Tan Yunxian facts for kids

Tan Yunxian (1461–1554) was a very important Chinese doctor who lived a long time ago during the Ming dynasty in China. She was special because she was a female physician, which was not common at that time.

Tan Yunxian's Life Story

Tan Yunxian was born in 1461. Her family had a strong connection to medicine. Her grandmother was the daughter of a doctor. Tan's grandfather even married her grandmother partly to learn about medicine himself!

Tan's grandparents loved her very much. They saw how smart she was. Because of this, they taught her all their medical knowledge. This was how Tan Yunxian started her journey in medicine.

Later in her life, Tan Yunxian got married. She had four children. She also became a doctor who treated only women. Tan lived a very long life for her time, passing away at 93 years old.

How Tan Yunxian Practiced Medicine

Tan Yunxian focused her medical work on treating women. She first started by treating her own children. Her grandmother helped her check her diagnoses to make sure she was right.

Tan wrote a book about her medical cases. This book tells us about 31 patients she treated. The women she helped often had long-term health problems. These were not just quick illnesses.

Many women in Ming China had "women's complaints." These included problems like irregular periods, repeated miscarriages, or not being able to have children. They also suffered from tiredness after giving birth. Tan also treated common illnesses that anyone could get. These included coughing, trouble sleeping, rashes, swelling, or feeling sick to their stomach.

Like other educated doctors, Tan often gave her patients herbal medicines. She also used a treatment called moxibustion. This involved burning a dried herb called moxa on specific points of the body. It was similar to acupuncture. This treatment helped to improve the body's energy flow, called qi.

Male doctors could not perform moxibustion on women. This is because the treatment required touching the patient's body. So, female doctors like Tan Yunxian were very important for this kind of care.

Tan helped many working women. Her records show that these women often worked too hard. This caused many of their health problems.

Even though Tan Yunxian was skilled in treating women's health, children's health, and childbirth, her experience in other areas was limited. She could only practice medicine among her friends or people she knew in her local area. She even wrote a book called Sayings of a Female Doctor. But she could not publish it easily. She had to ask her son to help her get it printed.

Female Doctors in Ming China

Female doctors in ancient China were different from male doctors. Women usually learned medicine from their families. They did not train with masters or plan to open their own clinics.

While women were skilled in medical techniques, they rarely added new ideas to the field of medicine. Unlike male doctors, women received medical training to help the men in their families. They often did "supporting work" in medicine.

Popular Culture Portrayal

A TV show character was created based on Tan Yunxian. This character also included parts of Empress Hang, who was a consort of the Jingtai Emperor. The character was played by Cecilia Liu in a 2016 Chinese historical drama series called The Imperial Doctress. In the show, the character's last name was changed to a similar-sounding name.

See also

In Spanish: Tan Yunxian para niños