[foobar_fighter]

Medical shock refers to very low blood pressure which results in poor oxygenation. It's usually fatal if left untreated. (It can be treated with oxygen and IV fluids). I would guess, though, that 'shock' is used in this context to refer to the explosion (as in shock wave).

[grzm]

If “the shock” were meant to be interpreted as medical shock, I would expect the definite article to be omitted. Compare:

He died of shock. (medical condition)

He died of the shock. (single, definitive event, e.g., fright or shock wave)

Might be reading too much into it, but lends credence to the shock wave interpretation. Anyone have access to the original text? Might clear it up.

[yorwba]

The original source is available on Wikisource: https://zh.wikisource.org/wiki/%E9%85%8C%E4%B8%AD%E5%BF%97#%...

皇貴妃任娘娘所居之室器物隕落，任娘娘於天啟五年十月初一日所生皇第三子，於是日受驚後遂薨逝

Translates roughly (with the caveat that my Literary Chinese sucks) as:

In the imperial consort Lady Ren's living quarters, things fell down and the emperor's third son she had given birth to on the first day of the tenth month of 1625, having been shocked on that day, subsequently passed away.

The paragraph I took that quote from begins with the description of a dragon sighting four years earlier, which might give you an idea of how reliable that source is.

[dmix]

Thank you for this. Didn't expect my question to get answered so thoroughly but at the same time it doesn't answer whether it was the blast shock or generic medical shock, I'm guessing blast shock given how everything in the house was rattled.

[ncmncm]

Medical shock is much more vague. The version mentioned is one form which may itself have several different causes. Don't try to impress a medical doctor by mentioning shock.

But the cause of death of the heir is far more profoundly vague, linguistically, although at the same time more specific.