The Publication of Yuyaoyuanfang () and Transformations of Yuan Official Medicine.

Abstract

The Mongol conquest of Eurasia in the thirteenth century facilitated the movement of people, materials, and knowledge across vast regions. Medicine was no exception. In response to the practical demands of military campaigns and imperial rule, Mongol rulers actively incorporated medical personnel and knowledge from conquered regions. After the fall of the Jin dynasty, North Chinese medical institutions and traditions became an important foundation for the organization of medical administration under Mongol rule. This article examines the Yuyaoyuanfang as a key text that reveals the character of official medicine in the Yuan dynasty and the reconfiguration of Jin-Yuan medical knowledge. Although the structure of the Yuyaoyuanfang closely resembles that of the Taiping huimin heji jufang, the representative official formulary of the Northern Song, its prescriptions were not simply copied from the Song model. Rather, the text selectively incorporated and reorganized prescriptions from the Jin imperial pharmacy, Song and Jin medical formularies, Jin-Yuan physicians, Daoist secret recipes, and the practical needs of Yuan court medicine. The independent section on facial and cosmetic preparations, "Ximian yaomen", further shows that Yuan official medicine included not only the treatment of disease but also concerns with bodily care, beauty, and longevity. An examination of the prescriptions, especially those in the "Zhifeng yaomen", shows that the Yuyaoyuanfang incorporated earlier medical traditions while also reflecting new developments in North Chinese medicine after the Jin period. Some prescriptions are related to texts such as the Shengji zonglu, while others show connections with Jin physicians such as Liu Wansu and Zhang Yuansu. At the same time, many prescriptions preserve authoritative names from earlier formularies while altering their ingredients, indications, or methods of preparation. These cases of identical names with different formulas demonstrate that the Yuyaoyuanfang was not a mere compilation of earlier medical texts, but an official formulary that selectively transformed and standardized medical knowledge within the institutional framework of Yuan official medicine. In this sense, the Yuyaoyuanfang is a representative source for understanding the transmission, selection, and reconfiguration of East Asian medical knowledge under Mongol rule.