Li Shizhen  and Compendium of Materia Medica

1.Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), which is unique to China, has had a profound influence on Japan, Korea and other countries in the surrounding Chinese cultural orbit. A large number of renowned physicians have appeared in the course of China's medical history--from the legendary Yellow Emperor( 黄帝)to Bian Que (扁鹊) ,Hua Tuo( 华佗)Zhang Zhongjing(张仲景) and Sun Simiao (孙思邈) .Li Shizhen (李时珍)of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644), an outstanding physician and herbalist, was known as a“ Sage of Medicine”.

2. Li Shizhen（1518-1593）, courtesy-named Dongbi and art-named Recluse of Binhu (Bin Hu ShanRen), came from a family which had produced medical practitioners for generations. His grandfather was a bell healer and his father, Li Yanwen, was a physician of repute among the locals. 

3.Legend has it that Li Shizhen was rather weak and he was eaten up with diseases since childhood. At the age of 20, he was almost killed by a fatal cold. Fortunately, he was later saved by the Huangqin decoction prescribed by his father, which couldn’t make him realize any better the magical power of medicine. Having failed in the provincial examination three times, Li Shizhen finally confessed to his father that he wanted to study medicine and become a good doctor. His father,a well-known doctor, did not want his son to follow in his footsteps. This was because in the feudal society they lived in. medicine was despised as a profession - doctors being ranked alongside fortune tellers and diviners. But Li Shizhen had sympathy for the sufferings of ill people, and regarded doctors as people who could rescue the dying and heal the injured, as people who could relieve pain. And so, he made up his mind to treat the masses of poor people, just like his father did.Reluctantly, his father agreed with his decision. Since then, Li Shizhen had devoted all his life to medical studies.

4.At the age of twenty-two Li Shizhen began to treat patients. During the day he helped his father treat patients, and at night he would study medicinal herbs. He immersed himself in the works of the ancient medical authors, such as Classic of Internal Medicine, Classic of Herbs, Treatise on Cold Ailments and Classic of the Pulse. He discovered several omissions and mistakes in these old medical works: Many useful herbs were not recorded; others were mentioned only by name, with no account of their appearance or growing conditions: and the nature and efficacy of some were erroneously recorded. He thought to himself: “So many mistakes in the old herbal treatises must put people's lives in danger!” So he determined to revise the traditional medical lore, and produce a pharmacopeia that was both accurate and comprehensive.

5.At the age of forty-one, Li Shizhen entered the Medical Institute of the imperial court.  At that time, the emperor was a muddle headed individual whose chief interest was in drugs for prolonging his life, and even wanted to become an immortal. In consequence the officials of the Medical Institute concerned themselves with scouring the whole country for so-called “prescriptions of immortality,” and at the same time consulted historical works of medicine to highlight similar items. Some of the emperor's doctors had been prescribing for him long-term doses of mercury, and others, sulfur. This made Li Shizhen even more determined to compile an accurate pharmacopeia.

6.Li Shizhen then stored up in his mind the experiences he gained while attending to patients. When he was not on duty, he went searching all over for medicinal herbs and consulting the people of the herb-producing areas.No matter how difficult the journey, if place produced medicinal herbs he made his way there.He travelled extensively in the known mountains and along the river banks all over Jiangxi, Jiangsu, Anhui, Hunan, Guangdong and other places. Sometimes he had to penetrate rugged mountains and uninhabited forests, and survive on food he took with him. At night he had to seek shelter in caves or abandoned temples, and by the light of a glimmering lamp record the nature and properties of the herbs he had found.Born to be a modest and curious person, Li listened carefully as he went to people from different walks of life, such as the herb farmers, fishermen, woodcutters, hunters, porters and buddhist healers, from whom he collected a large number of simple but proved medical recipes. 

7.After twenty-seven years of research, including several years away from home, Li Shizhen completed his monumental work - Compendium of Materia Medica. This book consists of over one million Chinese characters, and has records of over one thousand eight hundred types of medicinal herbs. It is a great work of medicine, an essential book of reference for practitioners of TCM, and an international classic for the study of TCM.

