Xinxiu bencao: Difference between revisions
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Revision as of 07:12, 21 November 2022
The Xinxiu bencao (Chinese: 新修本草; pinyin: Xīnxiū běncǎo),[a] also known as the Tang bencao (Chinese: 唐本草; pinyin: Táng běncǎo),[1][3] is a Chinese pharmacopoeia written in the Tang dynasty by a team of officials and physicians headed by editor-in-chief Su Jing. It borrowed heavily from—and expanded upon—an earlier monograph by Tao Hongjing. The text was first published in 659; although it is now considered lost in China, at least one copy exists in Japan, where the text had been transmitted to in 721.
Contents
Comprising fifty-four juan (卷) or "chapters",[4] the text contains both tujing (圖經) or "illustrated descriptions" and Yaotu (藥圖) or "drug pictures".[5] In total, some 850 drugs are listed in the text.[1]
Publication history
The idea of a bencao (pharmacopoeia) that would expand on Tao Hongjing's Bencao jing jizhui (本草集注) was first mooted in 657 by court counsellor Su Jing (蘇敬).[2] The project was eventually greenlit by Emperor Gaozong, following which a team of more than twenty officials and physicians,[1] including the high-ranking Xu Jinzong (許敬宗), was assembled to complete the text.[2]
According to the Tang huiyao (唐會要; Institutional History of the Tang Dynasty), the Xinxiu bencao was completed "on the 17th day of the first lunar month of the fourth year" of the Xianqing era (656–661).[5] The text was first published in 659, making it the first ever palace-sanctioned pharmacopoeia,[1] as well as one of the earliest known illustrated pharmaceutical texts.[2]
The Xinxiu bencao was one of the most comprehensive works of its time.[4] It was designated by the Tang government as the "official standard with regard to drug usage", although it is unclear how widespread its readership was, given the lack of a printing press then.[1] By the Song dynasty, the text had become lost in China, although at least one copy still exists in Japan, where it had been transmitted to in 721.[3]
Notes
References
Citations
Bibliography
- Buell, Paul D. (2022). "Food and diteary medicine in Chinese herbal literature and beyond". Routledge Handbook of Chinese Medicine. p. 328–336. ISBN 9780415830645.
- Goldschmidt, Asaf (2022). "Pre-standardised pharmacology: Han through Song". Routledge Handbook of Chinese Medicine. pp. 133–145. ISBN 9780415830645.
- Ming, Chen (2018). "Fanciful Images from Abroad: Picturing the Other in Bencao Pinhui Jingyao 本草品彙精要". Imagining Chinese Medicine. Brill. pp. 305–314. doi:10.1163/9789004366183. JSTOR 10.1163/j.ctvbqs6ph.27.
- Teoh, Eng Soon (2019). Orchids as Aphrodisiac, Medicine Or Food. Springer International Publishing. ISBN 9783030182557.