Shang Han Lun: On Cold Damage, Translation & Commentaries

Rating:
Summary: "A Readers" review is factually incorrect and misleading
Review: As the publisher of this book, there are several factual errors in the anonymous review posted here that I would like to address.

First, the "translation of a translation" comment is misleading. First century texts such as the Shang Han Lun are not books one pulls off a shelf. They were typically prepared on silk or bamboo, and their content is today known via a process called "collation" where archeological artifacts and references in later texts are studied to create a best possible idea of the orginal. The Shang Han Lun Yi Shi, on which this text is based, has been considered the standard by scholars for some time.

Secondly, the "translation of a translation" issue is germane only in texts that do not contain the source Chinese. Not only does this text contain the source Chinese, there are appendicies that contain a ground-breaking study of the Shang Han Lun terminology, and alternate orderings of the Chinese text. Importantly, the translators decisions are openly and transparently justified giving readers the opportunity and tools they need to decide questions for themselves. In the case of this translation, each passage in the text is accompanied, not only by the English translation, but by commentary on the terminology and translational decisions.

As regards the anonymous writer's contention that the commentaries are not by the author. This is simply false. Feng Ye, Md. Phd., is listed as an author; he is a professor at Chang Gung Medical College where he supervises and instructs graduate Chinese medicial doctors in a teaching hospital. Dr. Wiseman, the primary linguist, also teaches at Chang Gung Medical College and has widely published not only the term set but also the research on which this translation is based.

Everyone will make their own decision as to which Shang Han Lun best suits their needs, but that decision should not be informed by "a Reader's" factual errors.

Bob Felt
Publisher
Paradigm Publications


Rating:
Summary: All form and no substance
Review: I would like to point out a few things about this book. Yes, I do have a personal beef with a translator who has a book signing. I mean the real star here is the Shang Han Lun, not him.
1) Most important point, though no one will say it, this is not a real translation of the classical Shang Han Lun. It is a translation of a translation into modern Chinese. As one esteemed Chinese teacher said, when listing books that needed to be written into english;" We need a new translation of the Shang Han Lun, not the Easy Shang Han Lun."
2) Notice that the comentaries are not by Mitchell, but instead by a Shang Han Lun expert in China. This means that you do not get any kind of cross cultural translation.
You are better off getting a much less expensive, old copy of the Shang Han Lun and reading that.

Rating:
Summary: Thank you!
Review: Mitchell, Ye, and Wiseman's translation of the Shang Han Lun is without a doubt among the treasures of my Chinese medicine library. By providing the Chinese medicine community with a line by line translation of this classic work, the translators have enabled a depth of study unparalleled in any other translation of a Chinese medical text. Furthermore, the inclusion of the original Chinese (both in simplified and traditional characters) along with pinyin, linguistic clarification, and an extensive language appendix (worthy of a book unto itself!) studying this text allows the reader to simultaneously learn Chinese medical language while immersing oneself in a seminal and indispensable classic of Chinese medical literature. Aside from its own inherent clinical and academic value - which is undeniably great - this work therefore offers a gateway to a vast treasure house of un-translated Chinese medical literature. This book is an exceptionally valuable gift to the Chinese medicine profession in English speaking countries. It should set the standard for all future translations of classical Chinese medical texts. I hope the Jin Gui Yao Lue follows...

Rating:
Summary: On Cold Damage True to Tradition
Review: There have been other translations of Shang Han Lun (the Treatise on Cold Damage) into English, but this is the first to preserve the original's clinical detail and precise terminology. It is also the first to include the most commonly encountered edition of the original Chinese text, with characters and Pinyin romanization with tone marks. Since the number of characters used in the original text is few, this book is a good text for those wishing to learn ancient medical Chinese as well as a useful clinical reference.

The text commentaries, while useful and appropriate, are limited to the original applications of the herbal formulas described in the Shang Han Lun. It is disappointing that the authors could not cover later applications of these formulas, as the inclusion of such material could have made the text comprehensive. However, what the work lacks in breadth, it makes up for in depth by being the most unadulterated look at the Shang Han Lun system of herbal medicine available in English.

The present application of Nigel Wiseman's terminology makes for difficult reading, but the terms used are explained in detail both in situ and in the excellent glossary section of this book. Liberal use of the glossary will make clear to the reader words and turns of phrase which would otherwise be obscure.

Despite a few problems, this book is a landmark translation for the English-speaking practitioner of Chinese medicine wishing to study the theory and practice of the Shang Han Lun, or to begin learning ancient medical Chinese. What it may lack in the details of execution, it more than makes up for with an overall solid translation, including the Chinese text, and a useful glossary. The coauthors manage to convey a clear sense of the Shang Han Lun way of looking at infectious diseases and epidemiology, a way very different from the modern Western view, but also eerily similar on closer examination. This book will be welcomed, both by the clinician and the advanced student.