DIETETIC BENCAO LITERATURE OF THE MING DYNASTY

ZHNEG JINSHENG

The Ming Dynasty was one of the period in Chinese history noted for its achievements in cultural and scientific developments in not a few respects. During the Ming Dynasty, on the foundation of the achievements in medical developments of the past, dietary hygiene also showed great development. Now, the great number of medical books which appeared in the Ming Dynasty are widely read. It is of significance to study the dietary hygiene of the Ming Dynasty by doing a survey of related literature.

There are many topics or problems concerning dietary hygiene in the Ming Dynasty which are worth studying, such as what the differences are between the dietary hygiene of this period and other periods, how many kinds of related books appeared during this period, and so forth. First of all, the literature of dietetic bencao or dietetic herbals which appeared in this period should be discussed. The famous Japanese scholar Professor Shinoda,13 in this book A Study on the Books of Food after the Middle Ages discussed 41 works related to food.22) But, in his book among the books that were considered to deal with dietetic hygiene, only the Bencao Gangmu14 was included, which obviously does not coincide with the actual circumstances at that time. In this paper, I would like to introduce more than 10 kinds of books on dietary hygiene which appeared in the Ming Dynasty, hoping to make clear their origin and development. Several popular family encyclopaedia and cookbooks were published in the Ming Dynasty. Most of them recorded, more or less, some of the concepts of dietetic hygiene. But as dietary hygiene was not the major subject of such works, my discussion will not include them.

A special body of literature, specially for famines, developed rapidly in the Ming Dynasty. These books offered information on the simple foodstuffs found in nature that are necessary for survival during famines. This body of literature includes Zhu Xiao's15 Jiuhuang Bencao,16 Zhou Lujing's17 Rucao Bian,18 Wang Pan's19 Yecai Pu,20 and others. There is little information on dietary hygiene in them. But some materials from these works were often reprinted or quoted in the dietetic bencao works of the Ming Dynasty, even the Guanying Tu21 (a kind of white clay) which could be eaten by famine victims to appease their hunger having been so recorded. The bigushu22 (method of stopping to eat grains) which was used as a means of longevity was adopted as a means of saving on food during famines. The permeation of the materials for survival in famines among the works of dietetic hygiene does not indicate truly new development in this field. But perhaps such a phenomenon can be considered a print left on the works of dietetic hygiene by the particular historical background of the Ming Dynasty.

Since the chronology of and cross-relationships between the works on dietary hygiene in the Ming Dynasty was not known clearly in the past, this paper will discuss each one of such works chronologically.

a. The Shiwu Bencao,23 2 Vols., by Xue Ji24 : This book is the 3rd and 4th volume of the Bencao Yueyan25 (A Brief Introduction to Bencao). The other volumes, vols. 1 and 2, are the Yaoxing Bencao26 (An Outline of Medicinal Bencao). In the preface of his book, Xue Ji says: "I was born late, but fortunately there are many rare books. So I am happy for having studied them for several years. Now I have collected the materials (drug and food) that are indispensable for daily use, and have divided them into two parts with classifications for consciousness. The book was rewritten and recompiled over and over again so that the manuscript was in a mess from revisions."23) There is an edition of this book kept in the Library of the China Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Beijing, which was published in the Ming Dynasty, proofread and corrected by Yan Zhiling.27

The 392 kinds of food in this book were arranged into eight categories as follows: waters(36), grains(35), vegetables(87), fruits (57), fowls(57), quadrupeds(38), fished(60), spices(23). A brief discussion was added at the end of each of the above-mentioned categories. For each entry of food, the taste and flavor, indications, properties, contraindications, and so on were introduced, and quoted passages from other works were occasionally added, most of the quoted passages being from Jiang28 or Danxi.29 The contents of each entry, no matter its length, are practical. Some new food such as luohuasheng30 (groundnut), sigua31 (towel gourd) and so on were recorded for the first time in this book. Part of the materials of this book came from other bencao words of predecessors, but new contents were also supplied by the author himself. The characteristics of many foods are reflected in this book.

