Zhonghua Yi Shi Za Zhi. 1999 Jan; 29(1): 18-20.

Investigation on Qiong yao shen shu (Qiongyao's Magical Book).

Huang L.

China Academy of TCM, Biejing.

Written in about the period of late Yuan to early Ming dynasties, Qiongyao's Magical Book is attributed to a Taoist who was also conversant with acupunture art. By investigation, it is found that there are, at least, three books carrying the same title of Qiongyao's Magical Book, including a 3 volume Qiongyao's Magical Book now lost; a 3 - volume Qiongyao's Magical Book of Discovery (also called The Acupuncture Classic of Qiongyao the Immortal printed in the Ming dynasty, which is entirely different from the previous one and is an apocrypha; and a 4 - volume Qiongyao's Magical Book printed in the Qing dynasty also called Qiongyao's Great Collections of Magical Books wiich is a mixture of authentic and apocryphal texts in which 2 medical books irrelevant to the original are attached to the end of volume 3, with supplements by later writers intermingled in other volumes.