[4] According to biographer Sima Qian, writing in the 105th chapter of his Records of the Grand Historian,[6] Chunyu was a minor official in charge of the granary in the state of Qi.

[8] In diagnosing his patients, Chunyu, who reportedly could "tactually perceive" qi,[8] had the custom of "explaining his observations in relation to authoritative texts".

[11] After being released from prison, Chunyu wrote an autobiography,[5] a medical treatise concerning etiology, diagnosis, and treatment,[12] as well as several case histories which were subsequently included in Sima Qian's work.

[13] Early Chinese writers, including Sima Qian and Huangfu Mi, tended to present Chunyu as primarily a political figure whom they dubbed Canggong (倉公) or the "Granary Master", with little to no reference to his medical contributions.

[15] Similarly, Vivienne Lo notes that Chunyu Yi was "an early exponent of the medicine of systematic correspondence that dominated intellectual medical traditions from the beginning of the Chinese empire through to modern times.