Bian Que

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Bian Que, shown on a stamp of the People's Republic of China, (1962)
Bian Que, shown on a stamp of the People's Republic of China, (1962)

Bian Que (Chinese: 扁鹊; Wade-Giles: Pien Ch'üeh; the characters of his name are also often pronounced Bian Qiao, Wade-Giles: Pien Ch'iao) was, according to legend, the earliest known Chinese physician (ca. 500 B.C.). His real name is said to be Qin Yueren (Simplified Chinese: 秦越人), but his medical skills were so amazing that the people gave him the same name as the legendary doctor Bian Que, from the time of Huang Di.

According to the legend recorded in the Records of the Grand Historian, he was gifted with clairvoyance from a deity when he was working as a noble hostel staff. The legend states that while being a attendant at the hostel, he encountered an old man who stayed there for many years. The old man was thankful of Bian Que's attentive service and politeness, and gave him a packet of medicine which he told Bian Que to boil in water. After taking this medicine, he gained the ability to see through the human body. He thereby became an excellent diagnostician with his X-ray-like ability. He also excelled in pulse taking and acupuncture therapy. He is ascribed the authorship of Bian Que Neijing (Internal Classic of Bian Que). Han Dynasty physicians claimed to have studied his works, which have since been lost. Tales state that he was a doctor of many disciplines, conforming to the local needs wherever he went. For example, in one city he was a children's doctor, and in another a female physician.

One famous legend tells of how once when Bian Que was in the feudal state of Cai, he saw the lord of the state at the time and told him that he had a disease, which Bian Que claimed was only in his skin. The lord brushed this aside as at that time he felt no symptoms, and told his attendants that Bian Que was just trying to profit from the fears of others. Bian Que is said to have visited the lord many times thereafter, telling him each time how this sickness was becoming progressively worse, each time spreading into more of his body, from his skin to his blood and to his organs. The last time Bian Que went to see the lord, he looked in from afar, and rushed out of the palace. When an attendant of the lord asked him why he had done this, he replied that the disease was in the marrow and was incurable. The lord was said to have died soonafter.

Another legend stated that once, while visiting the state of Guo, he saw people mourning on the streets. Upon inquiring what their grievences were, he got the reply that the heir apparent of the lord had died, and the lord was in mourning. Sensing something aloof, he is said to have gone to the palace to inquire about the circumstances of the death. After hearing of how the prince "died", he concluded that the prince had not really died, but was rather in a coma-like state. Using his acupuncture, he was said to have brought the prince back to consciousness. Prescribing the prince with medicine, the prince healed within days.

Bian Que advocated the four-step diagnoses of "Looking (at their tongues and their outside appearances), Listening (to their voice and breathing patterns), Inquiring (about their symptoms), and Taking (their pulse)."

According to legend, he performed a dual-heart transplant on warriors Gong Hu and Qi Ying.

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