Tong Jun: Legendary Pharmacologist & Pioneer of Chinese Materia Medica

Tradition holds that Tong Jun was a pharmacologist of high antiquity and a minister to the Yellow Emperor, renowned for his expertise in materia medica (bencao). In the preface to his Bencao Jing Jizhu (Collected Annotations on the Materia Medica Classic), Tao Hongjing of the Liang dynasty emphasized: “As for the primary actions of medicinal properties, they should be transmitted through the continuity of knowledge and understanding — how else could they be learned? As for Tong Jun and Lei Gong, their work has been recorded in written compilations. This book should be regarded as belonging to the same category as the Suwen.” He further noted: “There is also Tong Jun's Cai Yao Lu (Record of Herb Gathering), which describes the form and color of flowers and leaves; and the Yao Dui (Drug Pairings) in four fascicles, which discusses the mutual recognition between assistant and envoy herbs.”