Yin Yang Shiyi Mai Jiujing Yin Yang Shiyi Mai Jiujing The Yin Yang Shiyi Mai Jiujing (), or Cauterization Canon of the Eleven Yin and Yang Vessels, is an ancient Chinese medical text that was excavated in 1973 from a Han-dynasty tomb in Mawangdui Han tombs site (Hunan province) that had been sealed in 168 BCE. It was handcopied in seal script on the same sheet of silk as the "Recipes for Fifty-Two Ailments" and another text on cauterization during the Qin dynasty, around 215 BCE. The text describes the pathways of eleven vessels or channels ("mai" 脉) inside the body, as well as the
Yin and yang light; female and male; moon and sun", however, is an exception. Scholars have proposed various explanations for why "yinyang" violates this pattern, including "linguistic convenience" (it is easier to say "yinyang" than "yangyin"), the idea that "proto-Chinese society was matriarchal", or perhaps, since "yinyang" first became prominent during the late Warring States period, this term was "purposely directed at challenging persistent cultural assumptions". Needham discusses Yin and Yang together with Five Elements as part of the School of Naturalists. He says that it would be proper to begin with Yin and Yang before Five Elements because the former: "lay, as