Part One
Introduction

Ⅰ．What's Anatomy

Human anatomy （人体解剖学） is the science which studies the location，shape and structure of human organs．The word“anatomy”comes from the Greek“ana-”meaning“up or through”and“tome”meaning“cutting”．Human body has undergone millions of years of evolution．Structure and function of the body are closely related to each other．Both，capable of influencing one another．

Human organ systems are composed of nine systems that work together to perform all the basic life processes and advanced activities，such as：movement，respiration，digestion，learning and thinking．The organ systems include locomotor，digestive，respiratory，urinary，reproductive，endocrine and nervous systems，angiology and sensory organs．An organ system is a group of organs integrated by structure and function to carry out one or more general processes．

The whole body is organized by systems，systems by organs，organs by tissues，tissues by cells．The cell is the basic unit of living body．The human body develops from a single cell-zygote，which will be eventually divided into 75 trillion cells of 200 different kinds．

Ⅱ．Anatomical Position，Terms and Planes

All anatomical descriptions are expressed based on the anatomical position．The anatomical position （解 剖学姿势） refers to the human body which stands erect facing forward with hands at the sides and palms forward．

Terms are illustrated in Table 1.1．

The main use of anatomical planes is to describe sections and images of the body．There are sagittal，coronal and horizontal planes（Figure 1.1）．The sagittal plane （矢状面） is the vertical plane which passes through the body parallel to the median plane．The median plane is the vertical plane passing through the midline of the body—dividing it into equal right and left halves．The coronal plane （ frontal plane ，冠状 面） is the vertical plane passing through the body at right angles to the median plane and divides the body into anterior and posterior parts．The horizontal plane （ transverse plane ，水平面） is the plane passing through the body horizontally and divides the body into superior and inferior parts．