International standard Chinese-English basic nomenclature of Chinese medicine /

This work of nomenclature, under the editorship of the World Federation of Chinese Medical Societies, adds an important new voice to the field of translating Chinese medical texts. It arrives at a time of controversy in the translation and transliteration of key Chinese characters related to the practice of Chinese medicine, and provides international consensus standards on the meaning of 6,526 characters. The editorial committee comprises 165 experts in the field: 37 from the US, 59 from Asia, 44 from Europe, 7 from Oceania, and 18 from Africa. The text is arranged by subject; terms are classified in 21 categories, and each record includes the Chinese character, the Pinyin form, and the English equivalent. Nine appendixes and seven indexes provide additional information on the literature and history of traditional Chinese and ensure easy access to specific entries. No single "gold standard" text exists in this field; complementary dictionaries include the Chinese-English Chinese Traditional Medical World-Ocean Dictionary (1995) by Zhang Youjun, Li Wei, and Zheng Min; and English Translation of Common Terms in Traditional Chinese Medicine (2004), by Xie Zhufan. Texts produced by the People's Medical Publishing House are consistently of high quality, and this new volume is no exception. Summing Up: Highly recommended. Graduate students and professionals engaged in translating traditional Chinese medicine texts. J. D. Saxton Bastyr University