Since the beginning of the twentieth century, historical researches on traditional Chinese medicine have grown into a field of its own. However, researches on traditional physicians have either been focusing on the lives and works of individual doctors, or on the changes in medical institutions over different periods. Questions about the special features of traditional Chinese medicine and its cultural implications, can only be answered once we succeed in forming a clear and integral idea about the changes in the role and status of traditional doctors as a social group.
This article discusses the activities of doctors, as a social group, in ancient China from a socio-political perspective. The author attempts to draw a picture of the doctor's active role, through an investigation into the nature of his profession, the group of patients treated, possible influence on the pattern of medical practice in general, value-judgments conferred upon him by society, and self-evaluation by the doctor himself. It is the aim of this study to put forward a new standpoint for exploring the way traditional medicine developed in early China.