Jiao Shude: A Physician of His Generation Mastering Both Chinese and Western Medicine

Professor Jiao Shude was born in May 1922 in Xinji City, Hebei Province. In his early years he studied Chinese medicine under his maternal grandfather, studying the classical medical texts and repeatedly reading the TCM classics Huangdi Neijing (Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon), Nanjing (Classic of Questions), Shanghan Lun, Jingui Yaolue and Shennong Bencao Jing; he also ranged through the Qianjin Fang, Waizhai Miyao, and representative works of physicians of the Jin, Yuan, Ming and Qing dynasties, laying a solid TCM foundation.

In 1941, at only nineteen, Jiao Shude opened a practice in his hometown. At the same time, he self-studied and was admitted to the Tianjin National Medical College and a Western-medicine specialized school for correspondence study, continuing to learn both Chinese and Western medicine while practicing clinically. During the War of Resistance against Japan, Jiao Shude joined the resistance effort, diagnosing and treating wounded anti-Japanese soldiers. In 1946 he passed the examination and review of the Jizhong Health Bureau and was issued a physician's certificate; in 1950 Jiao Shude practiced in Beijing. In the winter of 1951, he became an internal-medicine physician at Beijing Second Hospital, working in Western medicine.

In the winter of 1955, Jiao Shude joined the Central Ministry of Health's research class for Western-medicine physicians studying Chinese medicine, once again systematically studying TCM for three years. During his studies, he personally received instruction from dozens of nationally renowned TCM masters such as Pu Fuzhou, Huang Zhuzhai, Yang Shuqian and Qin Bowei; upon graduation he was awarded a silver medal.

Jiao Shude's training in medicine was rich. Especially commendable is that, starting at nineteen, he engaged in clinical work, accumulating experience while learning with questions in mind; this way of learning is highly efficient. After years of practice and study, Professor Jiao was outstanding both in theoretical grounding and clinical efficacy, and so became one of China's first 500 national TCM experts.

Professor Jiao studied both Chinese and Western medicine and for a period worked full-time in Western medicine. Later, because he loved Chinese medicine more, he went back to deep TCM study; when he attended the research class for Western physicians studying Chinese medicine, he was fortunate to take courses from some of the most renowned TCM masters of the day, which greatly promoted the improvement of his medical skill.

Of course, that Jiao Shude became a renowned physician with outstanding efficacy owed even more to his own tireless effort. He integrated apprenticeship, self-study, the National Medical College, a Western-medicine school, and the Western-to-Chinese research class, investing enormous effort into his medical training. Theoretical study laid a solid foundation for his clinical work, and clinical work in turn pointed the way for further theoretical study. He was a true practitioner of lifelong learning; as a physician, his ceaseless diligence ultimately brought him outstanding achievements both in medical skill and scholarship.

Professor Jiao Shude's major works include Ten Lectures on Medication Insight, Ten Lectures on Formula Insight, On Pattern Differentiation and Treatment from Case Histories, Jiao Shude's TCM Internal Medicine, and Shude's TCM Internal Medicine. Professor Jiao was skilled in treating difficult and complicated diseases; works compiled by his students, such as Yan Xiaopin's Annotated Hundred Clinical Cases of Jiao Shude, are also important references for learning his approach.

A major feature of Professor Jiao's medication was his fondness for combining formulas. In his writings and case records we often see him merging several historically famous empirical formulas into one prescription. The efficacy of combined formulas is often more marked than that of a single formula, but to use them well, a TCM physician needs broad learning and a solid TCM foundation.

Because he had a Western-medicine background, Professor Jiao's diagnostic and medication precision was higher than that of the average TCM physician. He could organically integrate modern medicine with Chinese medicine to better serve patients, which was an important factor in his outstanding clinical results.

For Chinese medicine to survive better in a modernized society, clinical efficacy is the key. Only by continuously learning and continuously improving efficacy can we gain the trust of more and more patients, relieve suffering for more patients, and open broader ground for our own careers.