Home » Sunday » Now and Then
李时珍 Li Shizhen (1518-93) - Saint of medicine and scribe of herbs
By Zhang Ciyun |
July 3, 2011, Sunday
|
Print Edition
Print Edition
Li Shizhen was one of the greatest physicians and pharmacologists in Chinese history and his monumental medical work, "Bencao Gangmu" or "Compendium of Materia Medica," is the most comprehensive medical book ever written about traditional Chinese medicine.
He is known as the "Saint of Medicine" in Chinese history.
His tome contains more than 1,890 herbs, 11,000 prescriptions and 1,100 illustrations.
Li was born in Qizhou in today's Hubei Province in central China. His grandfather was an itinerant doctor who died before Li was born. Li's father was also a herbal doctor. However, due to the low social status of herbal doctors in feudal society, he wanted his son to become an official in the imperial court.
So, when Li was only 14, he took the imperial civil examination at the county level and passed. But he failed the provincial-level exam three times.
Eventually, Li gave up on officialdom and decided to follow in his father's footsteps to become a herbal doctor.
In addition to practicing medicine, Li read all classics and contemporary literature about TCM. However, in those medical books, Li found many glaring mistakes, conflicting information, wrong classification and ambiguities. He worried these errors would cause great problems or even cost lives when they were used to treat patients. So, he made up his mind to write a new "bencao" or "materia medica."
His father warned him that it was a daunting task and it could take decades to re-examine every herb and medicine in the country. However, young Li was up to the challenge.
In 1552, when Li was already 34, he started work on his epic medical book "Bencao Gangmu."
First, he traveled to almost every corner of the country to talk to farmers, herbal doctors and patients. During the day, he collected information about herbal medicine and gathered samples of herbs and medicines. At night, he studied the samples, conducted experiments and documented their components and medical effects.
There are myriad stories about how Li risked his own life by testing the effect of some herbs on himself. One story goes that Li tasted a poisonous herb in the wildness one day when he was by himself. A few minutes later, he was so badly poisoned that he lay flat on the ground and could hardly move. He thought this experiment would be his last.
Then, some leaves fell from a nearby tea tree and several landed on Li's face near his mouth. He used his tongue to roll the leaves into his mouth and began to chew. Miraculously, Li regained movement of his arms and legs and a while later, he was fully recovered. Then, he tried both the poisonous herb and the tea leaf again to determine their medical effects.
It was not until 27 years later that Li completed his colossal work. In addition to field research, Li consulted 900 medical books, nearly everything available in print at that time. Li's "Bencao Gangmu" has been translated into dozens of foreign languages. His statues are found in almost every college of TCM.
He is known as the "Saint of Medicine" in Chinese history.
His tome contains more than 1,890 herbs, 11,000 prescriptions and 1,100 illustrations.
Li was born in Qizhou in today's Hubei Province in central China. His grandfather was an itinerant doctor who died before Li was born. Li's father was also a herbal doctor. However, due to the low social status of herbal doctors in feudal society, he wanted his son to become an official in the imperial court.
So, when Li was only 14, he took the imperial civil examination at the county level and passed. But he failed the provincial-level exam three times.
Eventually, Li gave up on officialdom and decided to follow in his father's footsteps to become a herbal doctor.
In addition to practicing medicine, Li read all classics and contemporary literature about TCM. However, in those medical books, Li found many glaring mistakes, conflicting information, wrong classification and ambiguities. He worried these errors would cause great problems or even cost lives when they were used to treat patients. So, he made up his mind to write a new "bencao" or "materia medica."
His father warned him that it was a daunting task and it could take decades to re-examine every herb and medicine in the country. However, young Li was up to the challenge.
In 1552, when Li was already 34, he started work on his epic medical book "Bencao Gangmu."
First, he traveled to almost every corner of the country to talk to farmers, herbal doctors and patients. During the day, he collected information about herbal medicine and gathered samples of herbs and medicines. At night, he studied the samples, conducted experiments and documented their components and medical effects.
There are myriad stories about how Li risked his own life by testing the effect of some herbs on himself. One story goes that Li tasted a poisonous herb in the wildness one day when he was by himself. A few minutes later, he was so badly poisoned that he lay flat on the ground and could hardly move. He thought this experiment would be his last.
Then, some leaves fell from a nearby tea tree and several landed on Li's face near his mouth. He used his tongue to roll the leaves into his mouth and began to chew. Miraculously, Li regained movement of his arms and legs and a while later, he was fully recovered. Then, he tried both the poisonous herb and the tea leaf again to determine their medical effects.
It was not until 27 years later that Li completed his colossal work. In addition to field research, Li consulted 900 medical books, nearly everything available in print at that time. Li's "Bencao Gangmu" has been translated into dozens of foreign languages. His statues are found in almost every college of TCM.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