The author Xue Ji32(1487-1559) was a famous doctor in the Ming Dynasty. He became a member of the Imperial Department of Medicine, and was later promoted to Imperical physician in 1514, finally being appointed the Chief of the Imperial Department of Medicine in Nanjing.33 Hereafter, when he wrote a medical book, he always signed his name together with his official title, but in this book, he signed only his name and his native place. From this, we may infer that this book might have been written before he became an official in the Imperial Department of Medicine. Furthermore, Xue Ji quoted some data from the Bencao Jiyao,34 which was written in 1496 and published in 1505. So we may infer that the Bencao Yueyan35 was probably written between 1505 and 1519.24) The book was not included in another work of the author, Xue's Yian.36 The book spread so narrowly that even Li Shizhen37 had never seen it. However, other dietetic bencao works compiled on the basis of or written in the name of this book were common. One of the big problems is the relationship of this book with the Shiwu Bencao38 written by Lu He.39

b.The Shiwu Bencao38 under the name of Lu He39 as the writer and Wang Ying40 as the editor has contents which coincide mostly with Xue's Shiwu Bencao, and there is in fact little difference between the two works. Li Shizhen37 read it and made some com ments on it by saying as follows: "This book was written by Wang Ying,40 in the subprefect of the Prefecture of Jiujiang41 in the year of Zhengde42 (1503-1521). Lu He of Dongyang43 who was also called Lu Lianfu,44 made a revision of this book with some supplements on herbs related to food. He obtained the manuscript of Lu's book, and divided it into two volumes with subdivisions for waters, grains, vegetables, fruits, fowls, quadrupeds, fish and spices."25) According to Li Shizhen, Lu He's book was originally an unpublished manuscript, and Wang Ying was but a plagiarizer. The extant version of this book was printed in 1570 (by Wang Gui,45 who was also called Wang Zijin46) under the name of Lu He. This is the earliest edition of the work, as far as I know.26)

Now, the problem is that the same book was signed by two authors and both of the men were living in the same period. Who was the actual plagiarizer? It seems that some scholars agree with Li Shizhen,27,28) but perhaps the fact is just the opposite. After having made a comparison between these two works, I found that there are only some small differences between them, and evidence just the opposite of that held by Li Shizhen47 and other scholars was obtained.

There are still many other data to prove that the Shiwu Bencao is the genuine work of Xue Ji. For instance, in the Yaoxing Bencao, there are also categories of fruits, vegetables, grains, fowls, quadrupeds, worms, fishes, etc., but only 64 drugs are recorded, while in the Shiwu Bencao,56 there are 328 entries for such categories. Such a fact tells us that Xue Ji57 as the compiler of the Shiwu Bencao was obviously trying to avoid unnecessary repetition. Although there are in both of these two books entries of food, their contents are not the same, and each one has its particular emphasis. Furthermore, after checking one entry after another, I have found that the entries do not show any obvious contradictions, and the entire work has impressed me as an organic whole. In other words, Xue Ji wrote not only the Yaoxing Bencao,58 but also the shiwu Bencao. There is no evidence to suggest that Xue Ji plagiarized Lu's59 book.

c. The Shiwu Bencao (with color pictures): The painter of this book is unknown. The book is now kept in the Beijing Library.29) The contents of the text are fundamentally similar to that of Lu's Shiwu Bencao. There are 467 color pictures in it. The style of the painting is analogous to that of the Bencao Pinghui Jingyao.60 The pictures of the houyu61 (tachypleus tridentatus) in the two books are so similar that it seems that they were painted by similar painter who served in the Imperial Art Academy of the Ming Dynasty. There are many pictures like this, for instance, lujiaocai62 (siliquose pelvetia), shuimu63 (jellyfish), sha64 (shard), and so on. The pictures of this book were painted at about the beginning of the 16th century.

One of the important characteristics of this book is that its color pictures reflect a rich variety of plants and animals. For example, there are 21 pictures of plums in this book. There are not only pictures showing the shapes of plants and animals, but also pictures illustrating methods of preparation or processing of certain kinds of food. Under the entry of wine, there are 16 pictures, showing systematically the processes of wine-making in the Ming Dynasty, which may be of some value for the study of the history of wine-making in China. The painting of those foods commonly seen are very skillful, and the pictures of fishes and fruits are especially vivid and accurate. But sometimes the painter drew some rare plants based on his own imagination. For example, yinxing65 (ginkgo) was drawn as a plant which has not only a palmate leaf but also with the odd-pinnate leaf. The same situation can also be seen in the picture of luohuasheng66 (groundnut). Being a book of old age, its paper is fragile and broken, with a yellowish color. However, the paintings are still very bright and beautiful. Since not many people have known about this book, I am pleased to have been able to make a few remarks about it.

