Introduction
"Longevity and Life-Preservation"
This page is cultural documentation, not medical advice.
A 10-volume Ming-dynasty comprehensive medical encyclopedia by Gong Tingxian (1522–1619), completed around 1615. One of the most-cited late-Ming clinical syntheses, covering formulas, case records, and clinical specialties from internal medicine to gynecology.
Gong Tingxian, styled Zicai and self-styled Yunlin, was a contemporary of the great Li Shizhen (本草纲目) and an imperial physician of the Wanli reign. The Shoushi Baoyuan is his largest compilation, indexing more than 10,000 formulas organized by clinical specialty. The text is the canonical source of Wū Jī Bái Fèng Wán (乌鸡白凤丸, "Black-Bone Chicken White-Phoenix Pill"), a 20-ingredient "tonify qi + blood + spleen + kidney" formula widely used in modern Chinese-medicine gynecology. The book is, in short, one of the most comprehensive late-Ming clinical encyclopedias and remains a major reference for modern 中成药 lineage tracking.
Historical background
The Shoushi Baoyuan (《寿世保元》) was compiled by Gong Tingxian in the late Wanli reign of the Ming dynasty, with a likely completion around 1615 near the end of his life. The text is the most comprehensive of Gong's clinical encyclopedias, synthesizing his family's medical tradition with his own imperial-physician experience, and reflects the late-Ming "comprehensive clinical synthesis" movement. The book circulated widely in printed form during the late Ming and Qing dynasties, and was included in major imperial and private medical anthologies.…
Formulas recorded in this text· 1
Formula · Wū Jī Bái Fèng Wán
Black-Bone Chicken Phoenix
乌鸡白凤丸
A signature gynecological "bu-qi yang-xue" (tonify qi and nourish blood) formula from Gong Tingxian's "Longevity and Life Preservation" (1549), built around black-bone chicken and a large herb list.