Analysis and Exemplification of the Value of Modern and Contemporary Traditional Chinese Medicine Prescription Manuscripts

Abstract: As important documentary sources that record the diagnostic and treatment concepts, as well as the experience of prescription medication by medical practitioners, the handwritten prescription notes from modern and contemporary traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) are valuable original materials that carry the cultural heritage of TCM. This paper takes the handwritten prescription notes of five renowned modern and contemporary TCM physicians—Zhang Jianzhai (张简斋), Qin Bowei (秦伯未), Xiao Longyou (萧龙友), Tao Zhendong (陶震东), and Chen Suhua (陈素华)—as research subjects. Through the methods of literary analysis and physical verification, combined with the format, textual meaning, and writing style of the prescription note examples, this study explores their value and significance. The value of these notes can be categorized into five dimensions: clinical practice, learning, aesthetic education, historical materials, and cultural heritage. The purpose of this study is to reveal the research potential of handwritten TCM prescription manuscripts as interdisciplinary carriers between the history of knowledge and cultural history, to provide a historical material basis for scholars at home and abroad on the development and dissemination of TCM, and to explore new perspectives for the protection of TCM literature and the inheritance of its cultural legacy.