Hereditary medical system of the Ming Dynasty was abolished in the Qing Dynasty

which diversified the background of a physician. The background and knowledge system of physicians can be understood through the investigation of the reasons for their employment

which plays an auxiliary role to further understand the academic thought of physicians. By summarizing the literature

the authors think that the causes of employment in physicians of the Qing Dynasty include 4 aspects: imperial examination failure and abandoning the exam for medicine

encountering changes and turning to medicine

being confucian officials and physicians to governing the country and benefit the people

as well as influenced by a scholarly family and being physicians for generations. The last aspect is the traditional medical inheritance mode; the other three aspects can be understood as confucians switching to a new profession. The authors analyze the influence of employment reason on medicine development.