The Xinxiu bencao ( Chinese: 新修本草; pinyin: Xīnxiū běncǎo), ^[a] also known as the Tang bencao ( Chinese: 唐本草; pinyin: Táng běncǎo), ^{[1] [3]} is a Chinese pharmacopoeia written in the Tang dynasty by a team of officials and physicians headed by editor-in-chief Su Jing [ zh]. It borrowed heavily from—and expanded upon—the earlier Bencao jing jizhu [ zh] by Tao Hongjing. The text was first published in 659; although it is now considered lost in China, at least one copy exists in Japan, where the text had been transmitted to in 721.

Contents

Comprising fifty-three or fifty-four juan (卷) or "chapters", ^{[4] [5]} the text ostensibly contained both tujing (圖經) or "illustrated descriptions" and yaotu (藥圖) or "drug pictures", ^[6] although these illustrations are no longer extant. ^[7] In total, some 850 drugs are listed in the text, ^[1] including thirty foreign ingredients that were imported into China via the Silk Road, such as benzoin, oak galls, and peppercorn. ^[8]

Publication history

The idea of a bencao ( pharmacopoeia) that would copy and expand on Tao Hongjing's Bencao jing jizhu [ zh] was first mooted in 657 by court counsellor Su Jing [ zh] (蘇敬). ^{[9] [2]} The project was eventually approved by Emperor Gaozong, following which a team of some twenty-two officials and physicians, ^[10] including Xu Jingzong, Lü Cai, Li Chunfeng, Kong Zhiyue [ zh], and Xu Xiaochong [ zh]. ^[11] Li Shiji oversaw the final draft. ^[12]

According to the Tang huiyao, the Xinxiu bencao was completed on the 17th day of the first lunar month of the fourth year of the Xianqing era (656–661). ^{[13] [6]} The text was first published in 659, making it the first state-sponsored pharmacopoeia in China, ^{[1] [14] [15]} as well as one of the earliest known illustrated pharmaceutical texts. ^[2]

The Xinxiu bencao was one of the most comprehensive works of its time. ^[5] It was designated by the Tang government as the "official standard with regard to drug usage", although it is unclear how widespread its readership was, given the lack of a printing press then. ^[1] By the Song dynasty, ^[14] the text had become lost in China, although at least one copy still exists in Japan, where it had been transmitted to in 721, ^[3] and fully translated into Japanese as Honzō wamyō in 1918 by palace doctor Fukane no Sukehito. ^[10] In the modern era, fragments of the Xinxiu bencao have also been discovered from a book depository in a cave in Dunhuang, Gansu. ^{[14] [16]}

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