This book examines the theory and practice of traditional medicine in modern China. Farquhar describes the logic of diagnosis and treatment from the inside perspective of doctors and scholars. She demonstrates how theoretical and textual materials interweave with the practical requirements of the clinic. By showing how Chinese medical choices are made, she considers problems of agency in relation to different forms of knowledge.

Knowing Practice will be of value not only to anthropologists interested in medical practice but also to historians, sociologists, and others interested in the social life of technical expertise and traditional teachings.