The silk road and sources of Chinese medicine expansion: Part 2 – Formularies

• Main Author: Sean Bradley
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Wolters Kluwer Medknow Publications 2018-01-01
• Series: Chinese Medicine and Culture
• Subjects: chinese medicine; formulary; history; materia medica; silk road
• Online Access: http://www.cmaconweb.org/article.asp?issn=2589-9627;year=2018;volume=1;issue=2;spage=68;epage=70;aulast=Bradley

Medicines have been traded along the Silk Road from antiquity until modern times. These products and their associated knowledge have been transferred over the land and sea between Asia, Europe, and Africa. Numerous texts that contain formulas and treatments passed along the Silk Road. Collections of these formulas and treatment methods called formularies contain unique information that informs this transfer of medicine. The texts and information flowed in both directions along these routes and while Chinese medicine influenced foreign medical practices both in history, and today, the incorporation of non-Chinese medicine and information also continues to influence Chinese medicine.