Li Shizhen, one of the top ten famous doctors in ancient China
Li Shizhen was a famous medical scientist and pharmacist in the Ming Dynasty of China. He was known as the "King of Medicine". He lived between 1518 and 1593 and was one of the most important figures in the history of Chinese pharmacy. He made outstanding contributions to the development and research of pharmacy. Li Shizhen's main achievements included: 1. Compiled the Compendium of Materia Medica, a complete work on pharmacy. It was an important milestone in the history of ancient Chinese pharmacy and was hailed as a "masterpiece of pharmacy". It recorded more than 1800 kinds of plants and animals, which had important guiding significance for the research and development of traditional Chinese medicine. Li Shizhen was an outstanding doctor. His medical skills were very superb. He had cured many diseases and was honored as the "medical sage" by later generations. He had also studied acupuncture and massage, and left valuable experience and treatment methods in the A and B Classics of Acupuncture. Li Shizhen believed that herbal medicine was more effective than Western medicine and opposed the popular practice of combining Chinese and Western medicine at that time. He advocated the use of herbs to treat diseases. He believed that herbs had the characteristics of "the monarch acts and the minister stops, the qi moves and the blood flows smoothly", which could regulate the human body's functions to achieve the purpose of curing diseases. Li Shizhen was one of the important figures in the history of Chinese pharmacy. His achievements were of great significance to the development and research of Chinese pharmacy.