Overview
Hua Tuo was a Physician and Surgeon.
Other names
| Type | English | Chinese | Pinyin |
|---|---|---|---|
| Courtesy name | Yuanhua | 元化 | Yuanhua |
| Alternate name | Hua Fu | 旉 | Fu |
Life and dates
Death
- AD 196 to AD 220 曹操闻而召佗（无纪年）Executed · Responsible Person Id Cao Cao (魏武) · Circumstance Cao Cao rejected Xun Yu's plea for pardon and in the end killed himDirectly stated · Book of Later Han 93, passages 175-176
Attested activity
- AD 150 to AD 220 华佗行医之时（无纪年）Derived from the source · Book of Later Han 93, passages 133, 135, 137
- AD 196 to AD 220 曹操闻而召佗（无纪年）Derived from the source · Book of Later Han 93, passages 157, 176
Family
Immediate relationships attested in the translated histories.
- Parent of Child of Hua Tuo (华佗小兒)father 翁Directly stated · Book of Later Han 93, passage 142
- Spouse of Wife of Hua Tuo (华佗妻)wife 妻Directly stated · Book of Later Han 93, passages 172, 174
Career and standing
- summons to the staff of the Grand Commandant 太尉辟Directly stated · Book of Later Han 93, passage 136
- arrested after Cao Cao's investigation showed his wife's illness was feigned; under examination he confessedDirectly stated · Book of Later Han 93, passage 174
Places and affiliations
- At Qiao, principality of Pei 沛国谯 · Relation Native ofDirectly stated · Book of Later Han 93, passage 133
Learning and skills
- Travelled and studiedAt the land of Xu 徐土 · Subjects several classics 数经Directly stated · Book of Later Han 93, passage 134
- NominatedDirectly stated · Book of Later Han 93, passage 136
- Skill formulary and drugs 方药 · Level expert · his prescriptions used no more than a few ingredients, he knew weights to the fen and zhu without a scale, and he needled no more than a few pointsDirectly stated · Book of Later Han 93, passage 137
- Skill the arts of nurturing life 养性之术 · Level expertDirectly stated · Book of Later Han 93, passage 135
- Skill surgery under anaesthesia with hemp-boil powder 麻沸散、刳破腹背 · Level renowned · opened the abdomen or back, excised accumulations, rinsed the gut, sewed the wound and applied a numinous salve; the wound healed in four or five days and the body was whole within a monthDirectly stated · Book of Later Han 93, passages 138-139
Works and attributed material
- a scroll of medical writing 一卷书Relation Author · Burned after the jailor refused itDirectly stated · Book of Later Han 93, passages 177-178
- lacquer-leaf and green-sticky powder 漆叶青黏散Relation Transmitter · With Fan A (樊阿) · one dou of powdered lacquer leaves to fourteen liang of green-sticky as the standard proportionDirectly stated · Book of Later Han 93, passage 195
- lacquer-leaf and green-sticky powder 漆叶青黏散Relation Originator · the chapter appends a note on where the two ingredients are obtained: lacquer trees grow everywhere, while green-sticky grows in the country between Feng, Pei, Pengcheng and ZhaogeDirectly stated · Book of Later Han 93, passages 198-199
- the Play of the Five Beasts 五禽之戏Relation OriginatorDirectly stated · Book of Later Han 93, passage 189
- AD 150 to AD 220 华佗行医之时（无纪年）Diagnosis · Speaker · With General Li (李将军) · Quoted · Summary insisted against General Li's denial that the pulse showed the fetus had not departed, that there had been two fetuses, and that the dead one had dried fast to the mother's spineDirectly stated · Book of Later Han 93, passages 159, 161, 164-166, 169
- AD 150 to AD 220 华佗行医之时（无纪年）Discourse · Speaker · With Wu Pu (吴普) · Quoted · Summary taught Wu Pu that the body wants movement but not to exhaustion, and expounded the Play of the Five Beasts — tiger, deer, bear, ape and bird — as a substitute for daoyin exercisesDirectly stated · Book of Later Han 93, passages 186-191
Show 3 more source-backed claims
- AD 150 to AD 220 华佗行医之时（无纪年）Prognosis · Speaker · With Chen Deng (陈登) · Quoted · Summary warned Chen Deng that the disease would flare again after three cycles and that only a skilled physician could then save himDirectly stated · Book of Later Han 93, passage 155
- AD 150 to AD 220 华佗行医之时（无纪年）Prognosis · Speaker · Quoted · Summary told a patient that the roots of his disease were deep and required cutting open the belly, but that his lifespan would not exceed ten years in any case and the disease could not kill him firstDirectly stated · Book of Later Han 93, passages 148-149
