DIETARY HYGIENE PRIOR TO THE MING DYNASTY

ZHENG JINSHENG

a. The pre-Qin Periods: The institution of the shiyi (a medical specialist in dietetics), as one among the four classes of physicians, was first recorded in the Zhou Li0 (Zhou Rituals)which was written no later than the Period of Warring States(475-221 B.C.). The word, shiyi,1dietetic physician, makes clear the fact that food had already been used for hygienic purposes an that time. A dietetic physician's task was to supervise, mainly for the Emperor, the balance of food-stuffs, drinks, dishes, provisions, soups, and precious dainties consumed.3)

b. Some of the main tenets of dietary hygiene can be found in the Huangdi Neijing2(Yellow Emperor's Internal Classics) and other books written by exponents of various schools of thought appearing during pre-Qin times. The healing properties, tastes, and nutritional functions of grain, meat, fruits and vegetables are often dealt with in the Nei Jing.3 The Confucian opinions and instructions regarding a clean diet and the correct manners and ways of eating are expressed in the Lun Yu.4 Guan-zi5 states:" If one is moderate in eating and drinking, he will be in good health and have a long life."4) Wen-zi6 states: (One should) eat according to (the condition of) the stom-ach."5) Su-wen7 states:" Grain, meat, fruits and vegetables are do harm to the body's vital energy,"6) All of those exhortations emphasize the importance of the right amount of food for health.

In addition, Su-wen states:" Fat meat and rich flavour in food will be sufficient to cause terrible boils."7) This view is indicative of an important theoretical basis for dietetic hygiene, that light and vegetarian food should be put first. However, our knowledge of dietetic hygiene had not yet been systematically summarized, so we can only find some general or rough principles and a few dietary substances that have been recorded in allied literature.

b. The Qin-Han8 Periods: The first book dealing with dietetic hygiene appearing in the Hanshu Yiwenzhi9(Arts and Literature of the Han Annals) was Shennong Huangdi Shijin0 (Shennong Huangdi's Dietetic Prohibitions), which was earlier than the Shennong Bencaojing.1 Although this books such as Qianjin Fang2(Prescriptions Worth A Thousand Gold) and Ishinpo,3 in which entries about dietetic restrictions under the name of Huangdi were included. From such recordings, we can get a glimpse of the style used for such books at that time. From the two monographs, entitled" Restrictions for Birds, Animals, Fishes, Insects and Their Treatment" and " Restrictions of Fruits, Vegetables, Grains and Their Treatment" attached to the Jingui Yaolue4 (Synopsis of Prescriptions of the Golden Chamber), we can more clearly see the types of dietary restrictions used during the Han Dynasty. Other works in this period, such as Huangdi Zayinshiji5 (Huangdi's Restrictions for Miscellaneous Food) in the Sui Shu8 (Annals) are all books dealing with dietetic restrictions of this earlier period.

An obvious characteristic of dietetic hygiene in the Qin-Han Periods was the concern over restricted foods. During these periods, monogrphs relevant to the subject summarized experiences accumulated over a long period of trying to prevent harms that might be brought forth by food.. Food restrictions at that time had many facets. For instance, people knew from experiences that some naturally poisonous products, such as houyi9 fish (globefish), poisonous mush-rooms, wide-taro, and so on, were not edible. People also knew that animals shot with a poisonous arrow, or animals that died from certain diseases, and rotten food which had been contaminated by insects or improper storage, would all be poisonous if eaten by mistake. Hence, various methods of identifying the quality of food or differentiating between rotten food and normal food had been developed: mostly, these involved direct perception with the senses.

it seems that ancient people knew from experience that a certain properties of particular foods made them suitable(or unsuitable) for specific uses. For instance, it was said that" mutton is not suitable for people who have protracted heat in the body"8); or" Eating too many plums will damage the teeth."9)