b. The Shiping Ji67 (Collection of Food), 7 vols., edited by Wu Lu,68 with three prefaces by Xu Yingyuan,69 Su Zhigao,70 and Sheng Cha71: According to these prefaces, the book was edited by Wu Lu in 1537 and published by an official named Su Zhigao in 1556.30)

A total of 249 kinds, which are divided into seven categories, are recorded in this book. My study has confirmed that the book was compiled on the basis of Lu's Shiwu Bencao72 with some additions and deletions. For instance, food belonging to the spice category were included separately from the categories of grains and vegetables; additional foods were added; the order of some kind of food was changed; the names of some foods were changed to their poplar ones; and in the appendix, a list of food taboos, various kinds of poisonous plants and animals, as well as methods of detoxication were included. So the book is essentially a rearranged version of the Shiwu Bencao,73 and the are only a few new points in it.

g. The Shiwu Bencao, 7 vols., annotated by Qian Yunzhi95: This book was printed together with the Riyong Bencao,96 (3 volumes) written by wu Rui97 in the Yuan Dynasty.34) There are two prefaces written by Qian Yunzhi98 and Gu Zhongxu,99 respectively. Qian's preface was written in 1620, while the date of Gu's preface is unknown. Gu Zhongxu reprinted the Zhenghe Bencao00 in 1570. He died before 1582,35) so it was impossible for him to reprint the book together with Qian Yunzhi. It seems possible that he reprinted it before his death, but it is more probable that Gu's preface was a fake by the publisher.

Qian Yunzhi was a man with a literary reputation toward the end of the Ming Dynasty. He was fond of annotating and rearranging medical works in the name of ancient scholars. Here, in the name of Li Gao,01 the celebrated physician of the Yuan Dynasty, he changed the appearance of Lu He's02 Shiwu Bencao,03 which was spread far and wide at that time with some supplementary sections and deletions. There are 373 kinds of food in it, and brief notes were added to some entries, along with materials dealing with commands and prohibitions concerning the five tastes, poison antidotes, and so on.Finally, it must be mentioned that there is a book with the same title under the same name of Li Gao, but of 22 volumes, which has always been mixed up with the book edited by Qian Yuanzhi. As a matter of fact, they are two completely different works.

h. Wu's Shiwu Bencao,04 4 vols., by Wu Wenbing05: The book's titls is very long and Wu's Shiwu Bencao is its abbreviation.36) In this book, there are about 500 kinds of food which are rearranged as follows: water, grains, vegetables, fruits, quadrupeds, fowls, insects, fishes, spices, etc. The book is different from other works of its kind, for it has recorded in Volume 4 abut 170 dietary prescriptions, including soups, congees, wines, etc. Although the contents of the work are rich, it is too miscellaneous. According to its quotations, the author did not seem to have seen Li Shizhen's06 Bencao Gangmu,07 and yet he quoted information from Mu Shixi's08 Shiwu Jiyao.09 So the book might have been written between 1614 to 1644. In addition, some discussions on dietetic injunctions and prohibitions are attached the text.Before continuing the discussion on other dietetic works, Li Shi-zhan's Bencao Gangmu should be mentioned first. Although it is not a special dietetic work, there is still a vast amount of knowledge on dietary hygiene in it. Li Shizhen quotes widely from various other literature, especially those treatises dealing with dietary in the Ming Dynasty, such as Lu He's10 Shiwu Bencao,11 Ning Yuan's12 Shi-jian Bencao,13 and so forth. Furthermore, he expresses new observations on dietary hygiene, which is why Bencao Gangmu has been considered a source book for dietetic hygiene, and much other dietetic literature has drawn materials from it. The following instances are Proof of this point.

i. Shangyi Bencao14(bancao for the High-Ranking Doctoe), 4 vols.,edited and compiled by Zhao Nanxing15 : Zhao Nanxing(1550-1627), who styled himself Menba,16 and whose assumed name was Chaihe Jushi,17 was a native of Gaoyi18 county, Hebei province. He was an on Official and did not know medicine .It was only because of protracted illness that he took the nutriments recorded in the Bencao Gangmu and took good care of himself by following the instructions given in the book with good results.37 Zhao Nanxing19 was very fond of dietary hygiene, and collected more than 230 dietetic entries from the Bencao Gangmu,20 dividing them into nine categories as follows: waters, spices, fruits, vegetables, fowls, quadrupeds, crustaceans, scaly animals, and wormsm thus compiling the Shangyi Bencao.21 The book was entitled Shangyi after a maxim which goes "The superior doctor cures the disease before it comes on."

