華佗
Hua Tuo
Profile
The legendary physician who became the very word for "miracle doctor." Records credit him with surgery under an anesthetic called mafeisan — one of history’s earliest general anesthesias — and with the Five Animal Frolics, a pioneering exercise regimen. Treating Cao Cao’s headaches, he refused to become the warlord’s captive court physician, and died in prison. The medical text he tried to pass on from his cell, the story goes, was burned.
Key events
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Death of the Physician Hua Tuo
Hua Tuo, the legendary physician who refused to be Cao Cao’s personal doctor, dies in prison. The tale of scraping Guan Yu’s bone is the novel’s embellishment.
History vs. the novelHistoryvsNovel
The famous scene of scraping poison from Guan Yu’s bone is chronologically impossible — Hua Tuo died eleven years before that battle. The offer to open Cao Cao’s skull is likewise the novel’s.