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Li Shizhen

Type Figure Region China Time 1518–1593 Also known as Dongbi、Binhu、Li Shizhen Binhu

Li Shizhen (1518–1593), courtesy name Dongbi, sobriquet Binhu, a famous physician and pharmacologist of Qizhou in the Ming dynasty who spent twenty-s…

Timeline

  1. 1538–1551Qizhou · QizhouLi Shizhen practised medicine on his family's learning, then entered the Prince of Chu's household as supervisor of sacrifices, later serving as assistant director of the Imperial Medical Academy, accumulating clinical and court medical experience that laid practical and documentary foundations for the Comperta Materia Medica.
  2. 1552–1578Qizhou · QizhouAfter retiring home around 1552 he began systematically compiling the Comperta Materia Medica, drawing widely on local gazetteers, gathering drugs in the field, and revising the manuscript three times; the 1550s were a key period of collecting texts and examining drugs, and the work was completed in 1578.
  3. 1578–1593Qizhou · QizhouAfter completing the Comperta Materia Medica he continued revising it and wrote Binhu Pulse Studies, Study of the Eight Extraordinary Vessels, and others; he died at Qizhou, and his works profoundly influenced materia medica and medicine in East Asia.

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