Classics
溫病條辨
Systematic Differentiation of Warm Diseases
Wu Jutong, 1798
The systematic articulation of the warm-disease (wenbing) school — a major theoretical innovation that complemented the Shanghan tradition by addressing heat-natured epidemics that did not fit the cold-damage framework. Especially relevant for tropical and modern viral epidemics.
Authorship
Wu Jutong (吳鞠通), Qing-dynasty physician
Structure
Three-burner differentiation
Warm disease is staged through three burners: upper (heart and lung), middle (spleen and stomach), lower (liver and kidney). This framework parallels but differs from Shanghan’s six channels and is essential for pandemic-era TCM teaching.
Modern research
Yin Qiao San and Sang Ju Yin (both from Wenbing tradition) have RCT evidence for upper respiratory infections. The wenbing framework was extensively applied during SARS-CoV-2; the WHO ICD-11 traditional medicine chapter draws partly on this lineage.
Place in curriculum
Year 4, paired with infectious disease rotations.