A Soup for the Qan

[106.] Jujube [Zizyphus jujuba along with various other Z. spp]¹⁰ and Ginger Puree

[14B] If you wish not to fear the cold, make a fine powder of Chinese asparagus and China root, and take. Take several times a day. When it is extremely cold one will sweat when wearing unlined clothing.

Tu Tzu-wei ate Chinese asparagus. He managed 80 wives, had 140 sons, and could travel 300 li a day.

Ch’ih-sung-tzu ate Chinese asparagus. When his teeth fell out they grew in again. The fine hairs on his head grew in again.

Kan Shih was a man of T’ai-yüan. He took Chinese asparagus. He was among people for three hundred years.

[15A] The spirit immortals took Chinese asparagus. After one hundred days they were pleasant and composed and had pleasant countenances. Those who were emaciated and infirm became strong. In three hundred days their bodies were light, and in three years they could travel as if flying.

Ch’u-wen-tzu took Chinese foxglove for eight years. At night he was seen to shine. In his hand was a chariot [i.e., heavy] crossbow.

Mr. Wen of Nan-yang encountered anarchy and fled into the Hu Mountains. He was hungry and in difficulty. Some one told him to eat [tsang]shu [Atractylodes spp].³³ He consequently did not suffer from hunger. After a few years he returned to his village. His face and coloring were younger. His energy had returned fully.

[15B] Jen-chi-tzu took China root for 18 years. The Jade Woman accompanied him. He could conceal his appearance. He did not eat grains. A glow issued from his face.

If one takes China root for a long time, the hundred ailments will be eliminated within a hundred days. If one takes it twice a day, at night and in the morning, for two hundred days, the ghosts and spirits will be at your command. After taking it for four years, the Jade Woman will come and wait on you.

The Ling-yang Chung-tzu took Chinese Senega [Polygala sibirica or P. tenuifolia] for 20 years. He had 30 sons. When he read a book he remembered and did not forget anything he read.

Shun used to climb Ts’ang-wu Mountain. He said that [it was because of] its Chin-yü hsiang-ts’ao. This is the same as wuchiapi bark. One takes it to [16A] lengthen the years. Therefore it is said, it is better to have a handful of wuchiapi than gold and jade filling a cart. It is better to have one chin of burnet-bloodwort [Sanguisorba officinalis] than precious pearls bright as the moon. Formerly, Duke Ting of Lu’s mother only took Wuchiapi Liquor so that she might attain long life. Persons such as Chang Tzu-sheng, Yang Shih-chien, Wang Shu-ts’ai, and Yu Shih-yen were all ancients who took Wuchiapi Liquor and their houses were not cut off. All attained an age of 300 years. They had 30 or 20 sons. The number of those who took Wuchiapi Liquor and attained longevity from one generation to the other has been extremely numerous.

Chinese matrimony vine leaves can cause a person’s sinews and bone to be strong. They get rid of wind, are a tonic and augment [ch’i], drive out hsü-lao diseases,³⁷ and augment yang aspects. [17A] Collect the leaves in spring, summer or autumn. Collect the seed in winter. They can be eaten for a long time.

Collect 7 fen³⁸ of lotus flowers on the seventh day of the seventh month. Collect 8 fen of lotus root on the eighth day of the eighth Month. Collect 9 fen of lotus seed on the ninth day of the ninth Month. Dry them in the dark and eat them. They will prevent one from getting old.

If kidney ch’i is deficient and weak, take fresh chestnuts, it does not matter how many. Let the wind dry them. Each day chew up thoroughly on an empty stomach. Slowly swallow three or five.

The “Story of How the Adept took Solomon’s Seal and Became an Earth Immortal:”

Sesame Seeds: eaten they can eliminate all kinds of obstinate illnesses. If eaten for a long time they lengthen life, and make a person plump and strong. They lengthen the years and prevent one from getting old.

If you take schisandra, after 16 years your facial color will be like jade. If you enter fire you will not be burnt. If you enter water you will not get wet.

Han Chü took sweetflag for 13 years. He sprouted hair on his body. He could read ten thousand words in a day. He was not cold [when] naked in winter. You should obtain sweetflag growing on rocks, with nine knots per ts’un. Sweetflag with purple flowers is still better.

[20B] Sacred lotus fruits have a sweet flavor, are neutral and lack poison. They are a tonic for the center, nourish ch’i, and clear the spirit. They eliminate the hundred illnesses. If one takes them for a long time, they cause a person to no longer thirst, and to be in a good state of health and look good.

