ACADEMIA Letters

Deriyaka: Indigenized Western Medicine in the Qing

Court
Shih-hsun Liu, Assistant Curator, Department of Painting, Calligraphy, Rare Books
and Historical Documents, National Palace Museum

The term “deriyaka” originated from the Ancient Greek word “theriaca,” meaning “magical
antidote.” Although the ingredients of theriaca have repeatedly changed over the centuries,
they have usually included venomous snake flesh, opium poppy, and Japanese gentian.1 Dur-
ing the seventh century, the Arabic terms tiryāq and diryāq were phonetically translated as
diyejia in Chinese and subsequently were introduced to China. In the 16th and 17th centuries,
Jesuits introduced the French term thériaque to China, which is written as deriyaka in Manchu
and deliyakain Chinese (phonetic translation from French) in the annals.2
“Deriyaka” and “deliyaka,” are common in official Qing dynasty records, ancient medical
texts, notes, and collected works.3 At the request of the Kangxi Emperor (Manchu: hiowan
yei, who reigned from 1662 to 1722), French Jesuits shared knowledge of Western medicine,
which was recorded in the Treatise on Western Medicine (Chinese: Xiyang Yaoshu; Manchu:
si yang ni okto i bithe) using the Manchu language. And the term deriyaka was introduced in
this book.
The local environmental effects on the transmission of Western medicine to China are
pronounced. The concept of “indigenization” is often used in anthropology to explain such
1
J. P. Griffin, “Famous Names in Toxicology฀฀Mithridatus VI of Pontus, the First Experimental Toxicologist,”
Advers Reactions Toxicol Rev 14 (1995), pp. 1-16; Guido Majno, The Healing Hand: Man and Wound in the
Ancient World (Cambridge, Massachusetts: Harvard University Press, 1991), pp. 413-417.
2
Edward H. Schafer, The Golden Peaches of Samarkand: A Study of Tang Exotics (Berkeley: University of
California Press, 1963), pp. 184-185; Carla Nappi, “Bolatu’s Pharmacy: Theriac in Early Modern China,” Early
Science and Medicine 14:6 (2009), pp. 737-764.
3
In Qing dynasty Manchu records, deriyaka is sometimes written as deriyaga or deriyag’a.

Academia Letters, July 2021 ©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0

Corresponding Author: Shih-hsun Liu, [email protected]

Citation: Liu, S. (2021). Deriyaka: Indigenized Western Medicine in the Qing Court. Academia Letters, Article
2031. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL2031.

1
an effect. This term was originally defined as “to cause to have indigenous characteristics or
personnel.”4 The transmission of theriaca to the Qing court and its subsequent usage can be
understood through the concept of “indigenization”.
During the Kangxi Emperor’s reign, the Jesuit Kilian Stumpf (1665–1720) searched for
medicinal materials that could be used to prepare deriyaka in China. According to the let-
ters of another Jesuit Dominique Parrenin (1663–1741) to the French Academy of Sciences,
the Kangxi Emperor was particularly interested in deriyaka, which could be used to prepare
opium. The emperor even ordered Jesuit Jean-François Gerbillon (1654–1707), pharmacist
and botanist Joseph Baudino (1657–1718), and others to search for vipers, Japanese gentian,
and the roots of Whiteflower Hogfennel to prepare deriyaka.5
According to the Arcane Medical Essentials from the Imperial Library (Chinese: Waitai
Miyao) and The Compendium of Materia Medica (Chinese: Bencao Gangmu), viper bites can
kill and they are highly venomous, making them unsuitable medicinal materials.6
The ingredients used in the Qing court to prepare deriyaka were similar to those used to de-
velop theriaca in Ancient Greece and Rome, and both contained vipers. Japanese gentian was
also used in Ancient Greece and Rome to prepare theriaca. According to The Compendium
of Materia Medica, the root of Whiteflower Hogfennel is bitter, slightly cold-natured, and
nontoxic. It is found in Shaanxi province and Hubei province, and it is primarily used to
treat phlegm repletion, chest discomfort, qi stagnation in the chest and abdomen, migraine
triggered by winds, typhoid chills and fever, and poor eyesight.7
Because the use of deriyaka differed from those of other medicines’ tradition in the Qing
court, its use may have been accepted or rejected. Alternatively, the Qing court may have used
deriyaka as a supplement to other medicine or vice versa. According to a Manchu imperial
memorial submitted to the Kangxi Emperor by Yinzhi (Manchu: Yūn c’y, 1677–1732) et al.,
in September 1712, Blue-plume guardsman (Chinese: Lanling Shiwei) Biyaerbuha (Manchu:
Biyalbuha) of the Plain Yellow Banner (Chinese: Zhenghuangqi), and Commander-in-chief
(Chinese: Dutong) Suonai (Manchu: Šonai) were ill. Suonai had had diarrhea since the au-
tumn, and the medicine prescribed by doctors was ineffective. Faced with this serious illness,
4
“Indigenize,” Merriam-Webster, accessed March 2, 2021, http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/
indigenize.
5
Jean-Baptiste Du Halde ed., translated by Zheng De-di, Yesuhuishi Zhongguo shujianji [Letters Édifiantes
et Curieuses, Écrites des Missions Étrangères Jesuits: Mémoires de la Chine] (Zhengzhou: Daxiang chubanshe,
2001), Mid. Vol., pp. 311–312.
6
Wang Tao, Waitai Miyao [Arcane Medical Essentials from the Imperial Library] (Taipei: National Research
Institute of Chinese Medicine, 1965), Vol. 40, p. 1121; Li Zhi-zhen, Bencao Gangmu [The Compendium of
Materia Medica] (Beijing: Renmin Weisheng chubanshe, 1975), Vol. 43, p. 2409.
7
Li Zhi-zhen, Bencao Gangmu, Vol. 13, p. 789.