The days when dietetic restrictions arose were so distant that the contents of the restrictions often bore the traces of primitive views. For instance, people feared animals or plants with unusual colors or odd appearances, and felt that they dare not eat them. Other restrictions came from crude analogies to shape, form, or appearance. For example, it was said that if a pregnant woman ate ginger, her baby would have deformed fingers or toes.10) Such a notion was probably due to the shape of the ginger rhizome looking like a palm with more than five gnarled fingers. The hearts of animals were also believed to be unsuitable for eating, for it was said that the heart was the seat of the spirit. If one ate it, he would be judged badly in the next life.11) The custom of the so-called Twelve Shengxiao, the twelve animals representing the twelve Earthly Branches, used to symbolize the year in which a person was born, which appeared probably in the Eastern Han Dynasty, was also soon used as the basis for dietetic restrictions. Thus we can find where the Jinggui Yaolue0 states:" If a person eats the meat of the animal symbolizing the year in which his parents or himself were born, he will suffer by losing consciousness and will experience spiritual disturbances."

In addition, time was an important aspect of the earlier dietetic taboos. People believed that some internal organs of animals were not suitable for eating in certain seasons because of seasons were connected with the five viscera: for instance," Not to eat the liver in spring, not to eat the heart in summer, not to eat the lung in autumn, not to eat the kidney in winter and not to eat the spleen throughout the four seasons."11) Some explanations of these prohibitions were recorded in Zhang Zhong-jing's1 book. Different diet taboos existed for every month, from January to December. Most of the taboos involved animals and vegetables with a sharp flavour or an irritant smell. Dietary taboos which losted only a day were mostly on March 3rd or on May 5th, in addition to a few other days. For example, it was said," It will be fortunate for people not to eat the five viscera of birds and animals, any kinds of vegetables, and the five pungent foods on March 3rd."12)

The various dietetic taboos mentioned above were handed down, and augmented from generation to generation, and were recorded in the dietetic books. The contents of such books thus became richer and richer, although in seems that notions of "right" and "wrong" notions got mixed up over time. Perhaps we can say that although knowledge of dietetic taboos finds its earliest origin in the history of dietary hygiene in China, subsequent progress was slow. After the Middle Ages, not many people would follow the primitive views of the earlier dietetic taboos.

The "opposite" side of dietetic taboos was dietetic therapy, meaning to choose suitable diets to improve people's health and prevent illnesses. There are many kinds of food taken as drugs recorded in the Shengnong Bencaojing, written in the Han Dynasty, for the foods were believed to have medicinal properties, tastes, functions, and indications. Note that dietetic taboos were generally not being listed in this

book, thus indicating that books dealing with dietetic taboos and those dealing with bencao(medicinal herbs) were considered to be two distinct types of literature.

c. The Wei, Jing, Northern and Southern Dynasties: The Sui-su jingjizhi records about 40books related to food, and some of the titles of those books originally appeared in the Qi Lu(Seven Records) of the Liang Dynasty. All of these books had long been lost. However, the titles suggest that they dealt with such topics as food, dietetic therapy, dietetic taboo, cooking methods, and so on. Books on the subject of food seemed very much in vogue at that time, perhaps partly because of the life-style of the literati and class of officialdom who were keen in pursuit of various interests. In these periods, there were several books on dietetic therapy bearing the authors' names, such as Shi-shu2 written by He-zeng3 in the Jing Dynasty, Shi Fang4 written by liu-xiu8 around the Six Dynasties. From Ishinpo9 we can find fragments of the contents of such woks which dealt with dietary hygiene, of which most entries were from Chui Yuxi's8 Shi-jing,6 which includes not only dietetic taboos and cooking methods, but also not a few descriptions of dietetic therapy. It is thus clear that almost all contents related to food were recorded or reprinted in the works of dietetic therapy. Judging from the title of the book ShanxiuYangliao0(Food for Cure and Nutrition), we know that books specifically dealing with dietetic therapy had already appeared in the Northern and Southern Dynasties.

The new experiences which entered dietary hygiene during these periods were the richest, surpassing those of other dynasties. For example, beriberi was a common disease at that time, and many doctors became famous for their treatment of it during that period, and not a few monographs on the subject appeared.

