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Li Shizhen
Li Shizhen(1518-1593),whose style name was
Dongbi, also called
Binhushanren (Person of the Mountain by the Lake) in his late years, was from
Jizhou (now Jichun County of Hubei Province) of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644).
His grandfather was a doctor, and his father Li Yanwen (called "Yuechi") was also a famous doctor in the local place. As a child, Li Shizhen
began to read some medical classics systematically, and sometimes went together
with his father, treating diseases and copying prescriptions. But at that time
doctors' social position was low, so Li Yanwen did not hope Li Shizhen to take
medicine as his occupation, and asked him to take imperial examinations. For
that purpose, he took Li Shizhen to Gu Riyan, a successful candidate in the
imperial examination. Gu Riyan had a large collection of books, so Li Shizhen
had the chance to read many rare classics.
At the age of 14, Li Shizhen passed the
examination for the title of "xiucai" (examinee who passed the imperial
examinations at the county level). At the age of 17, 20 and 23,he went to Wuchang to take the imperial
exam at the provincial level,but failed each time. Thence,he gave up the imperial examination,
and determined to follow his father to learn medicine. He lucubrated at medical
knowledge,spared no pains
to take in the predecessors' experiences in medical treatment,and were good at giving play to his own
creativity. Coupled with his high sympathy for patients, he did not only show
good curative leechcraft but also high medical ethics in his practice. He won
high prestige in just a few years. Especially,his curing of a weird disease of children
called "worm
addiction" in the Royal Family
of Chu made his reputation rise rapidly, and he was employed by the royal family
as "fengcizheng"(an official title), in charge of affairs in
the "liangyisuo" (Office of Good Doctors). Later, he was
recommended to the "Hospital of
Imperial Physicians" in Beijing
to work as the "yuanpan" (chief
doctor). However,he was
not interested in it, and resigned on the pretext of illness after working only
for a little more than one year.
In his medical practice, Li Shizhen found
many mistakes, repetitions or omissions in medical books available, feeling it
was a great problem that affected the health and life of patients. So he made up
his mind to compile a new comprehensive book specializing in medicines again.
From the age of 34, he started this project. In addition to summing-up of
predecessors' experiences and accomplishments, he learned extensively from
medical farmers, woodmen, hunters, fishermen and other laboring people, and
often went to deep mountains and fields to observe and collect all kinds of
samples of plants, animals, minerals and so on. He cultivated medical herbs
himself and tried them on his own body so as to get the right knowledge of the
herbs. After 27 years of efforts, with reference to more than 800 kinds of
literature and based on Jingshi Zhenglei Beiji Bencao (a book on materia
medica) by Tang Shenwei in the Song Dynasty (960-1279), he completed his
monumental work in pharmacy, Compendium of Materia Medica, in the sixth
year (1578) of the Wanli reign of the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) at the age of 60,
after he did a great deal of collation and supplementation, added many of his
own findings and views, and carried out three important
revisions.
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