j. Yangshen Yaokuo22(essentials on Hygiene), compiled by Meng Ben.23 Meng Ben, also styled Boshan,24 was a native of Shaoxing25 city in the Zhejian province. He was from a family of medicine which stretched for generations, and a great deal of mediccal literature were collected in his home. Dr. Meng was well known around Zhejiang province as an outstanding physician. He collected 250 dietetic entries from the Bencao Gangmu, and quoted opinions of Li Shizhen26 in his Yangshen Yangkuo. Still, the author's own observations are found in the book, under entries headed with the words "Ben Yue"27(Meng Ben Said). The vers on published in the Ming Dynasty is with two prefaces by Zhu Zhaobo28 and Li Bangliang29 In 1634, now kept in the Library of the China Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

k. Shangong Yizhi.Shiwulei30(Medical Purport of Shanggong.Category of Food), 5 vol., compiled by Shi Yongtu31: This book was mistaken by some scholars as a work of the Qing Dynasty,391 but in fact, it appeared in the Ming Dynasty, 40) because Shi Yongtu was a native of Jiaxing 32 and flourished in the later past of the Ming Dynasty. He styled himself Ming-tai 33 or Shangong. 34 After he retired from the office of a local government, he wrote many works, 41) this book among them. Sheng Lilong 35 of the Qing Dynasty held that Shi's work reflected very well the purport of the Bencao Gangmu. 36 He pointed out that since no category of fire was included in it, and that since some substances were missing in the categories of fruits and shells, he published the book entitled Shiwu Bencao Huichuan 37 on the basis of Shi's book , with some supplementary sections, in 1691. 42) Thus , although the original text of ShiYongtu 38 was rarely seen, the total contents of it have been spread widely through Sheng's book. 43,44)

In Shi's book, more than 600 kinds of food are recorded, which were divided into eight classed. Two addenda , one consists of the dietetic prescriptions and food prohibitions, and the other consisting of pictures and verses of various types of pulse as well as verses about the properties of medicine and the mefchanisms of disease are attached to the text. 369 illustrations are included and put before the text. Most of the materials of this book came from the Bencao Gangmu.

1. The Shiwu Bencao, 39 22 vols., supplemented by Yao Kecheng 40: This is the last and also the largest dietetic work from the Ming Dynasty. The book is divided into 22 volumes, and there are 1675 dietetic substances recorded into it. It is the most voluminous and comprehensive work of its kind and can be considered a kind of agglomeration. However, the authorship is still unknown. All the editions of this book were inscribed with Li Gao's 41 name as the compiler in the Yuan Dynasty, and Li Shizhen's 42 name as the revisor in the Ming Dynasty. 45) Nevertheless , the authenticity of the author is obviously doubtful. First of all, the four prefaces written by "Li Shizhen" are fakery, for many events recorded in it happened after the death of Li Shizhen, i.e. after the year 1593. for example, a poem written by Cao Xuequan 43 (1574-1647) is quoted under the Zhenzhuchuan 44 in Volume 2, which is impossible. Similarly, the preface ascribed to Gu preface, which was originally in another work with the same title but of seven volumes, was later moved to the Shiwu Bencao 46 of 22 volumes as its preface. In addition, Qian Yunzhi's 47 preface dated 1621 may also be a fakery, 46) because there are some events which actually happened after 1621 date recorded in this book. For example, just under the entry of Guanyintu 48 in Volume 21, the natural calamities cited occurred in 1636, 1640, and 1641.

Now, a few words about the last preface written by Chen Jiru, 49 dated 1638, which can only be found in the edition of this book kept in the Library of the China Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine. In his preface, Chen says:" I have seen the book Shiwu Bencao compiled by Mr. Mu Yungu 50 of Loujiang, 51 which (I think) is the most brief and concise one (among others), and is beneficial to the people. And now, I have got Li Dongyuan's 52 book, Shiwu Bencao, revised by Li Shizhen, 42 which (I think) is all the more brief and exact." 47) if what he has said is true, then this book must have been completed before 1638. besides, there are not any events recorded in the whole book which happened after 1638. but the problem is that there are two prefaces, ascribed to the same author, appearing in two different books: one in the Shiwu Jiyao 53 by Mu Shixi, 54 the other in this book, the Shiwu Bencao. 55 what is more, the prefaces are similar to each other not only in their compositional structures, but also in some sentences. So, the authenticity of the preface in the Shiwu Bencao is still soubtful.

