Zhang Jiebin (Chinese: 張介賓; pinyin: Zhāng Jièbīn; 1563–1640)[1] was a Ming dynasty physician and writer.
He moved to Shuntian, present-day Beijing, in his early teens, where his father had been posted to serve as an honorary advisor in the military.
[2] Returning home to pursue a full-time career as a physician, Zhang was noted for his approach to medicine, which was considered unorthodox at the time: instead of targeting the symptoms of an illness, he preferred to focus on its causes.
[6] However, around the age of 40, he began to take a keener interest in the "yang component" of the body, believing that good health came from the protection of organs such as the stomach and the spleen, which in turn required "warming substances" like tobacco.
He argued that tobacco smoke contained "vitally warming and replenishing yang qi" which would support the body's major organs and allow one to "overcome a host of ailments".