The Liao-Western Xia-Jin-Yuan Dynasties were the period of the ascendancy of the Chinese minorities. Either the Han medicine was directly employed . Or the Han medicine was blended with the minority medicine . This was a 
characteristic of the development of the Chinese medicine in this period .
The Ming Dynasty was a politically-stable and economically –advanced period in the Chinese history . In the middle and later part of the period capitalist production sprouted , and commercial economy pushed ahead overseas exchanges , sciences, technology and culture. The medicine also reached a marked high level . The officials who advocated Confucianism and filial devotion , considered medicine as an important means for fulfilling the filial duty . There was a slogan : “If one cannot be a good minister , one should be a good doctor”. The scholars who failed in the imperial service examinations flocked to the medical profession , contributing to upgrading the educational qualities and knowledge structure of the medical practitioners and to bettering the position of surgeons . In the preceding Song Dynasty “the surgeons were mostly vulgar and illiterate .” Now, the social status of the medical practitioners including the surgeons was elevated . They went to large cities to study under famous masters unpracticed among the populace to gain experiences . Medical theories too , improved . Many medical practitioners passed on their knowledge from generation to generation , a condition favorable for professionalism in medicine. For instance , Chen Sicheng , the author of “Secrets of Syphilis” , was born of an eight-generation medical family . A medical work was often initiated by the father and finalized by the son or even the grandson , which was often specialized and authoritative in a certain field , and was practical and acknowledged extensively .
Creation was the mainstream of the development of medical science in Ming , exemplified by the two works : “On Pestilence” by Wu You Xing and “Syllabus of Medical Herbs” by Li Shizhen . The knowledge about smallpox and the development of human pos vaccination were an outstanding creation of the medical science in the Ming Dynasty . It inspired Sir William Jenner to invent the cowpox vaccination . It created a new era of immunology . The medicine in the Ming Dynasty was characterized by a system of medical theories .
The early mid-period of the Qing Dynasty testified a complicated development of medicine . Going through historical tests and accumulation , the Chinese traditional medicine in this period was perfected , and matured practically and theoretically . A sound system was formed either for the general medicine or for the different branches , with more effective cures in comparison with other nations at the same period . The febrile-disease school in medicine played a positive role in curing epidemic febrile diseases , diminishing death rate and preventing infection . The wide implementation of the human pox vaccination to prevent smallpox was a brilliant achievement in the Chinese and world medical history .