Lotus and Begonia:⁴⁶ Remove the embryonic shoots [hearts]. If taken for a long time they make one joyful in the heart. They augment ch’i and stop thirst. They cure waist pain, leaking essence, and diarrhea.

Lotus Flower Stamens: if taken for a long time they strengthen the heart and augment color. They preserve a youthful appearance, and lighten the body.

Chinese Cornbind [Polygonum multiflorum] is sweet in flavor and lacks poison. If taken for a long time it strengthens sinew and bone. It augments the essence and marrow. It makes the hair black. It makes one have a son.

[22B] Summer, three months: this means flourishing and maturing. The ch’i of Heaven and Earth come together. The Ten-thousand-things luxuriate and bear fruit. One goes to sleep at night and arises early. One should not dislike the sun. This is to cause the intention to be without hate, to cause one’s splendor to be mature, to cause the ch’i to attain outward flow, as if what one loves is outside [or away]. This is what corresponds to summer ch’i. This is the way to nurture a long life. To act contrary will wound the heart. In the autumn it will become malaria. Little will be retained for [autumn] gathering. There will be severe illness at the winter solstice.

Summer ch’i is heating. It is suitable to eat pulses to make it cold. There cannot be a complete correspondence with the heat. Warm drink and foods are prohibited, [as are] eating to satiation, swampy places, and damp clothing.

[23B] Autumn, three months: this means harvesting crops and weighing. The ch’i of Heaven is tending towards urgency, the ch’i of Earth towards brightness. One should go to bed and rise early, rising along with the rooster. This is to cause the intention to be peaceful and placid, to relax autumn harshness, and to receive and accumulate spirit ch’i. This is to cause the autumn ch’i to be in balance, without externalization of the will. This is to cause lung ch’i to be clear. This is what corresponds to autumn ch’i. This is the way to nurture gathering. To act contrary will wound the lungs. In the winter it will become food leakage.⁴⁸ Little will be retained for [winter] harboring.

Autumn ch’i is drying. One should eat sesame to moisten the dryness. Cold drink and foods, and cold clothing are prohibited.

[24A] [Illustration Caption:] In Winter it is Beneficial to Eat Panicled Millet.

[24B] Winter, three months: this means closing and harboring. The water is frozen, and the earth cracked [with the cold]. There should be no disturbance of yang influences. One goes to bed early, and arises late. One must wait for the brightness of the day. This causes the intention to become as suppressed; as hidden; as if there is a private concern; as if one has already obtained one’s desire. One gets rid of cold and seeks heat, not allowing it to leak out through the skin, causing the amassed ch’i to be stolen. This is what corresponds to winter ch’i. This is the way to nurture harboring. To act contrary wounds the kidneys. In the spring it turns into syncope accompanied by flaccidity. Little will be retained for [spring] coming to life.

Winter ch’i is cold. One should eat panicled millet to regulate the cold with its heating nature. Hot drink and foods, warm clothing dried at the fire are prohibited.

Sour and astringent are to gather together. If too much is eaten the bladder is blocked. It gives rise to dysuria.

Bitter and dry are to make firm. If too much is eaten then the triple burner is closed up. If gives rise to vomiting.

Acrid flavors produce hot vapor. If too much is consumed then it rises up into the lungs. The blood and the constructive and protective ch’i will not be seasonal and the heart will become hollow [ch’i deficient].

Salty flavors cause discharge through vomiting. If too much is eaten then the flow is outside into the blood vessels. The stomach becomes exhausted, the throat dry, and one contracts diabetes.

Sweet flavors [make] weak and inadequate. If too much is eaten the stomach becomes soft and slow, and worms pass. Therefore there is abdominal flatulence, and a pressing in the chest.

Acridity moves the ch’i. If one has a ch’i ailment one should not eat too much acridity.

Bitterness moves the bones. Those with bone ailments should not eat too much bitterness.

Sweetness moves the flesh. Those with flesh illness should not eat too much sweetness.

[26A] Sourness moves the tendons. Those with tendon illness should not eat too much sourness.

