Ink drawing from a MS of the Qing period (1644-1911). The accumulated knowledge of ancient Chinese doctors on the physiology of the internal organs (zang and fu viscera) is documented in Huangdi Neijing (Inner Classic of the Yellow Emperor), a work which was compiled in the first or second century CE, but may contain material several centuries older. In the course of the 10th Century, in the early Song period, two albums of anatomical drawings of the viscera were produced -- Wuzang tu (Illustrations of the Five Viscera) and Cunzhen tu (Illustrations for the Preservation of Reality). However, neither of these survives. It is therefore impossible to tell whether or to what extent the anterior and posterior drawings of the Five Viscera in Lingmen chuanshou tongren zhixue (The Lofty Portal Teaching Text of Acupoints on the Bronze Man) reproduce pre-Song illustrations.
The anterior drawing shows the organs that are visible from the front of the body, namely the liver, gall bladder, spleen, stomach, large intestine, small intestine, bladder, and diaphragm. The posterior drawing shows those that are visible from the back, namely the lung, kidney, mingmen (right kidney considered as 'Portal of Life'), liver, spleen, large intestine, and diaphragm.
