Doctor's notes may explain mysterious death of emperor

(Xinhua)
Updated: 2007-08-29 14:08

A set of manuscripts of a late imperial doctor will probably explain the mysterious death of the reform-minded Emperor Guang Xu, who ruled in China's last dynasty, experts said on Wednesday.

The manuscripts of Dr. Ren Xigeng, a specialist on traditional Chinese medicine and the last president of the imperial hospital of the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), gave a detailed account of the hospital's daily activities and collected some prescriptions for Emperor Guang Xu.

One of the formulas was a foot bathing liquid brewed from 11 Chinese herbs, which the doctor prescribed for the emperor to ease his sleeping and digestive disorders, said Cheng Xinnong, a renowned expert on traditional Chinese medicine.

"It's a pity the doctor did not put down which year it was prescribed. He only wrote the month and day," said Cheng, a member of the expert panel who are studying the manuscripts.

The experts believed a thorough research into the doctor's notes would hopefully lead to the cause of Emperor Guang Xu's death, which has remained a mystery in the Chinese history.

The reform-minded emperor who died in 1908 at 37 was imprisoned by his own aunt, the Empress Dowager Ci Xi, for introducing the "Hundred Days Reform" in 1898.

Guang Xu died a day before the Empress Dowager herself. Many historians suspected Ci Xi had poisoned him, though the emperor had been reported ill for a long time before he died.

The imperial doctor also said in his notes that acupuncture, an important therapy in Chinese medicine, was banned on emperors since 1822, during the reign of Emperor Dao Guang, Guang Xu's great-grandfather.

"That year the imperial court decided it was beneath the emperors' dignity for them to get undressed in front of the doctors," said Prof. Wang Xuetai, an expert on acupuncture.

The 30 volumes of manuscripts, written in Chinese ink and brush and bound together with cotton thread, were found at a Beijing curio market by an avid collector in the 1980s and has been in his private collection ever since, said Zhang Shufen, a researcher with the Palace Museum in central Beijing, from where the emperors ruled China.



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