Chinese Science Stories That Inspire Student Growth

Author: None
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-09-01
Features: Shennong Tastes a Hundred Herbs – The Origin of Agriculture
Shennong, one of the legendary "Three Sovereigns" of ancient times, was known for his bravery in tasting various herbs and teaching people how to farm. He is considered the ancestor of both traditional Chinese medicine and agriculture in China. In ancient times, grains and weeds grew together, and medicinal herbs and flowers were intermingled. It was difficult to distinguish which plants could be used as food and which could be used for healing. With the continuous growth of the population, people increasingly needed more food. At that time, scientific development was very backward, and people had limited knowledge of the plants in the mountains and forests. They often ate poisonous plants out of hunger and died without medicine to treat them.
The great Shennong witnessed the suffering of the common people and resolved to taste various wild plants himself to determine which were edible, which were poisonous, which were good to eat, and which were not. Although he was fully aware that he might die from eating poisonous plants, he stepped forward for the sake of the people, so that they would no longer suffer from hunger and would no longer consume toxic plants in the future.
Many beautiful legends have been passed down about Shennong tasting a hundred herbs. It is said that one time, he placed a herb in his mouth and soon felt dizzy and fell to the ground. His attendants quickly helped him up. Knowing he had been poisoned, he could not speak but used his last bit of strength to point to a bright red (lingzhi) herb nearby and then to his own mouth. The attendants picked the lingzhi, chewed it, and fed it to him. After eating the lingzhi, Shennong recovered from the poison. From then on, people believed that lingzhi could bring people back from the brink of death.
Shennong tasted herbs day and night, inevitably suffering from poisoning. He encountered poison as many as 70 times in a single day, so he also carried a (jiědú) herb called tea (a homophone of "," meaning "check") with him. Whenever he ate a poisonous plant, he immediately drank tea, allowing the leaves to pass through his digestive system and expel the poison.
Shennong died from poisoning after tasting a deadly plant called "intestine-breaking grass" (). He was 120 years old when he passed away. From these touching legends, we can also appreciate the hardships and dangers Shennong faced while tasting herbs. He climbed mountains and crossed ridges, tasting every plant. His efforts were rewarded! He discovered that rice, wheat, millet, barley, and beans could sustain people, which became known as the "five grains." He recorded all the edible vegetables and fruits he found and identified 365 medicinal herbs, writing them down in the 《》(Shennong's Herbal).
During the process of tasting herbs, Shennong made careful observations and discovered that plants withered and flourished with the seasons and that different plants preferred different types of soil. He used changes in the weather to guide people in planting crops, allowing them to systematically gather fruits and seeds for food. This marked the origin of agriculture in China.
In fact, Shennong was a figure during the early stages of primitive agriculture and animal husbandry in China. All legends about Shennong reflect the entire historical era of the development and establishment of agriculture in China. In addition to myths and historical records, there is now increasing archaeological evidence to show that China is...