page_title: Wang Weiyi (physician)
section_title: Career
hierarchical_section_title: Wang Weiyi (physician) / Career
caption_attribution_description: Woodcut fromTong ren shu xue zhen jiu tu jing(Illustrated Manual of Acupoints on the Bronze Man) by Wang Weiyi, published in 1443 (8th year of the Zhengtong reign period of the Ming Dynasty), illustrating the system of proportionate body measurements. This illustration consists of a simple outline drawing of a human body, viewed from the front. Captions on the image indicate the distances between various landmarks on the surface of the body, as an aid in establishing the location of acupoints and the paths of the channels at the front of the body. For instance, the sides of the head are labelled: 'From the front of the ears to theermenpoint is 1cun5'; the face is labelled 'Distance between the cheekbones 7cun', etc. The units of measurement are thechi[Chinese foot] andcun[Chinese inch], the length of thecunbeing based on the proportions of the individual's body, i.e. 1cun= the distance from the base of the middle finger to the end of the crease of the middle joint. 10cun= 1chi. See 'Lettering' for further details. NB. There are close similarities between this image, L0037494 and L0037955. Wellcome Images Keywords: Medicine, Chinese Traditional; Proportionate body measurement; Bronze figure; Measurement
context_page_description: Wang Weiyi, also known as Wang Weide, was a Chinese physician of the Song Dynasty. He was as an expert on acupuncture famous for creating bronze figure models and compiling a book on the subject. He was the imperial physician of two emperors: Renzong and Yingzong.
context_section_description: Wang Weiyi was a chief physician at the Hanlin Academy, held the title of Chaosan Dafu (朝散大夫) and a post in the Department of the Palace (殿中省). From 1026, by an imperial edict, he presided over the works on forging two bronze acupuncture models (针灸铜人) and editing of a book on the subject, the three-volume Tongren Shuxue Zhenjiu Tujing (Illustrated Manual of Acupuncture Points on a Bronze Figure; 铜人腧穴针灸图经).
  Acupuncture has been known since at least several centuries prior, and body models were being created earlier too (e.g. lacquer figurines excavated from a Han Dynasty tomb), but the ones created by Wang Weiyi were much more precise and of human size. They are sometimes called Tiansheng Bronze Figures (天聖銅人; 天圣铜人) after the era name in which they were constructed. The two man-sized bronze figures were designed with care about the actual human body proportion. They were engraved with 354 acupoints - 4 millimeter deep, marked with names and connected according to the twelve meridians. The limbs were movable and disassemblable. Inside the bronze trunk, there were internal organs and skeleton made of wood. Replacing paper models with this three-dimensional apparatus was a great improvement in teaching and examination: the outside of the bronze statue was first covered with wax to seal the acupoints and water (or mercury) was poured inside the dummy. If the needle was inserted by the examinee into the correct acupoint, water or mercury would ooze out.
  Wang also participated in the revision of a Han Dynasty classic medical work,  The Yellow Emperor's Canon of Eighty-One Difficult Issues. 
  In 1030, he overlooked engraving of his treatise on stone tablets placed in a temple in Kaifeng (the capital of the empire, that time known as Bianjing, 汴京). 
  Wang Weiyi's achievements re-enabled the development and popularization of acupuncture, which has been in decline since the Tang Dynasty physician Wang Xi discouraged its use.
caption: Woodcut from a 1443 (Ming Dynasty) edition of Wang Weiyi's book.
exif: {}