Encyclopedia of India–China Cultural Contacts v1.c6.s2.t3.32

v1.c6.s2.t3.32

ideas. However, he was demoted due to the marital upheaval, and then dismissed to Fangling (present-day Fang County, Hubei Province) and later he took the office of prefecture chief of Daning (Xi County, Shanxi Province). Wang Tao travelled a lot of places around the country and made good use of his medical knowledge and some classical prescriptions to save ordinary people’s lives. He devoted himself into medical science and eventually through years of painstaking efforts, completed the compilation of *Arcane Essentials from the Imperial Library* in the 11^th year of Tianbao period (752 CE), an immortal book focussing on the discussion and exploration of medical science and an invaluable asset through generations. His works also include *Summary of Arcane Essentials from the Imperial Library* (10 volumes in total), *On Recipe for Lacteal Calculus in Essentials of Arcane Essentials from the Imperial Library* (two volumes), *Bright Hall Moxibustion Therapy* (or *Bright Hall Acupuncture and Moxibustion Chart*), *Prescription for Typhoid fever in Arcane Essentials from the Imperial Library Volume One and Two* or *Medical Secrets from the Royal Library* and so on. *Arcane Essentials from the Imperial Library*, which is 40 volumes in total, collecting a total of 10 classic books from the Han to Tang Dynasty, absorbed the advantages and essence of each book, and it is no wonder that medical scientists in later generations all believed that a person cannot be a good doctor if he’s never studied the prescriptions in *Arcane Essentials from the Imperial Library* and explored the discourse on prescription in *Essential Recipes For Emergent Use*. *Arcane Essentials from the Imperial Library* extracted a great amount of foreign medical knowledge and was therefore one of the most valuable resources to study the medical communication from six dynasties of Sui and Tang Dynasty.