godfather of surgery

Chapter 1312 Bestseller

"The Yellow Emperor's Inner Classic?"

Griffin's Chinese pronunciation was accurate, and he pulled his outstretched neck back.

“Yes,” Yang Ping nodded, “a classic Chinese medical text from two thousand years ago.”

The expressions on everyone's faces were quite interesting: confusion, curiosity, doubt, and a hint of absurdity, as if to say, "This can't be a joke, right?"

“Professor!” Griffin asked curiously, “You mean that your revolutionary theories—system regulation, identity verification, TIM hub—were inspired by this ancient medical book?”

Yang Ping corrected: "When my own research reached a certain depth, I looked back at this book and found that the ancients used completely different languages ​​to describe similar wisdom two thousand years ago. In other words, our current research and the ideas of the ancients are in some sense similar."

He pointed to the Yellow Emperor's Inner Classic: "It says: 'To cure disease, one must seek its root cause.' In modern terms, this means that to treat disease, one must find the fundamental reason. Isn't this exactly what we mean by 'regulating from the bottom up of the system rather than simply confronting the surface'?"

"When the body's vital energy is abundant, pathogenic factors cannot invade. When the body's vital energy is sufficient, pathogenic factors cannot invade. Isn't this the classical expression of 'when the cellular identity system is stable, abnormal cells cannot take root'?"

As Tang Shun flipped through the book, he said, "But this is philosophy, not science. Philosophy can provide inspiration, but it cannot replace experimental evidence."

“Of course not,” Yang Ping said. “But when we have experimental evidence and then look back at the philosophical connections, the shock is like when you have been exploring alone in the vast desert for many years and suddenly find a map from two thousand years ago, on which the location of the oasis you just identified is marked.”

He looked around the room and said, “I’m not saying that the Yellow Emperor’s Inner Classic contains answers from modern biology. I’m saying that the ancients’ holistic view of life systems, their dynamic balance view, and their concept of regulation rather than attack should complement our modern medical reductionism and antagonism. Only in this way can we form a complete medical theory. The former may be closer to the truth of life and is more advanced in terms of concept.”

The meeting room was silent for a full minute.

Griffin then took the *Huangdi Neijing* from Tang Shun and flipped through a few pages. His brow furrowed; he recognized every single character, yet struggled to understand the meaning of a single sentence. He considered himself fluent in Chinese, and reading academic papers in Chinese was usually effortless for him, but he couldn't comprehend this book at all.

"Is there an English version of this book?" Griffin had no choice but to close the book.

“There should be, but it’s best to read the Chinese version, as the English version rarely captures the true meaning of the original,” Yang Ping reminded him.

Although it's hard to believe, the consensus at this conference was that the Yellow Emperor's Inner Classic was recommended by a professor, so it must have immense value.

The meeting ended at 5 p.m., and at 6 p.m., Yang Ping's phone was flooded with messages in the international WeChat group.

What book is this?

The Yellow Emperor's Inner Classic

I know this is a classic Chinese medical treatise.

[Griffin, why did you post a picture of this book?]

This is the monograph that the professor considers invaluable. He says that the medical concepts in it are the most advanced in the world, and he has drawn on some of its ideas.

Really? Let me take a closer look.

I'll buy it at the bookstore tomorrow.

I'll go buy it now.

Wait, Traditional Chinese Medicine? That kind of primitive treatment using herbs and needles? Professor, are you serious? Are you sure there's no misunderstanding?

Don't jump to conclusions. I've witnessed the amazing effects of traditional Chinese medicine acupuncture on facial paralysis; perhaps there's a wisdom we don't yet understand.

August: [I found the Wikipedia entry for "Huangdi Neijing," which was written around 200 BC and is divided into two parts, "Suwen" and "Lingshu," etc. It says that the human body has twelve meridians through which energy flows? That sounds like the Force from Star Wars.]