Although great progress in dietetic hygiene was made during this period, we must point out that its development also become mixed up with certain notions from Taoist hygiene. Indulging in taking mineral powder for longevity became so popular, especially among the upper classes, that a great deal of harm was caused, and the practice came to be considered a new problem in medical circles. When people took the so-called Wushisan2 who was a Taoist, said:" people who take the powder should not eat venison. Otherwise the powder will not be effective. This is because deer often eat detoxicant grass, and from this, the venison can detoxify the powder."13) Of course, such notions should not be the content of dietary hygiene.

People paid such attention to dietetic hygiene from very early times not only because of certain curative effects but also because of safety. It is common knowledge that food can be eaten quite often, but no drug can be employed recklessly. That point, however, was often neglected in the Taoist views of dietary hygiene. Some Taoists suggested that if one took herbs first, then mineral drugs, one could reach a state in which no grain was needed in life, a state which was called bi-gu3(literally" to stop eating grain," i.e. to stop eating even vegetarian foods as a way of becoming a Taoist immortal).14) This means actually replacing food with drugs. Drugs frequently used for longevity at that time were the following:lingzhi4( the entire trunk of the ganoderma japonicum), huang-jing5(the rhizome of polygonatum sibiricum), zhu6( the rhizome of atractylodes macrocephala),dihuang7( the rhizome of rehmania glutinosa),pine nuts or pine resin, baishi8( seed of the oriental arborvitae), fuling9( poris cocos) mica, stalactite, and so on. All these were also called yao-er0(literally" drugs used as diet"). However, the method of bi-gu3 went down to its doom step-by-step after the Middle Ages. The impact of bi-gu1 was so great that materials on it were still reprinted in some books on dietary hygiene during the Ming and Qing Dynasties.

Although dietetic hygiene in the period of the Northern and Southern Dynasties was influenced by some of the unhealthy ways of dietetic hygiene advocated by the Taoists, its main stream was good. In the field of dietary therapy, there was more rapid progress in these periods compared with what went on prior to these periods. A great deal of experience with dietary therapy were accumulated during these periods, and people paid much more attention to the quality of food and water in different places. All these factors laid a foundation upon which more progress was made in later periods.

d.Sui-Tang2 and the Five Dynasties: During the Sui and the early part of the Tang Dynasty, a great deal of material on dietary hygiene was summed up. There was a book entitled Huai-nan Yushi-jing315) of 165 volumes written in the sui Dynasty, which might be the most comprehensive one on dietetics prior to the Sui Dynasty.

Unfortunately, the book has long been lost. Some popular works on dietetic hygiene also appeared, only the numbers of such works seemed relevantly less. We know the titles of some of such works, including Wei Juyuan's4 Shipu,5 Yan Gui's6 Shifa,7 Yang Ye's8 Shanfu Jingshoulu,9 and so forth.

One of the most conspicuous characteristics of the works on dietary hygiene in the Tang Dynasty was that the number of monographs of such kind were increased. There was a treatise entitled Shizhi0(Dietetic Therapy) in the Qianjin Fan,1 written by Sun simiao2(581-682 A.D.), the well-known medical practitioner and author. In this treatise, Sun 'simiao2 quotes materials from earlier authorities, and voices his own opinions on the advantages of dietary treatment of illness. The treatise Shizhi3 states:" Now, those who practice medicine must, first of all, recognize the origin of an illness; they must know the violations(that have caused the suffering). Then they must treat it with dietary means. Only when dietary therapy does not work can they employ drugs. The nature of drugs is violent, and to use drugs is just like commanding an army. Because the army is so vigorous, how can anybody deploy it recklessly?"16) Here, he clearly pointed out the difference between dietetic therapy and drug treatment. In the Qianjin.Shizhi,4 dietetic taboos and dietary therapy are combined into one, and few actual cooking methods are recorded. This is an earlier representative treatise on dietetics based on materials extracted from the literature on bencao5 and the knowledge of dietetic taboo prior to the Tang Dynasty.

