Fang Zhi-yang 1. 1 History of Traditional Treatment of Burns in China China is a country of ancient culture. The treatment of burn injury was documented more than 1500 years ago. As early as the Eastern Jin Dynasty, the Handbook of Prescriptions for Emergencies written by Ge Hong (281-341 A. D. ) and in the Southern Qi Dynasty (479-502 A. D. ) Liu J uan-Zi's Remedies Left Over by Ghosts, a book dealing mainly with diagnosis and treatment of traumatic wounds, are the earliest known monographs on "external diseases" in China. They record the treatment of burns with topical agents such as the preparation of a lard ointment of the liquid extract of Angelica anomalea Lallem, Gardenia jasminoides Ellis, Glycyrrhiza uralensis Fisch, Radia salviae miltiorrhizae, and the white cortex of willow. These herbs are found to be astringents and antibiotics. During the Sui Dynasty, a doctor of the Imperial Medical Academy (550- 630 A. D. ), Chao Yuan-fang, was authorized by imperial decree to compile the book General Treatise on the Etiology and Symptomatology of Diseases (610 A. D. ), the first book on etiology and symptomatology in China. This book with its valuable descriptions has been an authoritative and important reference for medical students for more than 1000 years.