Mannstein: [August, put aside your stereotypes. Any tradition that lasts for two thousand years must have its reasons. Of course, I think so because it was recommended by the professor. The question is: what specific content did the professor cite? How does it relate to modern biology?]

Takahashi: [Actually, Japanese Kampo medicine also originates from classic Chinese medicine texts. The *Huangdi Neijing* holds a very high position in the history of Japanese medicine. I read a Japanese translation when I was young, but at the time I only thought of it as a historical document.]

Robert: [So what are you waiting for? Let's all buy this book!]

Griffin: [I've already ordered the English version from Amazon, but the professor said that to truly understand it, I need to read the original Chinese version, because the translation loses many subtle meanings.]

Johannesson: [Chinese? ??? Are you sure you can understand it?]

Li Zehui (posted a photo): [Guys, look at this! I actually have a copy at home! It was left to me by my father, and I've always kept it on my bookshelf as a decoration. The cover says... uh... "Annotated and Collated Edition of the Yellow Emperor's Inner Classic"?]

The group immediately went wild.

August: [Lee! Quick, take pictures! Take pictures of a few pages!]

Mannstein: [First, take a picture of the table of contents; we need to know its structure.]

Robert: [Wait, why does your father have this?]

Li Zehui: [He's also a doctor, and he often says that Western medicine is too mechanical, and wants me to understand the holistic thinking of traditional Chinese medicine. I just laughed it off at the time.]

Li Zehui took more than twenty photos and sent them to the group: the table of contents, the preface, the first article "On the Primordial Innocence of Antiquity"...

Johannesson: [I recognize all these characters, but I don't understand them at all when put together. "In ancient times, people lived to be a hundred years old in both spring and autumn"? People in ancient times could live to be a hundred years old in both spring and autumn? What kind of theory is that?]

Takahashi: [That's an expression of an ideal of longevity, suggesting that "people in ancient times could live to be over a hundred years old."]

August: [Look at this sentence! "I have heard that the ancient sages, those who understood the Dao, followed the principles of Yin and Yang, and harmonized with the arts and mathematics." I know "Yin and Yang" refers to Yin-Yang, and "arts and mathematics" refers to art and mathematics? So the ancient sages followed the principles of Yin and Yang, and harmonized with art and mathematics? This sounds like New Age spirituality.]

Robert: [I always tell you to study hard, but you all turn a deaf ear. Now you can't understand it, can you? You can't understand it, can you? How could you possibly comprehend the profound and complex Chinese language? You all thought your Chinese was superior to mine? Weren't you so highly skilled? Translate one for me! Let me do it, don't translate it literally! The meaning of that sentence might be: Those who understood the way of health preservation in ancient times drew upon the principles of Yin and Yang, harmonizing with methods of numerology and health maintenance. It speaks of following the laws of nature.]

Many thumbs-up appeared in the group chat.

Robert, you're awesome!

August: [I suggest we establish a "Huangdi Neijing Research Group" to hold weekly online discussions and share our reading experiences.]

Mainstein: [Seconded. Robert, Takahashi, who of you will be the group leader?]

Robert: [Of course, I'm the most suitable person to be the team leader!]

Takahashi: [My Chinese reading ability is limited to medical literature, and mainly modern Chinese. For classical Chinese, I need to use annotations, so Robert is more suitable.]

Li Zehui: [I'm thinking of someone. I know an elderly traditional Chinese medicine doctor in San Francisco, over eighty years old, who has memorized the "Huangdi Neijing" (Yellow Emperor's Inner Classic) since childhood. I could ask him to be my consultant.]

Griffin: [Great idea. I suggest we each buy the English and Chinese versions and read them side-by-side.]

……

In the medical section of Strand Bookstore in Manhattan, New York, Robert hurried toward the counter. He had been too busy these past few days to buy any books.

Do you have the "Huangdi Neijing" (The Yellow Emperor's Inner Classic)? I need both the Chinese and English versions.

