 Hu was born in <unk> County , Anhui Province in 1584 or early 1585 . Both his father and elder brother <unk> ( <unk> , art name <unk> , <unk> ) were physicians , and after he turned 30 he travelled with them while they practised medicine in the areas around Lu 'an and <unk> . It is commonly stated that <unk> himself was also a doctor , though the earliest sources attesting to this occur only in the second half of the 19th century . 
