History of Huang Di Nei Jing

Huang Di Nei Jing, or Inner Canon of the Yellow Emperor, is about to complied between 26 BC to 92 AD.

It was first record in the medical part of Han Shu,  composed by Ban Gu (ad 32–92).

There are totally 7 texts recorded in Han Shu, they are:

• Huang Di Nei Jing (Inner Canon of the Yellow Emperor)《黄帝内经》
• Huang Di Wai Jing (Outer Canon of the Yellow Emperor)《黄帝外经》
• BianQue Nei Jing (Inner Canon of the BianQue) 《扁鹊内经》
• Bian Que Wai Jing (Outer Canon of the BianQue)《扁鹊外经》
• Bai Shi Nei Jing (Inner Canon of the BaiShi)《白氏内经》
• Bai Shi Wai Jing (Outer Canon of the BaiShi)《白氏外经》
• Pang Pian (Others)《旁篇》

Due to the war, all other texts are lost, even the only left text, still had a tortuous story.

We know Huang Di Nei Jing has 2 volumes, Su Wen, known as Basic Questions, and Ling shu, discusses acupuncture therapy in great detail.

In history, there are several person wrote notes of Su Wen, like

• Quan Yuan Qi (About 500 AD) wrote Note to Su Wen, but lost
• Yang Shang Shan (589-681 AD) wrote Huang Di Nei Jing Taisu, is also lost in China, and fortunately there was a copy found in Japan in Mid 1800
• Wang Bing (710-805 AD) reorganized Huang Di Nei Jing, and add some lost chapters. This version has been pass down to today.

For Ling Shu, it’s also lost in China.

In 1091, the Song Dynasty trade a copy of the Ling shu from Goryeo with the current important texts, then Ling shu was delivered in 1093.