Traditional Chinese Medicine, Korean Traditional Herbal Medicine, and Japanese Kanpo Medicine

  • Eng Soon Teoh
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Abstract

Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) attributes its origin to Shen Nong, an ancient ruler who introduced the cultivation of four cereals plus soya bean, thus providing a complete diet without relying on animal protein. After personally tasting hundreds of herbs and being periodically poisoned in the process, he also wrote Shen Nong Bencao Jing, the first Chinese Materia Medica, which described 237 herbs. The date of compilation is 3000 BC but the earliest extant copies are from the first century C.E. Three important orchidaceous herbs are described in this book: Tianma (Gastrodia elata), Shihu (Dendrobium) and Baiji (Bletilla striata). Major additions and revisions of the book were produced in different dynasties. The most important updates are Li Shizhen’s Bencao Gang Mu, produced during the Ming Dynasty, and the Zhonghua Bencao and Zhongguo Da Cidian, compiled after the founding of the Peoples’ Republic, which increased the total number of items more than tenfold. Traditional Korean medicine and Japanese Kanpo medicine are derived from TCM. This chapter goes on to describe the characteristics of Chinese herbs and how they are used.

Keywords

Traditional Chinese Medicine Chinese Herb Ming Dynasty Traditional Korean Medicine Japanese Pharmacopoeia 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
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Copyright information

© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016

Authors and Affiliations

  • Eng Soon Teoh
    • 1
  1. 1.SingaporeSingapore

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