A Catalog of Benevolent Items: Li Shizhen's Compendium of Classical Chinese Knowledge

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Li Shizhen Paul U. Unschuld

A Catalog of Benevolent Items

Li Shizhen's Compendium of Classical Chinese Knowledge

Li Shizhen, Paul U. Unschuld

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English

University of California Press
04 February 2025

Complementary medicine

Distills ten volumes, four dictionaries, and 1,800 years of knowledge into an authoritative introduction to the Ben cao gang mu.

The Ben cao gang mu was the world's most comprehensive encyclopedia of natural history and medicine when it was published in China in 1593. In fifty-two chapters, the physician Li Shizhen recorded two millennia of medical observations, interpreting the wide-ranging uses of plants, animals, minerals, and artificial substances and including countless verbatim quotations along with his own evaluations.

Edited and translated by Paul U. Unschuld, A Catalog of Benevolent Items provides thoughtfully curated selections from the Ben cao gang mu, organized by theme. This anthology offers little-known details of China's historical knowledge of nature; traditional Chinese medicine and its theoretical foundations; social and cultural facets of ancient Chinese civilization not documented elsewhere; and the information management of a sixteenth-century Chinese scholar.

By: Li Shizhen
Translated by: Paul U. Unschuld
Imprint: University of California Press
Country of Publication: United States
Dimensions: Height: 229mm, Width: 152mm, Spine: 28mm
Weight: 771g
ISBN: 9780520404236
ISBN 10: 0520404238
Pages: 410
Publication Date: 04 February 2025
Audience: Professional and scholarly , Undergraduate
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Contents Preface Prolegomena Historical background Biographical sketch of Li Shizhen (1518 – 1593) Structure and contents of the Ben cao gang mu Notes on the translation 1. Division of items: 16 sections 2. Widespread culture, local customs, personal interventions 3. Visions of associations: From magic correlations observed in equal appearances and functions to systematized correspondences of the yin and yang and Five Phases doctrines 4. Cosmic structures: Numbers, time, and cardinal directions 5. Demons and spirits, shamans and exorcism 6. Involvement of Buddhists and Daoists 7. The human body: Its organs and paths of entrance 8. Standing up to nature: Cosmetics, body enhancement, anti-aging 9. Social and natural conditioning: Gender and sex 10. The significance of reproduction: Fertility and pregnancy, abortion and birth 11. Case records: Assessment and justification of therapeutic strategies 12. Neglected heritage: Tool-supported therapy 13. Sources of therapeutic expertise: Beggar and sovereign, chance encounters and dreams 14. Dealing with poison 15. Raw materials found in nature and objects produced from them 16. Explanation of names 17. “Further research is required”: Controversy and judgment 18. Sample text and plant monograph: Chai hu, sickle-leaved hare’s ear Appendix Dynasties Approximate times of persons and texts mentioned in the anthology Glossary

Paul U. Unschuld is Professor and Director of the Institute for the Theory, History, and Ethics of Chinese Life Sciences at Charité – Medical University, Berlin. His previous books include Medicine in China: A History of Ideas and What Is Medicine? Western and Eastern Approaches to Health Care.

Reviews for A Catalog of Benevolent Items: Li Shizhen's Compendium of Classical Chinese Knowledge

""Paul U. Unschuld has devoted many years to a translation of the full text in twenty-four volumes, with four further dictionary volumes. In this anthology he is anxious to show that the Ben cao is more than just a collection of medical preparations, to demonstrate its significance as a source for Chinese history in many aspects and to highlight Li Shizhen’s pioneering achievement."" * Times Literary Supplement * ""A faithful and valuable abridgement of an important work, that highlights the importance of an English translation, and may well go on to whet the reader's appetite for the multi-faceted and multitudinous layers of the entirety of Unschuld’s publication series."" * Journal of Chinese Medicine * “An excellent resource for delving into traditional Chinese medicine, exploring traditional Chinese approaches to natural science, grappling with ways of organizing information, and gaining a deeper understanding of key values within Chinese culture.” * Journal of Chinese History *