The ancients called doctors doctors doctors since the Song Dynasty, and doctors were official positions, which was the highest rank of medical officials at that time. When the official title was re-established in the Song Huizong period, there began to be medical officers with the official title of doctor. The highest medical officer is called "doctor", followed by "doctor", hereinafter referred to as "medical effect" and "waiting". Because the position of "doctor" is the highest, it has been used as a respectful name for doctors since then. Among the people, there are "doctors" and "doctors". Doctors who set up warehouses to practice medicine are called "doctors", and doctors who go from village to village are called "doctors" or "doctors with prescriptions" and "doctors with bells".

Doctors originated in the Tang Dynasty. During the Wude period of the Tang Dynasty, Tang Gaozu Li Yuan founded the first medical university in the history of China-"Medical College", which was directly under the Department of Traditional Chinese Medicine. The students of "medicine" include doctors, acupuncture students, massage students, curse students and pharmacy students, among which "doctor" is a student studying medical pathology. "Department B of Liu Tangdian" said: "Forty doctors, two doctors." Ci Yuan explains: "There were 300 doctors in the later Zhou Dynasty, 120 in the Sui Dynasty and 40 in the Sui Dynasty, so they were called doctors because they studied medicine." The doctor here is a medical student. Later, it evolved into a general term for people engaged in medical work. For example, in Fan Chengda's poem "Books Matter" in the Song Dynasty, "Although there is no rut outside the door, the doctor still comes."