- Claim · Speaker · Paraphrased · Summary said that taken over a long time the powder removes the three worms, benefits the five viscera, lightens the body and keeps the hair from turning whiteStrongly inferred · Book of Later Han 93, passage 196
Events and relationships
- Asked Cao Cao for leave to go home and fetch formulas, then used his wife's illness as a pretext and repeatedly missed the deadline for returningDirectly stated · Book of Later Han 93, passages 172-173
- Diagnosed Li Cheng's cough as an intestinal abscess, gave two cash measures of powder and warned that the illness would return in eighteen years and could not be cured without the same drugDirectly stated · Book of Later Han 93, passages 179-181
- Diagnosed twin fetuses in General Li's wife, one dead and dried to the spine, needled her and gave a decoction, then had someone extract the dead fetusAD 150 to AD 220 华佗行医之时（无纪年） · Medical · Physician · With Wife of General Li (李将军妻) · Outcome A blackened but recognizable dead fetus was drawn outDirectly stated · Book of Later Han 93, passages 158-159, 161, 163-167, 169-170
- Judged that a long ill grand administrator would recover only through violent rage, took his gifts without treating him, then left a letter of abuseAD 150 to AD 220 华佗行医之时（无纪年） · Medical · Physician · Outcome The grand administrator raged, sent men to kill him, failed to catch him, vomited several sheng of black blood and recoveredDirectly stated · Book of Later Han 93, passages 144-147
- Needled Cao Cao for his chronic headaches with dizzinessAD 196 to AD 220 曹操闻而召佗（无纪年） · Medical · Physician · With Cao Cao (魏武) · Outcome Cured as soon as the hand movedDirectly stated · Book of Later Han 93, passage 157
- On the point of death offered a scroll of writing to the jailor, saying it could keep people alive; when the clerk feared the law and refused, he burned itAD 196 to AD 220 曹操闻而召佗（无纪年） · Personal · Condemned prisoner · With Jailor Who Refused Hua Tuo's Book (狱吏)Directly stated · Book of Later Han 93, passages 177-178
Show 6 more source-backed claims
- On the road told a man choking with a blocked throat to drink three sheng of a cake seller's sour duckweed pickleAD 150 to AD 220 华佗行医之时（无纪年） · Medical · Physician · Outcome The man vomited a snake, hung it on his cart and came to Hua Tuo's gate, where he saw a dozen more snakes hanging on the north wallDirectly stated · Book of Later Han 93, passages 140-141, 143
- Operated on a patient who could not bear the pain and insisted on removalAD 150 to AD 220 华佗行医之时（无纪年） · Medical · Surgeon · Outcome The patient recovered at once and died ten years later as predictedDirectly stated · Book of Later Han 93, passages 150-151
- Took Chen Deng's pulse, diagnosed worms in the stomach forming an internal abscess from rank food, and gave two sheng of decoctionAD 150 to AD 220 华佗行医之时（无纪年） · Medical · Physician · With Chen Deng (陈登) · Outcome Chen Deng vomited three sheng of red headed worms and the suffering ceasedDirectly stated · Book of Later Han 93, passages 152-154
- summoned by Cao Cao and constantly kept at his sideDirectly stated · Book of Later Han 93, passage 157
- Fan A of Pengcheng studied under himDirectly stated · Book of Later Han 93, passage 184
- Wu Pu of Guangling studied under himDirectly stated · Book of Later Han 93, passage 184
Assessments and attributes
- Assessment his supreme skills were all of this sort · Source Text 佗之绝技，皆此类也 · Mode historian-judgmentDirectly stated · Book of Later Han 93, passage 171
- Assessment taken by his contemporaries for an immortal (仙) · Mode contemporary-opinionDirectly stated · Book of Later Han 93, passage 135
- difficult in personality and hard to please, ashamed to make a career of being seen as a physicianCharacter · Source Text 为人性恶，难得意，且耻以医见业Directly stated · Book of Later Han 93, passage 172
- nearly a hundred years old yet still of vigorous countenancePhysical description · Source Text 年且百岁而犹有壮容Directly stated · Book of Later Han 93, passage 135
Source notes
- Leng Shouguang, Tang Yu and Lu Nüsheng were all his contemporariesContemporaries · Source Text 皆与华佗同时Directly stated · Book of Later Han 93, passage 201
References in the histories
33 passages
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