Zhang Ji, also known as Zhongjing, lived in the later Eastern Han Dynasty(circa 150~219 AD), and is the greatest medical specialist in the history of TCM, and his main medical theories and clinical experiences were concentrated and embodied in his sole piece of academic work, namely, Shanghan Zabing Lun (Treatise on Cold-Induced and Miscellaneous Diseases)completed circa 200~205 AD, in which he established two medical theoretical systems, the six meridians pattern differentiation for exogenously contracted diseases and the syndrome differentiation according to theories of Zangfuorgans and Qi, blood and body fluid for miscellaneous diseases, and offered a vast number of formulas which have been effectively applied into clinical practice up to now. Zhang’s great work was rearranged into two books by an imperial medical officer, Wang Shuhe (210~285 AD), in the Western Jin Dynasty. One is Shanghan Lun (Treatise on Cold-induced Disorders) which mainly expounds the exogenously contracted diseases caused by wind-cold pathogen, and the other is Jingui Yaolue (Synopsis of the Prescriptions in Golden Chamber), which emphatically discusses miscellaneous diseases relating to TCM Internal Medicine, Surgery and Gynecology.

The current edition of Shanghan Lun was reorganized and collated by Lin Yi(circa 1065~1066 AD), who was head of official Bureau of Collating-Rectifying Medical Texts in the North Song Dynasty.