Notes on Compilation and Translation

1.This book is for academic purposes, in other words, it is applicable to students studying traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) in English at home and abroad. Therefore, it can be used as a higher textbook for foreign students in Chinese universities or colleges of TCM, and also for students in TCM schools or colleges overseas. Furthermore, it is a popular book read for self-learning among the general public, who may themselves be experienced TCM practitioners for improving their clinical proficiencies, or those interested in TCM classics or the Shanghan Lun（伤寒论, Treatise on Cold-Induced Disorders）only.

2.TCM classics are archaic and complex in language, and diversified and profound in meaning, thus it is very difficult for today’s people to understand all of its original text. For requirement and convenience of teaching, 198 articles and 74 formulas of the Shanghan Lun, which are seen as important and basic parts of the classic have been selected and compiled into this textbook, and are divided into six chapters, such as Taiyang pattern, Yangming pattern, Shaoyang pattern, Taiyin pattern, Shaoyin pattern and Jueyin pattern. Furthermore, each pattern is redivided into several sections according to their specific academic contents, such as their outline, principal syndromes, concomitant syndromes,transmuted syndromes and contraindicated syndromes.

3.In order to teach or self-studying the textbook conveniently and effectively,there are three items set up for each article, i.e., synopsis, commentary and application. Formerly, the original text of each article is expressed in blackthick scripts. The “synopsis” refers to a brief summary of the core idea of this article; the “commentary” refers to an analysis or explanation on the main academic viewpoints based on the “synopsis”; and finally, “application”points out the guiding significance of the article in both TCM basic theory and clinical practice, or utilizes some examples to highlight its clinical application in the later ages. There are questions at end of every chapter in“for review and thinking” so as to direct students to precisely understand and firmly grasp the absolute learning content and major viewpoints in the chapter.

4.The classic concepts in Shanghan Lun selected and compiled into this text book, are based on the requirements for studying. The most originals in the book appear in identical chapters of the Shanghan Lun, with just a few articles as exceptions. The number of the articles are preserved in the book,but the article sequence has changed much in the light of teaching demand.Usually every article is dealt with alone, but sometimes two or more articles are dealt with together in one section due to their common ground in academic regard. In addition, some unnecessary or poorly understood topics of the original text in Shanghan Lun haven’t been selected into this book.

5.The Chinese meanings of a part of characters and terminology in the original text have different explanations up to now, with only one meaning being generally acknowledged and adopted into this book, but a few words in the original text are explained in accordance with personal understandings of the compiler of this book. The purpose is minimizing perplexities arising among learners or readers when seeking an understanding of the material.

6.There are some characters, phrases and sentences in the original text of the Shanghan Lun that should be collated and then can be understood clearly and correctly. The most collated original text in this book are in accordance with the current text books in Chinese, however a few collations are presented through the compiler’s comprehension.

7.It is very hard to accurately translate TCM writings from Chinese into English, especially when translating TCM classics, since there are no readymade corresponding words, phrases and sentences in the English language.Consequently, this book is translated from Chinese into English by means of free translation methods, partly combined with word-for-word translation and transliteration. Furthermore, the free translation is based on a combination of the corresponding Chinese character denotation and TCM theories.

8.Transliteration in this book is accompanied by Chinese phonetic alphabet in italics. Generally speaking, transliteration should be used as least as possible.Only a minority of the terms and phrases in this book are roughly translated into English, including some specialized TCM vocabulary that lack corresponding English expressions, and are translated using Chinese phonetic alphabet, such as Yin-Yang（阴阳）, Qi（气）, Sanjiao（三焦）, Bianzheng Lunzhi（辨证论治）, Taiyang（太阳）, names of persons, books,dynasties, meridians, Chinese herbal medicines, formulas and acupoints.Some TCM terms are translated with a combination of free translation and transliteration, e.g., Zangfu-organs（脏腑）, upper- Jiao（上焦）and so on.

9.When certain basic or important terms and phrases first appear, two translations with Chinese characters may be displayed simultaneously so as to easily comprehend the true meaning of these English expressions.Thereafter, one of the two is continuously used alone.

10.Some articles offer relevant prescriptions which are called classical formulas.Usually we introduce the ingredients and their doses of each formula as they first appear in the book; after that, only the name of the formulas are mentioned without their ingredients and doses. The dosages of Chinese medicines in each formula are commonly used clinically in the modern day,and not the original dosages of Shanghan Lun, during Eastern Han Dynasty for the sake of minimizing the readers’ difficulty in dose conversion. By decreasing the length of the book, the methods of preparation and usage in only certain representative formulas are discussed, while others are omitted.

11.To facilitate study for the readers, indexes following the main reference books, ordinal number of the articles and the formulas used in this textbook are recorded at very end of the book.