In addition, the Shiyi Xinjian7(Heart Mirror of Dieticians) written by Zhan ying8 in the Tang Dynasty, is an album of prescriptions for dietetic therapy. Another work of dietetic therapy, Shixing Bencao9 (Dietetic Materia Medica), written by Cheng Shiliang 0 during the Five Dynasties, is actually a monograph characterized by its combination of food and prescriptions, for it collected and recorded materials on dietary drugs and methods of nourishing the internal organs in accordance with the changes of the four seasons, taking its materials from various herbal books.

d. The Song3 Dynasty: The Song Dynasty is an important period in the history of Chinese pharmaceutics. However, in this period, there were no outstanding achievements in dietary hygiene. Although more than 20 books related to food are recorded in various bibliographies of this time, most of them were cookbooks. A book

entitled Shanjia Qinggong,4 written by Lin Hong,5 describes some vegetables and other vegetarian food. This book is of some help in dietetic hygiene, but on the whole, it is only a book written by some literati and members of officialdom for its play of words.

We know that there are at least two better books on dietetic therapy from the Southern Song Dynasty. One is the Shi-jian6( A Mirror of Food) written by Zheng Qiao,7 another is the Shizhi Tongshuo8(General Dietary Therapy) written by Lou Juzhong.9 Unfortunately, both of them have long been lost, only some fragments remaining in other books. Zheng Qiao7 made some remarks on suitable varieties of food, necessary amounts of consumption, quality of food, and methods of cooking.18) Lou Juzhong,9 a famous pediatrician in the Ling An( Hang Zhou),0 paid special attention to the treatment of children's diseases by dietetic means. He put forward the saying that" when food is in order, the body is also in order."19) And he believed that most of children's illnesses were caused by an improper eating. Fragments of his book, Shizhi Tongshuo,1 can be found in a book entitled Shiwu Jiyao2( A Summary of food) compiled by Mu Shixi3 of the Ming Dynasty. These fragments deal with food taboos, dietetic hygiene, and some points on cooking.

e. The Yuan04 Dynasty: In the Yuan Dynasty, China communicated closely with other countries, including Arabia and Europe. A new book representing dietary hygiene was much valued by the imperial court in the Yuan period: the Yinshan Zhengyao05 (Correct and Important Principles of Diet), written by Hu Sihui,06 an official of the medical department and a doctor whose nationality was Mongolian. In this book, various aspects of dietary hygiene such as the preparation of food, the ways of eating food as a means of promoting health, of fighting against illnesses, and of achieving a long life are discussed. Many kinds of daily foods from the nomadic nationalities in Northern China, and some foods and drugs from foreign areas are included in this book. However, most of the theories of dietetic hygiene in it were adopted from the traditional Chinese medicine of the Han nationality. It is thus clear that in this book many experiences on dietetic hygiene, coming from various nationalities of China, were mixed together.

It is worth mentioning that some well-known works on hygiene appeared in the Yuan Dynasty. The Sanyan Yansoushu,07 written by Li Pengfei,08 is the most outstanding of them. He believed that food and drink should be one of the three principle resources through which one could enjoy a long life. He said that the ways of trying to have a long life adopted by the upper class, such as making pills of immortality, were not suitable for the common people, for whom the best way of preserving life and keeping fit should be taking proper care of one's daily life. Finally, it is also worth our time to mention the Riyong Bencao09 (Materia Medica for Daily Use), written by Wu Rui10 during the reign of Tianli11 (1328-1329),21) The descriptions of food in this book are brief, and to each monograph a prescription is usually attached. Many materials from this book are quoted in the well-known herbal book Bencao Gangmu.12

So much for the brief introduction to the development of dietary hygiene prior to the Ming Dynasty. It goes without saying that some materials dealing with dietetic hygiene accumulated in the past can be included in the literature of the Ming Dynasty. But new materials which appeared during the Ming Dynasty itself will surely be most beneficial to our study on the dietary hygiene of that period. Since the development of dietary hygiene in the Ming Dynasty is bound to be reflected primarily in the dietetic works, it is necessary to discuss them first.