Who were the persons behind Zhang Zhongjing?
Zhang Zhongjing is a great man who wrote Shanghanlun. People usually call him ‘medical sage’. But someone considered that he was the successor of JingFang medicine. In fact, Zhang Zhongjing was a culture symbol. Nobody can creat so many prescriptions by himself. In fact, the inventor is a group of people, but not a person. Or say,’ they’ have done it, not ‘he’ has done.
There were many people joined the great project in the river of long history. But they were unknown to public. Then, who on earth were they?
Yiyin has been excluded out of them. It is said that Yiyin invented decoction of herbal medicine. But he was a politician, always helping King Tang of Shang to win King Jie of Xia. He was not busy with studying medicine. In Ganyun County Jiangsu Province, there are two hills, one is called ‘Dayishan’(大伊山), the other one is called ‘Xiaoyishan’（小伊山）. Locals said that Yiyin lived in here at old age. The resources of herb are short in this county, so, Yiyin did nothing for Jingfang.
They were not slaves. Slaves were living at the bottom of society. They were short of freedom and knowledge for studying medicine.
The inventors must be doctors. Division of labor in society is fine in the Spring and Autumn period. Some of the family worked on fighting, anohers worked on writing history. The medicine family is one of professional families. Only in this way, doctors can gather experiences and pass on.
Now, we get the conclusion that ancient doctors were behind Zhang Zhongjing. They were covered up by the rays of light from medical sage. True heroes are often obscure.