Volume VI in the Ben cao gang mu series offers a complete translation of chapters 26 through 33, devoted to vegetables and fruits.
The Ben cao gang mu is a sixteenth-century Chinese encyclopedia of medical matter and natural history by Li Shizhen (1518–1593). The culmination of a sixteen-hundred-year history of Chinese medical and pharmaceutical literature, it is considered the most important and comprehensive book ever written in the history of Chinese medicine and remains an invaluable resource for researchers and practitioners. This nine-volume series reveals an almost two-millennia-long panorama of wide-ranging observations and sophisticated interpretations, ingenious manipulations, and practical applications of natural substances for the benefit of human health. Paul U. Unschuld's annotated translation of the Ben cao gang mu, presented here with the original Chinese text, opens a rare window into viewing the people and culture of China's past.
Contents 1. Prolegomena 1.1 History of Chinese materia medica literature 1.2 Structure and contents of the Ben cao gang mu 1.3 Biographical sketch of Li Shizhen (1518 – 1593) 2. Notes on the Translation 3. Wang Shizhen’s preface of 1590 4. Translation of the Ben Cao Gang Mu , ch. 26 through 33 Vegetables I, Fragrant-Acrid [Items], Chapter 26 Vegetables II, Soft[ing] and Smooth[ing items], Chapter 27 Vegetables III, Melons, Chapter 28 Vegetables IV, Water Vegetables Vegetables V, Mushrooms-Fungi Fruits I, Five Fruits, Chapter 29 Fruits II, Mountain Fruits, Chapter 30 Fruits III, Non-Chinese Fruits, Chapter 31 Fruits IV, Spices, Chapter 32 Fruits V, Melons and Berries Chapter 33 Fruits VI, Water Fruits Appendix
Paul U. Unschuld is Professor and Director at the Institute for Chinese Life Sciences, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin.
