This course entails 80 hours of instruction. Throughout the course, students are expected to learn the following:

① Grasping the main clinical manifestations, pathogeneses, treatment rules and prescriptions of the six patterns and their principal syndromes as well as commonly seen concomitant syndromes.

② Grasping the key points for syndrome differentiation between two similar or easily confused syndromes.

③ Become familiar with the main ingredients, basic actions, chief indications and clinical applications of the commonly used formulas in the Shanghan Lun as well as Zhang Zhongjing’ s medication expierences.

④ Familiarizing yourself with the thinking models in TCM diagnosingtreating activities established by Zhang Zhongjing and then applying them into your own clinical practice.

While learning TCM classics like Shanghan Lun, it is recommened to utilize the following methods:

① Correctly and clearly understand the intrinsic meanings of every word and sentence in the original text you will learn throughout the course,especially knowing the precise meaning of a word or a phrase from its context, and referring to other closely related articles.

② Know well the meaning behind the original sentence of each article by means of ancient logical inference, such as inferring a formula from the symptoms or pulse given, inferring the symptoms or pulse from a formula given, and inferring the pathogenesis from a formula given.

③ Make a contrast or comparison between two similar articles or formulas in order to find out their similarities and differences.

④ Studying the original text in the Shanghan Lun would relate closely with the actual problems in clinical practice so as to have a more accurate and realistic command of the theory, viewpoints and principles in this classical course.