If one eats too much salt, bone ch’i becomes exhausted and short. The ch’i of the fat is cut through. The blood vessels then congeal, and the face changes color.⁵⁰

If one eats too much sweet food, the heart ch’i will become full rapidly, the color become black, and kidney ch’i will be out of balance. The bones will then be painful, and the hair fall out.⁵¹

If one eats too much bitter food, lung ch’i will not be moist, and stomach ch’i will be full. The skin will then become dried and withered, and the hair will come out.52

[26B] If one eats too much acrid food, sinew and blood vessels will become injured and slack. The essence and spirit will then be finished. The sinews will then be anxious, and the feet withered.⁵³

If ch’i and flavors are harmonized and the food eaten, it will then be a tonic for the essence, and augment ch’i.⁵⁴

However, even if the five flavors are flavored [evenly], and the mouth wishes to eat and drink, one cannot eat large amounts of any food. If too much is eaten it gives rise to illness. Small amounts augment. Rare delicacies of the hundred flavors, and careful moderation daily, that is the best thing.

[214.] Burdock. (This is niu-p’ang-tzu. Another name is Shu-chan tzu.)

If one is taking medicine one cannot eat a lot of sprouting coriander, as well as garlic, miscellaneous fresh vegetables, and various slippery things, fat pork, dog meat, extremely oily and rich things, fish hash, rank-smelling foods, etc. One should even avoid seeing corpses, women in labor, and filthy things. One also cannot eat stale and smelly things.

If one has [taken] tsangshu, one must not eat peaches, plums, sparrow [small bird] meat, coriander, garlic, green fish,⁶² etc.

[43A] If one has [taken] Chinese wild ginger, one must not eat fresh vegetables.

If one has [taken] liquorice, one must not eat sung-ts’ai,⁶³ and seaweed [Sargassium fusiforme or S. pallidum].

If one has [taken] Chinese quinine [Dichroa febrifuga or Orixa japonica], one must not eat onions and fresh vegetables.

If one has [taken] hollow malachite or cinnabar, one must not eat blood. (Whenever one takes medicine, one must universally avoid eating blood.)

If one has [taken] turtle, one must not eat hsien-ts’ai [edible greens of Amaranthus spp, Chenopodium spp, etc.].

[43B] Do not take medicines on wei days [i.e, days in the cycle of 60 containing the element wei]. Also avoid days of the full moon.

Avoid the szu day when it is the first day of the fifth and ninth lunar months.

Now foodstuffs have those which are beneficial and those which are harmful. One can know and avoid them.

Crabs can be eaten after the eighth month. They should not be eaten during the remaining months of the year.

One should not eat lots of shrimp. All those lacking hair, or with pills in the intestines, or which become white when boiled, cannot be eaten.

During the twelfth lunar month, things such as dried and salted meats should not be eaten if they have absorbed moisture due to leaking rain, or if they have been chewed and damaged by insects and rodents.

If one does not remove the heart of a lotus seed, and eats it, it will give rise to huo-luan.⁶⁴

Mare’s milk cannot be eaten together with fish hash. It produces obstruction of the bowels.

[47B] Pheasant cannot be eaten together with buckwheat flour. It produces vermin.

Chicken meat cannot be eaten together with hare meat. It causes one to have diarrhea.

[48A] Pheasant cannot be eaten together with sheatfish. If it is eaten it causes one to develop depression.

Panicled millet cannot be eaten together with mallow leaves. It produces illness.

Among the various substances there are those which a fundamentally poisonous by nature. There are those which lack poison but are poisonous when cooked. There are various substances which are sensitive to one another, which react to one another, and which counter one another and form poisons. If people do not practice control and restraint, and eat them, it will result in wounding of the internal organs and disordering of abdomen and stomach ch’i. Some [poisonings] are not serious, others severe. Each damages according to the nature of the poisoned contained [in the substance]. They must be countered according to the poison.

If one has already eaten or drunk and does not know what the poison is, [and there is] vexation and a feeling of dull listlessness, one should immediately decoct shrubby sophora juice, drink it and induce vomiting. Or one can boil rhinoceros horn juice and drink it. Or one can boil bitter liquor [vinegar] and “good liquor”⁶⁶ and drink it. All these things are good.

[50A] If one eats an excessive amount of melon, [and there is] abdominal distension. If one eats salt it will then be assimilated.

If one eats *möög mushroom or Agaricus mushroom and is poisoned, “earth broth”⁶⁷ will form a counter.

If one eats an excessive amount of water chestnuts, [and there is] abdominal distension and a feeling of dull listlessness, one can warm liquor and drink it combined with ginger. It will then be assimilated.

If one eats wild taro [Colocasia antiquorum] and is poisoned, earth broth will form a counter to it.

If one eats gourd and is poisoned, boil panicled millet stalks juice and drink it. The poison will then be countered.