Academia Letters, July 2021 ©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0

Corresponding Author: Shih-hsun Liu, [email protected]

Citation: Liu, S. (2021). Deriyaka: Indigenized Western Medicine in the Qing Court. Academia Letters, Article
2031. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL2031.

2
the emperor suggested the use of deriyaka.8
In September 1712, Yinzhi submitted another palace memorandum to the emperor not-
ing that deriyaka had improved Suonai’s illness. However, the emperor became conservative
regarding the use this medicine; he informed his ministers that, because deriyaka ishot na-
tured, he discouraged its excessive use.9 The source of the emperor’s knowledge about the
medicine’s warm nature remains unknown. Nevertheless, the emperor discouraged his min-
isters against the excessive use of warm- or hot-natured medicines, including tonics such as
ginseng. This may have been because Manchu people lived in Northern China, which would
have caused their subcutaneous tissues to be tight and thus made heat dissipation difficult, and
because their bodies were “hotter,” eating hot-natured food was unfavorable.10 Throughout
the country at that time, doctors commonly treated patients with large quantities of hot-natured
medicine (e.g., Japanese aconite, cinnamon twig, and ginseng) regardless of the patient’s ill-
ness and physical condition.11 Gu Songyuan, a physician of the Imperial Medical Bureau
(Chinese: Taiyiyuan), voiced his severe criticism of this practice, commenting that excessive
prescription of hot-natured medicine is the act of a quack and that, at the age of over 50 years,
he could die due to such a prescription, despite his status as a physician.12
These examples show that the Qing court may have obtained knowledge regarding de-
riyaka from Europe and even prepared deriyaka themselves. This may have been the first
preparation of deriyaka since theriaca was introduced to China in the seventh century, and
the methods adopted to make deriyaka were similar to those adopted by Westerners. This
8
“Yinzhi’s Imperial Memorial Reporting Commander-in-Chief Suonai’s Illness,” Beijing: The First Historical
Archive of China, Film 3, Film No. 32169-32170, Sept. 25, 1712. Special thanks to Professor Lin Shih-hsuan
of the Department of History of National Taipei University for providing film images of this Manchu palace
memorandum.
9
“Yinzhi’s Palace Memorandum Reporting Commander-in-Chief Suonai’s Illness.” Film 3, Film No. 32167-
32168, Oct. 7, 1712. Special thanks to Professor Lin Shih-hsuan of the Department of History of NTPU for
providing film images of this Manchu palace memorandum.
10
Chen Ke-ji ed., Qinggong Yian Yanjiu [Medical Cases in the Imperial Court of Qing] (Beijing: Zhongyi
Guji chubanshe, 2006), p. 2222. Differences in physical condition caused by varying geographical locations have
been regarded as a key factor related to the causes of disease in modern times. Congenital physical conditions,
acquired habits, and places of residence have been used to analyze the formation and meaning of diseases in the
fields of etiology, diagnostics, and treatment since the Song dynasty. For relationships between diseases and geo-
graphical locations advocated in the Yuan, Ming, and Qing dynasties, please refer to Liang Qizi’s Miandui jibing:
Chuantong zhongguo shehui de yiliao guannian yu zuzhi [Relationships between Diseases and Geographical Lo-
cations: Doctors’ Views in the Yuan, Ming, and Qing Dynasties and In the Face of Diseases: Medical Views and
Organization of China’s Traditional Society] (Beijing: Zhongguo Renmindaxue chubanshe, 2012), pp. 217-251.
11
Zhang Jing-jie, Gu songyuan yi jing jiaozhu [Annotation to Gu Songyuan’s Medical Philosophies] (Henan:
Henan Kexuejishu chubanshe, 1986), p. 4.
12
Zhang Jing-jie, Gu songyuan yi jing jiaozhu, pp. 7, 16–17.

Academia Letters, July 2021 ©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0

Corresponding Author: Shih-hsun Liu, [email protected]

Citation: Liu, S. (2021). Deriyaka: Indigenized Western Medicine in the Qing Court. Academia Letters, Article
2031. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL2031.

3
demonstrates how the Qing court puts theories to practice, and such demonstration has very
profounding historical meaning. Medical knowledge of theriaca was spread to China through
texts and objects, thus enabling deriyaka to be practicalized in the Qing court.
When theriaca was introduced to the Qing court during the 17th century, it was subject
to the influences of factors such as language, social situation, and interpretation of its use.
Thus, its name, medical ingredients, and methods of application varied widely. Its name was
phonetically translated into Manchurian as deriyaka; the root of Whiteflower Hogfennel, a
traditional Chinese medicine, was added as an ingredient; and the usage of deriyaka is the
result of consideration and adjustment made by the Kangxi Emperor after he had compre-
hended about Western medicine. Thus, when the Chinese and Western medicinal societies
exchanged medical knowledge, the receiver adjusted the application according to local situa-
tions and conditions. In this way, indigenized medical knowledge and methods of operation
were developed.

Academia Letters, July 2021 ©2021 by the author — Open Access — Distributed under CC BY 4.0

Corresponding Author: Shih-hsun Liu, [email protected]

Citation: Liu, S. (2021). Deriyaka: Indigenized Western Medicine in the Qing Court. Academia Letters, Article
2031. https://doi.org/10.20935/AL2031.