Book Recommendation: Liu Shaowu's Lectures on the Three Regions and Six Diseases
Professor Liu Shaowu was, during his lifetime, a chief physician at the Taiyuan Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Shanxi Province. Mr. Liu devoted his whole life to the clinical practice, teaching, and research of TCM. He studied assiduously the TCM classics such as the Huangdi Neijing (Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon) and the Shanghan Lun (Treatise on Cold Damage), and diligently studied modern medicine, physiology, and related natural-science knowledge. Combining these with his own clinical experience, he founded a new doctrine integrating TCM (especially Zhang Zhongjing's six-channel syndrome differentiation) with modern medicine. He summarized his theory as the "Three Regions and Six Diseases" theory.
By "three regions," Mr. Liu meant the exterior region, the interior region, and the pivot region. He assigned to the exterior region the parts of the human body that contact air and the outside world—these include the body surface, the lung system, the reproductive system, and part of the nervous system. He held that the exterior region adapts to the environment and maintains close relations with it, performing physiological functions such as respiration, movement, and sensation. The interior region refers to the parts that contact food—the oral cavity, the digestive system, and even the anus that expels food residue all belong to the interior region. The pivot region refers to the parts where qi and blood meet; the pivot region combines the oxygen inhaled by the exterior region with the water-and-grain essence absorbed by the interior region into blood, which circulates incessantly to nourish the whole body. The body's blood circulation system and organs such as the liver and kidneys all belong to the pivot region.
He then divided diseases caused by various factors into those of negative (yin-type) reaction and those of positive (yang-type) reaction. A positive reaction causes vasodilation, functional excitation, and elevated body temperature. A negative reaction leads to vasoconstriction, functional inhibition, and lowered body temperature.
The exterior, interior, and pivot regions may each give rise to either negative or positive reactions, so human diseases can be broadly divided into six patterns: exterior-yang syndrome, exterior-yin syndrome, interior-yang syndrome, interior-yin syndrome, pivot-yang syndrome, and pivot-yin syndrome. Drawing on his clinical experience, he summarized and classified the treatment methods for these three regions and six diseases, producing a clear, well-organized system with corresponding treatment prescriptions that are quite valuable for reference.
This classification echoes Zhang Zhongjing's six-channel syndrome differentiation, but Mr. Liu Shaowu's theory is combined with modern medical theory and feels refreshing. Mr. Liu's Three Regions and Six Diseases thought was influenced by the Japanese Kampo physician Yuumoto Shinkyuu (Tang Ben Qiu Zhen), and bears similarities to Professor Hu Xishu's medical thought, but Mr. Liu's theory is more complete.
Personally, I greatly admire Mr. Liu Shaowu's innovative doctrine. It is a typical work integrating Chinese and Western medicine. A clinician can only found such a doctrine after reading widely, practicing diligently, accumulating rich clinical experience, and building a solid theoretical foundation. I regard his theory as more scientific than Zhang Zhongjing's six-channel differentiation and of higher reference value.
TCM theory must innovate and integrate with modern science. If TCM remains rigidly closed and refuses to absorb new knowledge, it will be hard pressed to progress. Mr. Liu Shaowu's scholarly attitude is also worth learning for those of us who come after.