If one eats the various meats and is poisoned, including when one is poisoned from eating horse liver or wet dried meat, roast pig bone ash and take it blended. Also possible would be drinking coriander juice or juice of fresh leeks.

If one eats beef or mutton and is poisoned, decoct liquorice juice and drink it.

If one eats horse meat and is poisoned, it will be assimilated if one chews apricot kernel. Both reed root juice and “good liquor” are possible.

If one eats dog meat, and it is not digested and gives rise to intestinal distension or dryness of the mouth, blanch in water apricot kernels after removing the skin and tips and drink.

[50B] If one eats too much fish hash, it gives rise to vermin accumulation.⁶⁸ Combine rhubarb juice and ground mandarin orange peel with salt broth and drink.

If one eats crab and is poisoned, drink purple perilla juice. Also winter melon juice or fresh sacred lotus juice will counter it. Also possible are dry garlic juice and reed root juice.

If one eats fish and is poisoned, mandarin orange peel juice, reed root and rhubarb, soybeans, and Glauber’s salts juice are all possible.

If one eats duck and is poisoned, boil glutinous millet grain juice and it will counter it.

If one eats chicken and is poisoned, one can drink a good wine vinegar and counter it.

If one drinks liquor, is extremely tipsy and it is not countered, soybean juice, common kudzu, mulberry seeds, and orange peel juice are all possible.

If one eats beef and is poisoned, [prepare] one liang of pork lard and each time take a spoonful dose. If dissolved in warm water the poison will then be countered.

If one eats pork and is poisoned, drink rhubarb juice or apricot kernel juice or Glauber’s salts juice. All can counter it.

The forms of animals are various. Each grows according to its bodily form. In addition animal natures are divided into poisonous and non-poisonous varieties. In addition, strange transformations take shape.

1This selection of recipes for drinks, syrups, and electuaries combines a large number of Chinese medical formulations, all fairly simple ones, with Near Eastern jams, conserves, and sweet syrups. The recipes are self-explanatory. Most are soothing and tonic. Presumably that was what the courtiers felt they needed.

²Cassia: often mistranslated “cinnamon.” This is the bark of Cinnamomum cassia, native to southern China and a very common spice in China. Cinnamon is C. zeylanicum of Sri Lanka. Its taste and appearance is distinct and the traditional medical values quite different. The volatile oils of cassia and cinnamon are different too.

³Perilla (Perilla frutescens = P. ocimoides): tzu-su 紫蘇, “purple fresh,” in modern Chinese, perilla is a small purple annual herb with edible spinach-like leaves and small oil-rich seeds. The oil contains slight but varying amounts of a poison that damages the lungs, but was a major oil in early times in East Asia. Both leaves and seeds have always been held to have high medicinal value. The plant is common and well known in China, Japan, and Korea. The leaves are often pickled, stir-fried, roasted, or otherwise prepared for eating. They form a common and good accompaniment to meat and other foods.

⁴Note that lichees are not actually used in preparing this recipe. It seems to be a northern imitation of the real thing.

⁵Flowering apricot: The oriental flowering apricot is usually mistranslated “plum” or “gage” or “greengage” in Western Sinological literature although botanists and nursery men use the correct term. The oriental flowering apricot is very similar to the Western apricot (Prunus armeniaca) but bears smaller, sour fruits. It is part of a subgenus that is very different from that of the plums within the vast and diverse genus Prunus, while the greengage is a variety of European plum, bearing no resemblance to the mei. Since plums abound in China, the confusion caused by this misidentification is far from trivial. There is no reason not to borrow the Chinese name mei as a good English word. The mei is the most popular Chinese flower, by far. It blooms in January or February, often with snow on its branches. The flowers are large, range from white through pink to reddish, and are strongly carnation-scented. They even flavor the snow lying on them, which is then melted for brewing tea by connoisseurs. The tree’s indifference to the weather makes it a symbol for the Taoist, and for the sage or “true person” in general. It is also long-lived and resilient, and embodies those qualities in symbolism. The flowers, like those of the peach, though to a less degree, symbolize fertility and sex; thus venereal disease is politely “mei sickness.” Of more concern to us here is the sour fruit. It makes an excellent relish or snack when pickled. There are several ways: either it is salted and dried, often with flavorings such as liquorice, or it is pickled in brine, producing suan-mei 酸梅, “sour mei.” It is also made into a syrup. All of these have medicinal values, focally cooling and useful in “bringing down ch’i” and otherwise doing all that the YSCY says they do. The flavorings contribute their own values; liquorice, for example, is a harmonizing and soothing drug. The syrup often figures in Chinese medicinal compounds.

