The relationship between society and medicine in ancient China is a booming academic field. Fan Ka Wai points to the temporary national Medical Books Revision Bureau (jiaozheng yishu ju, from 1057 to 1077) during the Northem Song to discuss the interaction between the government and medicine. The Northem Song was a high point in the history of Chinese medicine, a period when the imperial government made great efforts to promote medical developments. Many scholars explain these developments from the angle of renzheng (benevolent governance). Fan's work, however, focuses on the Medical Books Revision Bureau, by which the imperial court facilitated an integration between Confucian knowledge and medical knowledge. The subject of this book is a special group of Confucian officials (ruchen) equipped with medical knowledge gained through education within the family and employed at the Medical Books Revision Bureau of the Norther Song. These Confucian officials differed both from general scholar-officials (shidafu) who specialized in Confucian knowledge but not in medicine, and from medical officials (viguan) who provided medical services to imperial persons. Such officials played a key role in the government-dominated revision of medical books.
