Legend of Li Shizhen

Name of China's national intangible cultural heritage: Legend of Li Shizhen

Applicant: Qichun County, Hubei Province

Project No.: 1045

Project No.: I-101

Time of publication: 2011 (the third batch)

Category: Folk Literature

Region: Hubei Province

Type: new item

Applicant: Qichun County, Hubei Province

Protection unit: Qichun County Cultural Center

Introduction to the legend of Li Shizhen:

Applicant: Qichun County, Hubei Province

Li Shizhen (1518-1593), a famous pharmacist in Ming Dynasty, was born in Qizhou, Hubei Province. He once served as an official in the Royal Palace of Chu, and was sentenced by Taihu hospital. All his life, he was engaged in the research of medicine and pharmacology. He traveled all over the famous mountains and rivers, collected and identified medicines, sought advice from farmers, fishermen, woodcutters, flower Wengs, hunters, porters and monks, and collected folk prescriptions. After 27 years of hard work, three changes of its draft, with a world-renowned compendium of Materia Medica, become a world cultural celebrity.

The legend of Li Shizhen was first seen in the literature. It was written in Gu Jingxing's notes in the early Qing Dynasty that the legend of Li Shizhen ' (Volume 38 of collected works of baimaotang)

The legend of Li Shizhen has been handed down from generation to generation in his hometown of Qizhou. It comprehensively shows the ordinary and moving life footprints of Li Shizhen from different angles, and enthusiastically praises his brilliant character and great achievements as a typical "medical sage" of the Chinese nation. It has rich content, diverse themes and broad themes. From birth to old age, it involves the aspects of life, from family life to studying medicine, practicing medicine, collecting medicine and writing books; from a civilian to the imperial palace hospital, and even resigning to return home, accumulating information and writing compendium of Materia Medica. For example, they kneel down to seek apprenticeship from famous doctors, seek secret recipes from those who sell martial arts, worship "monk doctors" as "master of one medicine", collect, identify and make medicines, pass on arts and lead apprentices, be good at poetry, shock the magistrate with "skillful pairing", cure the general's "eye diseases" with lantern riddles, cure the prince's Acacia with "living medicine", cure the princess's strange diseases with magic methods, and fight with Taoist wisdom

The legend of Li Shizhen not only reflects Li Shizhen's lofty medical ethics, upright attitude towards life, indomitable spirit of dedication, and academic methods of seeking roots and sources, but also is closely related to the knowledge of traditional Chinese medicine, industry customs and local folk customs, as well as the geographical mountains and social conditions of various places.