The young clerk checked the computer: "Uh... it shows zero inventory. Wait, the system shows that six people inquired about this book this afternoon. We retrieved the last three copies of the stock, and they just sold out half an hour ago."

Robert's eyes widened: "Do you have a Chinese version too?"

"A Chinese version... Let me check. There is one in the Oriental Literature section, but it's in traditional Chinese characters and vertical format, and there's no translation..."

"Give it to me!" Traditional Chinese characters, vertical layout—the ultimate tool for showing off!

Five minutes later, Robert walked out of the bookstore carrying a blue-covered, thread-bound book, a victorious smile on his face. He immediately posted a photo in the group chat:

Robert: [Got it! The last Chinese edition! I can feel its wisdom and energy!]

Woodhead: [Robert, that's the smell of paper.]

Robert: [Superficial! No wonder you always fail your Chinese CET-4. That's the taste of wisdom from two thousand years ago! I've already put it on my bookshelf.]

August: I just managed to snag a German translation at the Dussmann bookstore in Berlin. But the translation quality is less than impressive. I read a section where the translator rendered "five internal organs" as "five storage organs" and "six viscera" as "six palaces," which is quite confusing.

Takahashi: [German translations do tend to lose the original meaning, while Japanese translations are better because they share Chinese characters. But even so, many concepts are difficult to convey accurately.]

Johannesson: [Urgent help needed! I've checked five bookstores, and they're all sold out! Amazon says the English version will take four months! What should I do?]

Li Zehui: [John, calm down. We can ask Senior Brother Song to send over a batch of Chinese versions, but it will take time.]

Mainstein: [I suggested we create a shared electronic repository, scan existing versions, and create searchable PDFs. I had my assistant start scanning my German version.]

Griffin: [I've contacted friends at the Harvard-Yenching Institute; they might have a high-quality electronic version of the English translation. However, I'll need to obtain copyright permission.]

No one seemed to notice Robert's use of traditional Chinese characters in vertical format, and no one commented on it, which made Robert very unhappy.

He re-photographed his copy of the "Huangdi Neijing" (Yellow Emperor's Inner Classic), making sure to enlarge it to clearly show the contents, and sent the new photos out three times in a row.

[Traditional Chinese? Vertical layout?]

【What? 】

[Robert, can you understand this?]

Finally, someone recognized its value and exclaimed in surprise.

It's alright, it'll do for now!

Robert casually typed a sentence and posted it in the group chat.

……

Soon after, the technology section of The Wall Street Journal published a report:
The Ancient Secrets Behind Breakthroughs in Cancer Treatment: Top Scientists' Obsessive Pursuit of Ancient Chinese Medical Texts

Subtitle: "Professor Yang Ping's theoretical inspiration actually came from the Yellow Emperor's Inner Classic from 200 BC; global medical elites set off a craze for the study of TCM classics."

The article states: "...In the past week, professors at top medical research institutions from New York to Berlin, from London to Tokyo, have been doing something puzzling: studying an ancient Chinese book called the *Huangdi Neijing*. According to multiple sources, this craze stems from Professor Yang Ping, a Chinese scientist whose K therapy is revolutionizing cancer treatment. Professor Yang revealed in an internal meeting that his revolutionary theory was inspired by this two-thousand-year-old work."

"Amazon data shows that sales of the English version of the *Huangdi Neijing* have surged by 43000% in the past and are completely sold out. Multiple academic bookstores report that both Chinese and English versions have been snapped up, and there are even cases of collectors offering high prices for early translations..."

"This phenomenon has sparked heated debate in academic circles. Supporters argue that ancient wisdom may contain profound truths that modern science has yet to grasp; critics warn that it could lead to the spread of irrational thinking in the medical field..."

The report caused a sensation online.

"If so many top scientists are reading this, there must be something special about it. I want to buy a copy too!"

Is this a resurgence of Eastern mysticism? Since when has science needed to learn from witchcraft?