                           李时珍和本草纲目

 中医是中国独有的医学，对日本、韩国、朝鲜等汉字文化圈国家影响深远。从传说中的黄帝到扁鹊、华佗、张仲景、孙思邈......中医历史上出过很多名医。明朝时期的李时珍则是一位伟大的医学家和药物学家，史称“药圣”。

李时珍（1518-1593），字东璧，号濒湖山人，明代蕲州城（今湖北省蕲春县蕲州镇）人，明代著名医药学家。李时珍出生于医学世家，祖父为“铃医”，父亲李言闻是当地名医。

  传说李时珍自小体弱多病，二十岁时，因感冒咳嗽骨蒸发热，甚至一度面临生命危险，后经其父一味黄芩汤治愈，这些让李时珍感受到了医药的神奇之功。三次乡试落第后，李时珍向父亲坦露了学医并成为一名好医生的心声。他的父亲医术了得，但是他不愿意让李时珍再当医生，因为在封建社会，行医是被人看不起的职业，地位几乎和“算命”“卜卦”的人差不多。但李时珍可不这样想。他对病人的痛苦感同身受,看到医生能救死扶伤，解除病人的痛苦，于是立下志愿，要像父亲一样为最广大的穷人看病。父亲这才勉强同意。从此，李时珍毕生投入医药学研究。

李时珍22岁开始给人看病，白天跟着父亲看病，晚上在灯下研究药物。他潜心研读《内经》《本草经》《伤寒论》《脉经》等古典医学著作。发现旧的药物书有不少缺点:许多有用的药物没有记载;有些药物只记了个名称，没有说明形状和生长情况;还有一些药物被记错了药性和药效。他想，古代本草书上那么多的错误,可是要害死人的!于是他决心重新编写一部更加准确、完善的药物书。

  李时珍于 41岁进朝廷太医院做医生。当时的皇帝十分愚昧，一心追求长生不老药，还想做神仙。太医院的医官们则向全国各地收集所谓的“仙方”，同时又翻遍了历代医书，企图从中找到长生不老之药。有的医官让皇帝长期服用水银，有的医官却说要吃硫黄。李时珍听到这些，更下定决心修改本草书。

  此后，李时珍平时在给病人看病的时候留心积累病例经验:不看病时，就四处采药，还访问药材产地的居民。他不怕山高路难，哪里有药材就去哪里。他遍访各地名山大川，足迹踏遍江西、江苏、安徽、湖南、广东等地。有时候走进深山老林，荒无人烟，他只好吃点儿干粮度日。白天还好，夜里只能找一些山洞或破庙住下来，还得点上灯，借着微光记录药材的药性和药效。李时珍谦虚好学，他向药农、渔民、樵夫、猎人、脚夫、僧医等人各行各业人士求教，搜集了大量的民间单方验方。

几年以后，他回到老家。前后共花 27 年时间，终于写成一部惊世的药物书一一《本草纲目》。这部书有一百多万字，记载了一千八百多种药物，是一部伟大的中医著作，是中医必修的案头书，是全世界学习中医者的宝典。

orbit /ˈɔːbɪt/ 轨道；势力范围

renowned /rɪˈnaʊnd/ 有名望的，著名的

physician /fɪˈzɪʃ(ə)n/ 内科医生

herbalist /ˈhɜːbəlɪst/ 草药医生

practitioners /prækˈtɪʃənər/实践者；开业者；实习者

feudal /ˈfjuːd(ə)l/ 封建（制度）的；

despised /dɪˈspaɪzd/ 受轻视的

sympathy /ˈsɪmpəθi/同情（心），理解；

sufferings /ˈsʌfərɪŋz/ 受难；苦难的经历

immersed /ɪˈmɜːst/ 使沉浸（于），使深陷

omissions /əˈmɪʃ(ə)n/ 省略，遗漏；

herbs /hɜ:bs/ [植]药草；

efficacy /ˈefɪkəsi/功效，效力

erroneously /ɪˈrəʊniəsli/错误地；不正确

pharmacopeia /ˈfɑrməkəˈpiə/药典；处方汇编

imperial  [ɪmˈpɪəriəl] 帝国的; 皇帝的

muddle [ˈmʌdl] 糊涂; 混乱

prolonging [prəˈlɒŋɪŋ] 延长

prescriptions [prɪsˈkrɪpʃənz] 处方; 药方

immortality [ˌɪmɔːˈræləti] 永生; 不朽

doses [ˈdəʊsɪz] 给(某人)服药

medicinal [məˈdɪsɪnl] 有疗效的; 药用的

consulting [kənˈsʌltɪŋ] 咨询的，顾问的

penetrate [ˈpenətreɪt] 穿透; 穿过

uninhabited [ˌʌnɪnˈhæbɪtɪd] 无人居住的

shelter [ˈʃeltə(r)] 避难所; 居所; 住处

abandoned [əˈbændənd] 被遗弃的; 被抛弃的

glimmering 英[ˈɡlɪmərɪŋ] 隐约地闪烁; 发出微弱的闪光

monumental [ˌmɒnjuˈmentl] 重要的; 意义深远的

compendium [kəmˈpendiəm] 汇编，概要;

essential [ɪˈsenʃl] 极其重要的; 必不可少的

reference [ˈrefrəns] 参考，参照