⁶Liquorice: a very important plant of the bean family, native to north China. It is the great harmonizer, emollient, evener-out, and soother of side effects in Chinese medicine. The ascribed values are still as given here. Liquorice is dangerous in large quantities. Used by the Mongols as a gathered food under the name shikher üvs.

⁷This “northern schisandra” is not schisandra but the “red currant,” a common Mongolian gathered food. The same Mongolian name applies to both this fruit and the fruit of Schisandra chinensis.

⁸The text says “cheese” but cream is apparently meant. Since little distinction is made between cream and yogurt in the YSCY and the recipe could also be calling for yogurt.

⁹Chinese yam: shan-yao, “mountain medicine,” covers any of the many wild and semi-wild Dioscorea species of China. They are of various health values, and are still much sought as medicines. A large number of pharmacologically active compounds has been isolated by modern biochemistry from various yams.

Dioscorea is the genus of true yams, which are vines of the lily family. In the United States, the word “yam” is used for large sweet-potatoes, and other roots are called “yam” in other areas. It is from a west African word for Dioscorea spp.

¹⁰Jujubes: several species of Zizyphus occur in China. Z. sinensis (= Z. vulgaris) is the one in cultivation, while jujuba is wild. There may be no valid specific difference between the two. The jujube fruit resembles the date, and is usually called “Chinese date” in vernacular English. The Chinese, in turn, call the date “foreign jujube.” Yet the two trees are totally unrelated. The jujube is a genus within the buckthorn or mountain-lilac family and grows almost anywhere in the drier, but not desert parts of China. Jujube trees vary from small thorny bushes to medium-sized trees. Wild ones are the common scrub of desolate, eroded hills. Domesticated ones are the common door yard trees of the poorer households. Jujube trees are resistant to heat and drought, heavy rain, etc., but ENA was once told in China that air pollution has damaged urban trees. Jujubes grow fast and sucker profusely. They soon reach bearing age, at which time they bear vast quantities of fruit ranging from 1″ to 3″ or more in length. Fruits may be red, brown or, specially, black. The fruit is a good source of vitamin C value and also has some iron and other nutrients. Jujubes are recognized throughout China as a tonic food. In the north Jujubes may be the only source of vitamin C for the poor in many a north Chinese winter. Jujubes are also a valuable iron supplement when other sources fail, though its iron content is barely enough to be of help. Brown and, more especially, black jujubes are thought to build the body; red ones to build blood; sympathetic magic is obvious here. They are very commonly used as strengthening foods for convalescents, new mothers, and children. Gruel with jujubes is a traditional weaning food in poor families. It was often the only one. Jujubes are usually dried. They dry on the tree, without human intervention, and are often candied, sugared or cooked in honey and then dried. Sometimes they are repeatedly cooked and dried in honey or syrup till they become totally impregnated. These preserves may be flavored with liquorice or other healthful ingredients. Paste and syrup are made from jujubes. Cultivars are often thornless, forming a variety split off as Jujub inermis in the CYTTT. Jujube wood is very hard and close-grained and is used for special purposes such as wood blocks for printing.

The jujube is of immense potential for world cultivation. Easiest to grow of all temperate-zone fruits and more nutritious than many of them, it is incomparably valuable for erosion control and reforestation as well as food. No household within its range need be without it, and it would be a uniquely valuable source of food and potential income for peasants in dry, rocky areas where little else grows. Several other species exist in many parts of the Old World, adapted to various local environments. Many superior cultivars of Chinese and other species are grown locally. We can think of no explanation for their small popularity outside north China, where they are by far the commonest fruit tree. The most likely explanation is that the true date has pre-empted the Western market. Jujubes are more nourishing than dates, and are not so sickly-sweet as sweet dates nor so dry and tough as “bread” dates.

¹¹On cubebs see Schafer, 1963: 151. See also O.W. Wolters, Early Indonesia Commerce: A Study of the Origins of Srivijaya (Ithaca, 1967), 233ff and passim. Note that cubebs are employed in China above all as a medicinal, although a spice, and later a black pepper substitute elsewhere.

¹²Turmeric: probably native to south and southeast Asia where it is perhaps the most widely used spice, by weight. Usually the rhizome is dried and ground, but sometimes it is used fresh. The Chinese do not much use it, except in curry recipes recently borrowed from the south. Like the other spices in this section, it is still held to be warming. It, and not saffron, provides the dye for traditional Buddhist robes. It is confused terminologically with saffron in most of south and east Asia, although not as a culinary ingredient.

