[The annotation and compilation of Shennong Classic of Materia Medica in the period of the Republic of China].

ABSTRACT

A variety of books on the annotation and compilation of Shennong Classic of Materia Medica (Shen Nong Ben Cao Jing) appeared in the Ming and Qing Dynasties. In the period of the Republic of China at the beginning of the last century, a total of eight annotated and compiled books on Shennong Classic of Materia Medica were published. This paper discusses the authors of these books, their contents and their academic features. It was found that the research on Shennong Classic of Materia Medica in the period of the Republic of China was basically divided into two main sections the continuation of reverence for classical texts with extensive commentary and the 'scientific' transformation of traditional materia medica in the context of Sino-Western medicine integration.