Chen Jiru 56 (1558-1639), also names Zhongchun 57 or Mei Gong, 58 was a native of Huating 59 (Shanghai city). He was an well known writer,well versed in poetry and literature. He lived as a hermit in Kunshan, 60 engaged in writing. He occasionally collected information on various trivial matters and rare things and compiled them into books, which were purchased or copied in a mad rush by people who lived far and near. His biography was included in the Ming History. 48) so it is difficult to judge whether Chen Jiru did in fact write this book in Li Gao 60 or Li Shizhen's name, or if the publisher printed the book in Chen Jiru's name with a fake preface.

Finally, the problem of whether Yao Kecheng 62 could be the author bears consideration. The Japanese scholar Mr. Matsudaira 63 believed that the book was written by Yao Kecheng, 49) and Wang Chongmin, 64 a Chinese scholar, agreed with him. 50) of course, they had good reason to think so. One reason is Yao Kecheng's Jiuhuang Yepu Buyi 65 ahead of the text, and a second is the comments by Yao Kecheng in the last two volumes, Volumes 21 and 22. it is in these two volumes that the disaster which occurred at the end of the Chongzheng 66 period (1628-1644) is mentioned. So there is no problem with asserting that the work was at least revised or supplemented by Yao Kecheng. 67

But did Yao Kecheng write of the entire book? The answer is, "perhaps not." From Vol. 1 to Vol. 20, no notes or explanations written by Yao echeng can be seen (the exceptions being Vols.21 and 22). The materials on food taboo can be found, ranging from Volume 1 to 20, but it is strange to see the same content appear again in Volume 22. of the entire book was from the hand of Yao Kecheng, then it is hard to understand such a duplication.

The last, but not necessarily the least, argument is that if Yao Kecheng really intended to write the book under the name of Li Shizhen, 68 then it was obviously unnecessary for him to put his own name in Volume 21 and before the maun text. Who, then, could the Author of the 20-volume main text be?

This matter still needs further study. One believable explanation could be that the 20-volume main test was written by an unknown learned scholar before 1638, while Yao Kecheng only made some supplemental additions to the beginning and end of the book. As is generally known, authors of ancient China always tried to have the number of the volumes be 5 or 10, or a multiple of 5 to 10. books consisting of 22 volumes are extremely rare.

This book can be considered the most comprehensive of those on dietary hygiene. Its material came from various books on food and drink, with the relevant contents of Bencao Gangmu 69 comprising the basis of Volumes 5-21. this book in general adopted the style of Bencao Gangmu with some changes in order. The entries in this work, 1675 in all , were classified as follows: waters (740 entried), grains (67), vegetables (138), fruits (120), scaly animals (113), crustaceans (45), snakes/worms (21),fowls (77), quadrupeds (61), spices (62), herbs and soils(5). The book's contents are so comprehensive that is seems to have gone beyond the scope of dietetics. Included are virtually all the dietetic materials recorded in books prior to the middle of the 17th century, so this book has become an important source of literature on dietary hygiene in the history of Chinese medicine.

Preliminary summary: Based upon our discussion of the dietetic works, the following table, showing the relationships between them, is presented.

From this table, it can be seen that quite a few dietetic works appeared during the Ming Dynasty. Some of the key works are stressed here. These books are of two types, with differing gists. The first type consists of the popular dietetic books: the contents of these books are popular and easy to practise; the dietetic materials contained in them are somewhat scanty and mostly deal with daily foods; the length of these books is generally not long, and most of their entries are devoted to practical information, not theories. In a word, The most outstanding characteristics of this type book is their popularity and practicability.

The second type of book is comprised of only one or two representative works, the Shiwu Bencao 70 (22 volumes), and the Bencao Gangmu, 71 in thich a wide range of foods connected to dietetic hygiene in past periods, and even some substances that can hardly be called food, included. These comprehensive books became the main source from which other dietetic works after the Ming Dynasty drew their materials. Therefore, we can say that works on dietetic hygiene Which appeared during the Ming Dynasty have played an important role as a link between the past and the future.