How did a folk doctor become a professional name in ancient times?

According to the classification of occupations in ancient China, "three religions and nine streams" are commonly used. Nine of them are "first-rate scholars, second-rate doctors, third-rate painters and painters, fourth-rate puppets (shadow play), fifth-rate dramatists, sixth-rate fortune tellers (divination), seven monks and eight players." It can be seen that the profession of doctors ranks second in the middle nine streams, not low.

As for the profession of doctor, there were two most common names in ancient times. Generally, the northern region was called "doctor" and the southern region was called "doctor". These two titles are obviously a projection of the concept of "official standard", which also shows that the respected status of doctors' profession is not much different from that of "doctors" in Europe. The doctor's official position is not low, and his position is second only to that of prime minister, minister of history and assistant minister, mainly referring to the imperial attendants. The people around the son of heaven are obviously superior in the ancient hierarchical concept.

The honorific title of doctor is mainly used by the people, and it is not an exaggeration to call doctors and doctors in the palace. Historically, the owner of the position of folk doctor did not appear until after the Spring and Autumn Period of the Eastern Zhou Dynasty. Before that, most people could not enjoy this kind of medical treatment.

In traditional ancient society, temples and rivers and lakes are antagonistic. At first, the name "Jianghu Langzhong" did not appear derogatory. In Song and Yuan Dynasties, it mainly refers to those chivalrous people who walked in the Jianghu and also had medical skills. Then it gradually became a derogatory symbol in the folk discourse system, and the semantic evolution was intriguing.

The essence and dross of traditional Chinese medicine are said together. As an empirical science, it is mostly intertwined with mysticism such as witchcraft, divination, spells, etc., which leads to many black sheep among practitioners with mixed qualities, directly lowering the reputation of this group among the people, and even the title of "Jianghu practitioners" has a mocking meaning over time.

There are not many divine doctors, and quacks abound, which is the most common state in the field of folk medical care. Faced with this kind of helplessness, people often say that doctors can only treat diseases but not save lives, and there is also a saying of life and death. The ancients only accepted the fate of medical accidents, without reasonable responsibility appraisal institutions and accident relief channels. However, quacks are neither sitting doctors nor sitting doctors. They often claim to cure all diseases, but they are not sure. To a certain extent, they were misdiagnosed or even killed by mistake, and they could only admit that they were unlucky.

Therefore, it is not enough for quack to become a derogatory term compared with "regular army" such as sitting doctors and sitting doctors.