TCM in Ming Dynasty

Shizhen Li was a great doctor and herbalist in Ming dynasty．He got a clear understanding of the growing herbs by going up mountains to pick up herbs on his own and doing investigations conscientiously in many places. He also dissected some herbal ingredients from animals and watching out for their effects by following their traces. Meanwhile he consulted more than 800 sorts of documents, he wrote his book：Compendium of Materia Medica. It took him 27 years to accomplish this. There are 1892 herbs and more than 10000 prescriptions in the book. This is a great contribution to the development of Chinese herbology.
Chinese medicine began to use the variolation method to prevent smallpox, thus becoming the world pioneer of immunology.
The School of Epidemic Febrile Diseases appeared. It thought that the onset of an infectious disease was not due to wind or cold, summer-heat or dampness，but due to impure，noxious atmospheric influence which called evil. Its development by studying the four conditions or stages - Wei, Qi, Ying and Xue system or analyses and differentiate it according to the pathological changes of the triple burner．

Key Words: TCM history, Ming Dynasty