Bencao Gangmu , also known as The Compen,dium of Materia Medica (a book on Chinese herbal medicine) , is a materia medica work written by the great medical and pharmaceutical expert in the Ming Dynasty, Li Shizhen. It is regarded as the most complete and comprehensive medical book ever written in the history of traditional Chinese medicine in China. It al-most lists all the plants, animals, minerals, and other objects that were believed to have medianal properties. Li Shizhen completed the first draft of the book in 1578, after conducting readings of 800 0ther medical reference books and carrying out 30 years of field study. For this and many other achievements Li Shizhen has of ten been compared to Shennong, a great man in the Chinese mythology who taught people about agriculture and herbal mediane. Bencao Gangmu has 52 volumes in total. At the very beginning is the table of contents and l,160 hand-drawn illustrations. Volumes l t0 4 are an index and a comprehensive list of herbs that would treat the most common illnesses. Volumes 5 t0 52 form the main content of the text, recording l,892 distinct medicines, of which 374 were added by Li himself. There are some 11,096 prescriptions to treat the common illnesses, of which 8,160 were compiled or collected by Li. The text is written in almost 2 million Chinese characters, classified int0 16 divisions and 60 0rders. For every medicine there are explanations of the names, detailed descriptions of the odor, medical function,effects, side recipes etc. Bencao Gangmu improved the classification of traditional Chinese medicine, complying with a uniform format, and the language was comparatively scientific and precise; besides, it played a very significant role in promoting the credibility and scientific values of the biological classification of both plants and animals. The work corrected many false understandings of the nature of the medicines and illnesses. Li also included many new herbs and added his own discovery in certain drugs. Bencao Gangmu is more than a pharmaceutical work, for it contains information covering the topics in biology, chemistry, geography, mineralogy, geology, history, astronomy etc. It has been translated into more than 20 languages and spread all over the world. Even now it is still in print and used as a great medical work.