Chinese Medicine

中药的来源

传说在在中国的上古时代，有一位名叫神农的部族首领。他看到人们经常因乱吃东西而生病，甚至丧命，十分焦急，于是决定尝遍百草，以分辨哪些植物可以食用。神农背着两个鹿皮袋子，尝到能吃的植物便放在左边的袋子里，尝到虽不能吃但可以入药的便放在右边的袋子里。有一天，神农不慎吃下了一种有毒的草。正当他感觉腹痛难忍时，头顶的树上有几滴露水正好落进了神农的口中，他顿时感觉没那么难受了。于是神农摘了几片树叶吞了下去，不一会肚子就不疼了——这种树叶就是茶叶。这之后，每次神农出门去尝植物，都会随身带着些茶叶，以用于解毒。但遗憾的是，后来他尝到了一种极毒的植物，还没来得及吞下茶叶解毒，就被毒死了。

在中国，后人把神农视为农业与医药的发明者与守护神。据说最古老的中药书籍《神农本草经》就是神农留下的。而在湖北省，有一片山区名为神农架，传说就是神农尝百草的地方。

注：通常，中国神话故事一般有多种不同版本，但大部分都拥有相似的关键元素。以上是我小时候听过的版本。

Origin of Traditional Chinese Medicine

There was a tribal chief, named Shennong, in remote ancient China. He was worried that people often got sick and even died from eating weird food plants, so he decided to taste all the plants to see which ones could be eaten and which ones not. Shennong carried two deer-hide sacks on his back. The plants that could be eaten were put in the left sack, while those that could not be eaten but be used as medicine were put in the right one. One day, Shennong accidentally ate a kind of poisonous grass. Just as he was feeling the pain in his stomach, a few drops of dew from the tree above fell into Shennong's mouth. He felt better immediately. Then, Shennong picked some leaves from the tree and swallowed them, and soon the pain went away. These leaves were tea leaves. After that, Shennong would bring some tea leaves with him for detoxification every time he went out. But unfortunately, he once tasted a very poisonous plant and was killed before he could swallow the tea leaves.

Later generations regard Shennong as the inventor and patron saint of agriculture and medicine in China. It is said that the oldest traditional Chinese medicine book The Classic of Herbal Medicine was written by Shennong. Moreover, in Hubei province, there is a mountainous area called Shennongjia, where legend says Shennong tasted the plants.

Note: Usually, there are many different versions of a mythical story in Chinese mythology, but most share similar key elements. This is the version of the story about Shennong I heard when I was a kid.