History of Chinese Herbology

Chinese herbology or zhongyao is the common name for the subject of Chinese materia medica. It includes the basic theory of Chinese “crude” medicine and traditional Chinese patent medicines and simple preparations’ source, collection and preparation, performance, efficacy and clinical applications.

Chinese herbs have been used for centuries. The first herbalist in Chinese tradition is Shennong, a mythical personage, who is said to have tasted hundreds of herbs and imparted his knowledge of medicinal and poisonous plants to farmers. The first Chinese manual on pharmacology, the Shennong Bencao Jing ( Shennong’s Emperor Classic of Materia Medica), list some 365 medicines of which 252 of them are herbs, and dates back somewhere in the first century C.E. Han dynasty. Earlier literature include lists of prescription for specific ailments, exemplified by a manuscript, “ Recipes for 52 Ailments”, found in Mawangdui tomb, sealed in 168 B.C.E.

Succeeding generations augmented his work, as in the Yaoxing Lun, literally the “Treatise on the Nature of Medicinal Herbs,” a 7th century Tang Dynasty Chinese treatise on herbal medicine.

Arguably the most important of these was the Compendium of Materia Medica compiled during the Ming Dynasty by Li Shizhen, which is still today for consultation and reference. The history of this literature is presented in Paul U. Unschuld’s “Medicine in China: a History of Pharmaceutics”.

The Shen Nong’s Herbal Classic, a 2000 year old medicinal Chinese book considered today as the oldest book on oriental herbal medicine, classifies 365 species of root , grass, woods, furs, animals and stones into three categories of herbal medicine.
The first category, called “superior,” includes herbs effective for multiple diseases and is mostly responsible for maintaining and restoring the body balance. They have almost no side effects.

The second category comprises tonics and boosters, for which their consumption must not be prolonged.
The third category must be taken, usually in small doses, and for the treatment of specific ailments only.

Lingzhi ranked number one of the superior medicines and was therefore the most exalted medicine in ancient times. The ancient Chine use of mushroom for medicine has inspired modern day research into mushrooms like shiitake, Agaricus Blazei, Trametea versicolor and of course lingzhi. Although a 2008 review by UC Davis concluded that there is not enough evidence yet to promote the use of mushrooms or mushroom extracts in the treatment of disease, it stressed the urgency of further research and future clinical trials due to large numbers of promising in vivo and in vitro experiments.