Fei Boxiong (1800~1879) was the founder of the Menghe Medical School and the first of the four famous doctors in Jiangnan at that time. He was summoned to the royal palace twice to treat the Daoguang Emperor's aphasia and the Empress Dowager's pulmonary carbuncle, both of which achieved remarkable curative effects and were appreciated by the Daoguang Emperor, calling him a living national hand. As a result, Menghe Town rose to its name. During the reigns of Emperor Daoguang, Xianfeng, and Guangxu, there were over a dozen traditional Chinese medicine shops among only about 200 households in Menghe Town. The Chronicle of Wujin County of Changzhou Prefecture records: "The wharf of small Menghe Town is thronged with coming and going boats", “There is an endless stream of people seeking medical treatment" "The sound of rowing spreads for tens of miles."
Born into a family of Chinese medicine, Fei Boxiong was brilliant from an early age, and could recite a large number of Tang poems at the age of four, and was able to compose couplets at the age of six, and was known as a wizard. His grandfather and father were both famous local doctors, and under the influence of his family, Fai Boxiong studied Chinese medicine masterpieces such as "The Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Internal Medicine", "Treatise on Fevers",and "The Herbal Canon of Shen Nong" in his childhood, which laid a solid foundation for his career.
In his youth, Fei Boxiong passed the imperial examination at the county level, but he repeatedly failed in the examinations at the provincial level, so he devoted himself to taking over his family’s practice.
His medical cases reveal that he believed in "simplicity", “accuracy”, “blend” and "mildness". He made many moderate prescriptions which turned out to be very effective. His "Supplementary Notions of Medical Experience" is an indispensable and important reference book for medical students even in modern days.
The descendants of the Menghe Medical School know such a story. When Weng Tonghe came to Menghe for medical treatment in the late Qing Dynasty, he also had to queue up for treatment in order. It was no other than Fei Boxiong who treated Weng Tonghe. Fei Boxiong followed the medical ethics, and always urged future generations to remember – it's the duty of medical workers to heal the wounded and rescue the dying.