A Catalog of Benevolent Items: Li Shizhen's Compendium of Classical Chinese Knowledge, Selected Entries from the Ben Cao Gang Mu ed. by Paul Unschuld

In the Ming dynasty, Li Shizhen compiled the Bencao Gangmu (Compendium of Materia Medica), the largest and most comprehensive work on pharmacology in the history of Chinese medicine. Joseph Needham regarded this book as one of the great scientific achievements of the Ming dynasty. By the seventeenth century, the work had already been introduced to Europe, with various abridged translations in European languages. Translations of Bencao Gangmu are available in English, French, German, Russian, and Japanese. Paul Unschuld, an expert in the history of Chinese medicine who focuses on English translations of classical Chinese medical texts, has published English translations of works such as the Suwen (Basic Questions), Nanjing (Classic of Difficult Issues), and Yinhai Jingwei (Essence and Subtlety of the Silver Sea). He has also authored a history of Chinese pharmacology. Paul Unschuld is now collaborating with other scholars to complete the monumental task of translating Bencao Gangmu in its entirety. An English full translation of Bencao Gangmu was published by Foreign Language Press in 2003. Paul Unschuld observed that the quality of existing domestic English translations was low and unusable (p. 28). This book is based on the English full translation project by Paul Unschuld, published by the University of California Press in 2021.

This book is divided into two parts: the Prolegomena and eighteen chapters. The Prolegomena provides an overall discussion of the Bencao Gangmu, covering topics such as the origin of the book's title, the history of materia medica, Li Shizhen's biography, the structure and content of Bencao Gangmu, and translation considerations. This section serves as an introduction and explanation of the work, offering valuable insights for understanding Bencao Gangmu.

The following eighteen chapters are organized creatively by Paul Unschuld, who uses eighteen key concepts as themes for each chapter. He then categorizes selected content from Bencao Gangmu under each concept. Paul Unschuld views Bencao Gangmu as more than a medical document, regarding it as a manifestation of the unique elements of Chinese culture (pp. 28, 48, and 363). This book offers an understanding of Chinese culture from a pharmacological perspective, making it an essential resource for future studies of Chinese culture.

Some of these eighteen concepts relate directly to medicine, such as "1. Division of items: 16 sections," "3. Visions of associations: Form magic correlations observed in equal appearances and functions to systematized correspondences of the yin and yang and Five Phases doctrines," "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," and "18. Sample text and plant monograph: Chai hu, sickle-leaved hare's ear." Others reflect broader Chinese cultural perspectives on the body, cosmology, and religions, including "2. Widespread culture, local customs, personal interventions," "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," and "10. The significance of reproduction: Fertility and pregnancy, abortion and birth." At the beginning of each chapter, Paul Unschuld provides an introductory explanation, followed by the English translations of selected passages from Bencao Gangmu. The seventeenth concept is about further research.

Translating the Bencao Gangmu into English is extremely challenging, as the book contains numerous names of people, books, and places, along with specialized terms in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). Identifying which modern plants correspond to ancient medicinal substances is particularly difficult. Paul Unschuld has overcome these significant obstacles, making an invaluable contribution to bridging TCM with the world.

Paul Unschuld's handling of this extensive book inevitably includes minor flaws. First, none of the Chinese book titles are accompanied by pinyin or Chinese characters, which adds to the difficulty of understanding the content. All titles are presented solely in English translation, which can make it challenging for readers unfamiliar with classic Chinese texts to know which work Unschuld is referring to, although Unschuld provides an appendix listing the dates of persons and texts. Only chapter sixteen provides Chinese characters. For example, on page 193, it is very difficult to know what "book" refers to in "Book of Transformation." "History of Jin" could refer to either the Jinshu (History of the Jin) or Jinshi (History of the Jurchen Jin), causing potential confusion. Second, the translation of Chinese medical book titles is inconsistent, with the same work sometimes appearing under multiple names. For instance, Suwen is translated as both Pure Questions (p. 123) and Plain Questions (p. 24). The Huangdi Neijing has four different renderings: Yellow Thearch's Inner Classic (p. 24), Yellow Emperor's Inner Classic (p. 123), Yellow Thearch's Classic (p. 124), and Inner Classic of the Yellow Thearch (p. 148). Third, on pages 10–11, the translated book title Works of Heaven and the Inception of Things is used, but pinyin Tian gong kai wu appears later. They refer to the same book, causing confusion for readers. Fourth, traditional Chinese characters and simplified Chinese characters are blended. For example, 鬼盖 should be read 鬼蓋 (p. 340) and 淳於意 should be read as 淳于意 (p. 233).

The author of this review would like to discuss the origins of the title of Bencao Gangmu. Unschuld believes it was influenced by Zhu Xi's work Tongjian Gangmu (Outline and Details of the Comprehensive Mirror). In the first chapter of Bencao Gangmu, Li Shizhen lists the books he referenced, among which is Lou Ying's Yixue Gangmu (Outline of Medicine), a title very similar to Bencao Gangmu. Yixue Gangmu primarily compiles Chinese medical theories from before the Ming dynasty, using a similar method of selecting discussions from earlier periods. Is there an inheritance relationship between the titles of these two books? This is a subject that warrants further analysis. Furthermore, L. Carrington Goodrich and Chaoying Fang in Dictionary of Ming Biography provide a detailed introduction to the life and works of Li Shizhen for the English-speaking world and should not be overlooked.¹ Finally, the introductory section in Chapter 12, "Neglected Heritage: Tool-Supported Therapy," provides an overview of modern Chinese history and the development of TCM in contemporary China, though these topics are not directly related to the subsequent selections from the Bencao Gangmu.