title: [The professionalized transformation of medical witchcraft in the Qin-Han Dynasties].
abstract: By witchcraft, it refers to the activities of imagining and intending to affect or control the object through"supernatural power". Ancient witchcraft was applied extensively in which those applied for medical purpose included sorcery, praying, superstitious art of anti-disaster, and tabooing, were collectively called"medical witchcraft". During the Qin-Han periods, witchcraft was transformed by the theory of Yin-Yang and Five-Phases as a part of technical profession. Among them, the system of demon-ghost witchcraft was replaced by the necromantic ghost system; exorcism and taboo system were infiltrated with the conception of the art of mathematics and technical system; whereas the superstitious art of anti-disaster was replaced by incantation. The remnants of medical witchcraft not yet totally transformed were also applied by the technical professionals of the Qin-Han Dynasties.
authors.affiliation: PhD. candidate, Institute for History of Medicine and Medical Literature, China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences, Beijing, 100700, China.
authors.forename: Yang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Changhua
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D002681:China; D049691:History, Medieval; D006801:Humans; D018599:Witchcraft / Q000266:history*