The father of Chinese medicine is said to be Huang Ti, the Yellow Emperor, who is said to have lived in the third millennium B.C. The book he is said to have written, Huang-ti Nei ching (The Canon of Internal Medicine), may have been in use as early as about 800 B.C. Scholars are certain that it was widely used in 265 B.C. The book is made up of two treatises. The first is a dialogue on the subject of living matter between Huang Ti and his minister Qibo. The second treatise is a description of medical physiology, acupuncture, and anatomy. The Nei Jing describes twenty-eight substances used in medicine and contains twelve prescriptions. Some of these materials continue to be used in China today.

The Divine Husbandman

Shen Nung, the Divine Husbandman, is the legendary emperor considered by many to be the father of Chinese agriculture. He instructed the people how to cultivate grains for food, so they would not have to kill animals. Shen Nung is said to have tasted many, many kinds of herbs in order to test their medicinal value and is said to be the author of Shen-nung pen ts'ao ching (Divine Husbandman's Materia Medica), a pharmacopoeia which describes 365 medicines that come from minerals, animals, and plants. It also sorts herbs according to taste and temperature and contains a list of toxic herbs. Shen Nung is also thought to have invented acupuncture.

Although the reign of Shen Nung is said to have taken place many thousands of years ago, the Divine Husbandman’s Materia Medica was not published until about 500 AD. The book made the first references to “properties” of herbs and contained one of the first classification systems for herbs. The three major categories were:

- Superior herbs. These are herbs that nourish life.
- Middle herbs. These are herbs that correct constitution.
- Inferior herbs. These are herbs that can be used to expel disease.

An illustrated text of herbs, the Newly Revised Materia Medica, was published in 659 A.D. It listed 844 herbs. The Materia Medica Arranged According to Pattern, which appeared in 1108 A.D., contained 1558 entries. The Grand Materia Medica, published in 1596 A.D., listed 1,892 kinds of herbs.