Hua Tuo

Hua Tuo was a native of Qiao County, Pei State, at the end of the Eastern Han dynasty. He mastered internal medicine, surgery, gynaecology, and paediatrics, but excelled especially in surgery. He invented Ma Fei San, a general anaesthetic used in surgical procedures—over 1,600 years before its Western counterpart—and composed the Five-Animal Frolics, a pioneering system of therapeutic movement and breath regulation that remains widely practised today. Hua Tuo travelled extensively across the Jianghuai region and Central Plains, saving countless critically ill patients. Cao Cao summoned him to serve as imperial physician, but Hua Tuo declined prolonged court service, citing family obligations and returning home instead. Ultimately, he was executed by Cao Cao, and his medical manuscripts were lost during his imprisonment—a profound tragedy in the history of Chinese medicine. Subsequent generations of physicians and patients have revered him as Hua Zu, the Divine Physician, and temples dedicated to him have been erected across China, where devotees pray for miraculous cures and long, healthy lives.