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Thread: The Black Death in Asia and North Africa

  1. #1

    Default The Black Death in Asia and North Africa

    Well, I opened this thread because I am curious about how the Black Death plague has affected the Muslim world, China and India.

    I have plenty of informations regarding Europe but knowing that this plague affected the whole civilized world I want to know the mortality rate and if the medicine of those civilizations has found a way to cure the disease.

    Also if possible somebody can suggest good scholarship publications regarding this argument?

    Thanks for the help

    Regards

  2. #2
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    Default Re: The Black Death in Asia and North Africa

    There were black deaths in China throughout the period; the difference however was that Chinese did know how to deal the plauge, unlike Europeans.

    For how Chinese deal that with medician I suggest go and ask Exarch.
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  3. #3
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    Default Re: The Black Death in Asia and North Africa

    Quote Originally Posted by Principe Alessandro View Post
    Well, I opened this thread because I am curious about how the Black Death plague has affected the Muslim world, China and India.

    I have plenty of informations regarding Europe but knowing that this plague affected the whole civilized world I want to know the mortality rate and if the medicine of those civilizations has found a way to cure the disease.

    Also if possible somebody can suggest good scholarship publications regarding this argument?

    Thanks for the help

    Regards
    diseases manifesting 'bubonic plague'-like symptoms and signs did occur in ancient and medieval China and the physicians of various dynasties and periods recorded the outbreaks and effective treatment methods.
    the thing you have to remember is that the traditional chinese medical viewpoints differed from the humoral theory that dominated western medical thinking at that time, despite some similarities.
    traditional chinese medicine is very taoist in philosophy, therefore treatment principles commonly involved strategems aimed at restoring the body's harmony.
    i'd suggest you have a look at some of the classics students of chinese medicine studied and still study to get an idea of how chinese physicians went about treating cases of bubonic plague.

    http://www.amazon.com/Shang-Han-Lun-.../dp/0912111577
    this is a treatise on cold diseases by the famous chinese physician zhang zhong jing; it doesn't just cover influenza cases, but also cases of extremely high fever, swollen lymph nodes and fatal cases common in bubonic plague victims.
    it's interesting that zhang zhong jing wrote in the preface that he often felt frustrated at seeing loved ones perish from disease -this, coinciding with some major epidemics during the han dynasty.

    http://www.paradigm-pubs.com/catalog...rDisTheWenBinP
    this is a treatise on 'warm diseases' written during the ming and qing dynasties; several cases would've resembled bubonic plague outbreaks.

    not to mention that by the time of the Qing dynasty, physicians would've needed to have a good grasp of Classic of Internal Medicine (Nei Jing) and Synopsis of the Golden Chamber (Jin Kui Yao Lue).

    in my view, a lot of of the treatments would've been effective in maintaining the patient's immune system, depending also on the patient's constitution. if you're a frail old man and you're afflicted with bubonic plague, you're standing at less of a chance of recovery than a reasonably young bloke with the same amount of nutrition and medicine.

  4. #4

    Default Re: The Black Death in Asia and North Africa

    Also perhaps their method of fighting the plague had something to do with getting rid of the rats

  5. #5

    Default Re: The Black Death in Asia and North Africa

    Looking at Ze Wikipedias:

    The Black Death appeared in China around the time the Mongols invaded and it's estimated that around half the population was dead by 1400 (around 60 million of 120 million). 14 years before the plague reached Constantinople the kill count was at 25 million.

    These are the relevant foot notes:

    ^
    Ping-ti Ho, "An Estimate of the Total Population of Sung-Chin China", in Études Song, Series 1, No 1, (1970) pp. 33–53.^
    Kohn, George C. (2008). Encyclopedia of plague and pestilence: from ancient times to the present. Infobase Publishing. p. 31. ISBN 0816069352.

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