A Catalog of Benevolent Items

The book 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.

Table of Contents

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

Reviews for A Catalog of Benevolent Items

Paul U. Unschuld’s translation of the Ben cao gang mu is a monumental achievement of scholarship, and one that makes available to English readers its incredible trove of information about premodern Chinese culture. A Catalog of Benevolent Items introduces some of those treasures in a thematic reader that will appeal to students, curious readers, and anyone interested in natural history and the nature of knowledge. Andrew Schonebaum, Associate Professor of Chinese Studies, University of Maryland

Unschuld’s complete Ben cao gang mu translation is a milestone for Chinese medicine, providing an essential window on Li Shizhen`smasterwork. Astutely organized by topic with Unschuld´s critical introduction to each section, A Catalog of Benevolent Items is a necessary companion to the full work, both engaging and enlightening the reader. Donald Harper, Centennial Professor of Chinese Studies, University of Chicago

This work will be useful to medical professionals, researchers, and teachers of Chinese medicine, history, and culture an invaluable resource that can then be used to examine the depths of the complete volumes and dictionaries that comprise the Ben cao gang mu. Zev Rosenberg, author of Returning to the Source: Han Dynasty Medical Classics in Modern Clinical Practice