Singapore Chinese Physicians' Association

Established by the Singapore Chinese Physician’s Association

The Chinese Medical Library was founded in 1946. That was during the early founding of the Singapore Chinese Physicians’ Association, whose set up was planned by the academic section of the association. It was then named as “Library Section”. It has collected quite a number of Chinese and Western medical books and periodicals of the thirties published by Shanghai and other places of China, which are meant for reference to members only. After the College of Traditional Chinese Medicine was established in 1953, it was opened to students for reading and borrowing. From the early period of the sixties, the Library Section purchased China-published ancient books on traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and Chinese translated books and periodicals on modern medicine, increasing the collection of books by several times. In order to coordinate with the demand of social development and to improve academic research work on TCM, after moving into the new premises (3rd storey of Chung Hwa Free Clinic building) since 1979, it was renamed as “Chung Hwa Free Clinic Chinese Medical Library”. To popularize medical knowledge, it was open to public for reading and borrowing in 1984.

Chung Hwa Free Clinic Chinese Medical Library is a specialized library in TCM. Its collection of books and reference materials is mainly on TCM while it also collects modern medical books and so on. Its present collection of books is recorded at 37,100 volumes. There are nearly 200 types of periodicals and magazines with more than 12,000 copies.

In 1992, Toa Payoh Chung Hwa Free Clinic building was extended and the library was moved up to the 4th storey, which has a total area of 1620 sq. ft. The interior of the library is divided into “General Reading Room” and “Reference Room”. The collection of books and periodicals in the “General Reading Room” can be borrowed by readers while the collection of TCM literatures in the “Reference Room” is only confined to indoor reading and reference and cannot be borrowed. The library has also a “Relic Museum” which shows the general situation of TCM development in Singapore.

The Chinese Medical Library is the largest Chinese medical library in Southeast Asia. It also has a collection of newspaper cuttings on the association activities over the years, minutes of meetings, photographs and over 100 types of Southeast Asian TCM publications, which include periodicals in four languages of Chinese, English, Japanese and Korean. This allows readers to understand timely the present situation of TCM development of the various countries and to keep abreast with world standards. This library is also member of the Library Association of Singapore, which promotes information exchange among the libraries. According to regulations, the library has to sort out, compile and print a list of the various specialized periodicals to be submitted to the society.

The books of the library are classified and organized according to Mr. Wang Yun We’s Standard Classification Method of China and Foreign Countries” of which partly has been adjusted and modified. After revision, the characteristic was that it would concurrently accommodate the Chinese and Western as well as the old and new medical books as one. The outline is divided into ten large categories, namely General Classification, Fundamentals, Internal Medicine, Surgery and ENT Therapeutics, Acupuncture and Moxibustion, Public Hygiene and others.

Classified Outline and Contents:


Classified No.	Categories	Contents

610	General Classifications	Classics, composite, dictionaries, medical cases, records of talks, medical history, biography of eminent figures, etc

611	Fundamentals	Anatomy, Physiology, Pathology, Biology, Etiology

612	Internal Medicine	Internal Medicine of TCM, Systems, Symptomatology, Communicable Diseases, Oncology

613	Surgery, ENT and Ophthalmology	Surgery, Traumatology, Dermatology, Surgical Science, ENT and Ophthalmology, First Aid of Toxication

614	Gynaecology and Paediatrics	Gynaecology, Obstetrics, Paediatrics and Nursing, Paediatrics Therapeutics

615	Diagnosis	TCM Thesis, Differential Theses, Physical Theses, Laboratory Science, etc

616	Drugs and Prescriptions	Chinese Herbology, Materia Medica, Prescriptions, Pharmacy, Pharmaceutical Processing and Preparation, etc

617	Therapeutics	Chinese Massage and Acupressure, Qigong and Shadow Boxing (Taiji), Fumigation, External Treatment, Physiotherapy, etc

618	Acupuncture and Moxibustion	Classical History, Principle Research, Channels and Collaterals, Acupuncture, Shu Xue, Therapeutics, Needling Anaesthesia, etc

619	Public Hygiene and others	Hospital Administration, Medical Laws, Health Care and Environmental Sanitation, Epidemic Prevention, Veterinary, etc

		String-binded String-binded Ancient Texts

		Special Collections Special Collections

A Brief Introduction to the Chinese Computer System on
“Chung Hwa Free Clinic Chinese Medical Library Literature Catalogue Information”

Periodicals are different from books. The research achievements contained in periodicals are relatively new, strong in professionalism, quick in publication and quite timely as compared to books in general. To obtain new information and to grasp new developments in science and technology, one has to make full use of periodicals. According to estimation, China publishes more than 70 types of TCM periodicals, issuing almost 10,000 TCM articles every year.

We know that a portion of the articles in periodicals is scattered in different years, different issues and different periodicals. If there is no systematic method to sort them out, then this scattered information will not be effectively utilized. Therefore, compiling an index is very helpful in providing a particular problem with the required reference materials and finding out the source of the original article. It is an indispensable tool, especially for the use of periodical literatures. In short, an index is a key to disclosing the information contained in publications. It has the characteristics of convenience in referring and disclosing literatures in a relatively deeper, comprehensive and meticulous way, which can provide readers with a clear and definite guidance.

Our library is now subscribing a total of 58 types of TCM periodicals, of which 20 types have already been bound into book form of nearly 100 volumes, whose average number of years is from 1982 onwards. In order to let readers have better access in looking up and using the literature information of these periodicals, our library has already compiled a computer index system called “Chung Hwa Free Clinic Chinese Medical Library Literature Catalogue Information”. The function of our Chinese computer system is to print out the relevant information entries required by the readers so that they can read up the relevant information of the full text promptly.

　