 7 turns to alchemical elixirs that were intended to promote health and longevity and supposedly led to “transcendence”—although they frequently turned out to be lethal. The conclusion summarizes the contributions of the book to the field of medieval Chinese historical studies while drawing out some implications for contemporary times. Noting high-profile examples of scientific research on the health benefits of toxic Chinese medicines in the last few decades, Liu demonstrates that the distinction between poison and medicine is still a porous one.
Liu's study furthers the trend in current scholarship to explore the entanglement of the histories of medieval Chinese medicine and religions. In drawing attention to potent drugs as objects that cross the therapeutic activities of elite Chinese physicians, religious clerics, and popular healers, the work complements recent publications by Chen Ming, Catherine Despeux, Michael Stanley-Baker, and myself that similarly blur these boundaries. Looking beyond China, Liu also speaks to concerns that are shared among scholars of Asian medicines in other contexts. For example, extensive work has been done on the use of mercury in Tibetan medicine by Barbara Gerke, whose book Taming the Poisonous was published this same year.Footnote 1 Other scholars have been looking at the use of poisons in Ayurveda, Siddha, and Yunani medicine both historically and in contemporary practice. The example of Ayurveda is mentioned in passing in Liu's introduction (p. 7), but in my view, the book could have been improved by entering into more robust dialogue with this scholarship to compare the role of poisons in the Chinese pharmacopoeia with that of other Asian traditions.
On the other hand, what the book lacks in cross-cultural connections, it more than makes up for in the richness and diversity of its historical Chinese source base. Cutting across a multitude of literary genres (including imperial histories, published medical texts, Daoist treatises, Buddhist miracle tales, archaeologically recovered manuscripts, and more), this book provides a comprehensive picture of the medical use of toxins across wide segments of medieval Chinese society. Thus, it is safe to say that if you are a Sinologist who may happen upon poisonous substances in your line of work, you would be well advised to keep a copy of this book close at hand.
