[The official appointment of medical graduates in the Imperial Medical College (Guo Zi Jian Yi Ke) in the Northern Song Dynasty].

Abstract

The Imperial Medical College (Guo Zi Jian Yi Ke) in the Northern Song Dynasty was established for training Confucian physicians. The medical graduates from this college were granted superior official recognition but still received equal opportunities for their career advancement as other graduates for arts. This was partly because medical graduates were not well respected at that time and partly because the then government attempted to encourage more people to learn medicine. On the other hand, this official system seems to have not been successful in the purpose of training Confucian physicians because they were given more opportunities to be granted as governors of states or counties rather than remaining as Confucian physicians. However, the official system for the medical graduates showed the encouragement and the respect to Confucian physicians from the then government. It changed the medical views of upper class and promoted the development of traditional Chinese medicine.