ABSTRACT
The old title of Chen Ching (Needle Manual) persisted some time longer, however, as \ve know from a story of the late Northern Sung. Chiang Shao-Yii 2 tells us that under the emperor Che Tsung some classical books were presented at court by a Korean embassy, and one of these ",Tas the Huang Ti Chen Ching. Wars and fires had destroyed so many copies in China that this recovery was greatly appreciated, and in + 1093 it was imperially decreed that the book should be reprinted and circulated for the benefit of all physicians.b In spite of this, however, Shih Sung,3 writing a preface for the Ling Shu about + 1155, said:
With regard to the dating, the consensus of scholarly opinion is that the Su Wen belongs to the - 2nd century and the Ling ...'ihu to the - 1st; f only a few writers invert the sequence.g A few have preferred to make the Ling Shu Later Han ( + 1st or + 2nd
a We suspect this from a later note inserted in the bibliography of the Sui Shu, according to Chang Hsin-Chheng, Ope cit., p. 979.