"Look! Our ancestors knew this long ago! Western science has finally caught up!"

"This is China's soft power infiltration! Using ancient culture to influence Western science!"

The academic community's reaction was more complex. Some philosophers of science wrote articles exploring the "possibility of cross-cultural knowledge integration"; medical historians began to reassess the status of traditional Chinese medicine in medical history; and conservative scientists jointly published an open letter warning of "an irrational shift in scientific research."

Several publishing houses have announced that they will urgently reprint translations of the "Huangdi Neijing" in various languages.

Online course platforms have launched crash courses titled "An Introduction to the Yellow Emperor's Inner Classic: For Busy Modern People".

Some companies have launched health products themed around "traditional Chinese medicine wisdom," even though none of them have anything to do with ancient books.

In Europe and America, some training courses have appeared, named "Huangdi Neijing" health preservation courses, "Huangdi Neijing" sleep conditioning courses, "Huangdi Neijing" men's special courses, "Huangdi Neijing" women's beauty courses, etc. The prices are very high, and some people with East Asian and West Asian faces wearing Hanfu and with beards have appeared one after another, claiming to be masters of Eastern medicine who have studied in seclusion for many years.

Even the fashion industry has seen the emergence of clothing series based on the concept of "yin and yang balance".

Yang Ping, the central figure in all of this, was completely unaware of it; he was in the laboratory analyzing the latest data.

Until Song Ziming rushed in.

"Professor, have you seen the news?"

"What news?"

"You and the Yellow Emperor's Inner Classic have made headlines all over the world."

Yang Ping spent half an hour browsing news and social media, then sighed.

“They’ve completely misunderstood,” he told Song Ziming. “I’m not saying that the Yellow Emperor’s Inner Classic contains modern scientific answers; I’m saying that its philosophical concepts resonate with our discoveries.”

Is it too late to explain now?

“It must be explained! Otherwise, the entire serious scientific exploration will be reduced to a fairy tale of ‘scientists finding the answer in ancient books,’ or even exploited by some people with ulterior motives.”

That afternoon, Yang Ping recorded a ten-minute video statement, which was published in both Chinese and English on the institute's official website and major social media platforms.

In the video, he calmly and clearly stated:

“There have been many misunderstandings in recent reports about me and the Yellow Emperor’s Inner Classic, and I need to clarify a few points.”

"I did not find the specific methods of K therapy in the Yellow Emperor's Inner Classic. This book does not mention TIM protein, cell identity system, or any modern biological concepts."

"The reason I value this book is that it put forward a medical concept two thousand years ago: to regard the human body as a whole system and to emphasize regulation and balance rather than fighting disease. These concepts are strikingly similar to the conclusions we have drawn through modern scientific research—system regulation is superior to targeted attack."

"This is not to say that ancient people were smarter than modern people. Ancient people had profound intuitive wisdom, but lacked verification tools; we have sophisticated experimental tools, but sometimes we get lost in the details and forget the whole picture. The combination of the two is the complete human medical wisdom."

“I encourage my colleagues to read the Yellow Emperor’s Inner Classic, not as a manual, but as a training ground for thinking. It can help us break free from the limitations of reductionism and rethink the complexity of life and the essence of medicine.”

Finally, scientific progress requires an open mind and drawing nourishment from various knowledge traditions. But the premise is: to maintain critical thinking, insist on experimental verification, and speak with evidence.

At the end of the video, Yang Ping picked up the book "Huangdi Neijing" (The Yellow Emperor's Inner Classic):
"This book is not a book of answers; it is a mirror that shows us that humanity shares a common desire that transcends time and cultural barriers in the pursuit of health and life. And science is the most reliable path for us to realize these desires."

After the video was released, public opinion began to turn rational.

Many scientists shared and agreed with the article, and Nature magazine even invited Yang Ping to write an opinion piece to explore "the methodology of dialogue between traditional wisdom and modern science".

(End of this chapter)