¹³These are the two palms, two soles and the heart.

¹⁴Chinese quince: still a common medicinal food. The name mu-kua is now used in south China for the papaya (Carica papaya), introduced from the New World. Evidently it was first called the “foreign (or barbarian) quince,” the “foreign” dropping off with time.

¹⁵The text uses a different word for prepared mandarin orange peel here for no apparent reason. Most likely Hu is simply copying out his source and using its terminology.

¹⁶Suan-chüeh-erh usually refers to the tamarind. The leaves of the tamarind and Potentilla anserina do bear a superficial resemblance. But the Suan-chüeh-erh of the text is probably to be understood as an equivalent of Suan-tsao-[erh], Zizyphus jujuba. Note that this is given as an equivalent for cicigina later in the text.

¹⁷Grain-of-paradise: this is another of the large cardamoms, ultimately from Africa. The illustration in chüan 3 seems to show A. xanthioides. The word is written differently there, with the “rock” rather than the “silk” radical.

¹⁸Citron: medieval introduction from west and south Asia. This fruit is used in worship in the south, particularly the strangely shaped varieties known as “Buddha’s hand” in Chinese. Their resemblance to a clenched fist of strange-shaped fingers makes them uncanny and allied to the sacred, and they partake of the reverence shown toward all citrus in the south.

¹⁹Cherry: the Chinese cherry is a slightly different species from the Western, a bit less sweet. They are often dried or honey-cured. The value of the cherry plant for complexion is still known. This, and anti-parasitic properties occasionally ascribed to the plant, may be related to the cyanogenic glycosides in the leaves and fruit kernels. These release quantities of prussic acid when the plant parts are crushed. Parasites and skin bacteria could be killed.

²⁰Peach: the peach is native to China, where it occurs as a common scrubby tree on wild dryish mountains and in the uplands. It was domesticated in China at some very early date, most likely during the Neolithic. The peach is a symbol of fertility, because of the spectacular masses of red to pink flowers in spring and great quantities of rich, luscious fruit. The fruit is said to be shaped like the female genitalia, a resemblance that is remote enough to have been forced by a previous belief in the tree’s feminine and fertile associations. The peach accumulates in Chinese culture many of the romantic and feminine associations that the rose has in the West. The peach is also a magical plant, presumably for the same reasons. Its ability to flower spectacularly and grow fast under harsh conditions shows it has a special ch’i. The wood is used to make fortune-telling blocks, apotropaic or lucky items. Twigs are used to repel evil. Branches in flower are used to decorate the house at Chinese New Year, to bring good luck and keep away bad luck for the coming year. The Queen Mother of the West has a peach tree that bears peaches that confer long life, or immortality, to the eaters. The Spirit of Localities (“Earth God”) is usually portrayed as an old man who is being presented with these fruits by young boys. Most educated Chinese, even today, know something of T’ao Yüan-ming’s 陶淵明 story of the fishermen who found and lost a paradise of flowering peach trees. This story evokes, and subtly compares or equates, mystical and sexual union in a thoroughly Taoist way. Peaches are, however, not much used specifically as medicine. They are much more familiar as a food, eaten at the crisp-ripe stage, when they are just beginning to color up. Westerners consider them “green,” Chinese consider fully ripe peaches as “rotten.” This taste probably arose from picking the fruit early to discourage pests and thieves. The graphic Chinese way of saying “do not act in an obviously suspicious way” is: “Do not adjust your hat in a peach orchard, or your shoes in a melon field.”

²¹Pomegranate (Punica granatum): an introduction from the West, grown today mainly as an ornamental, the fruit being incidental except in a few areas where the tree is well adapted. Being a Mediterranean and Near Eastern plant, it does not flourish in most of China. The womblike fruit filled with seeds is an emblem of fertility, as it is practically everywhere that pomegranates are long established. The plant, flower, and fruit are considered highly decorative, and the fruit’s bright red color makes it auspicious, so it is widely grown in pots and gardens, and figured in art. The name can be punned with a Chinese phrase for “abundance of descendants.”

²²That is, extract the pine seed oil much in the same way that soy milk is extracted in making tou-fu 豆瘸, in this case by placing the wet seed mash into a sack and squeezing out the oil.

²³Cow’s butter: butter is still used in a small way in Chinese medicine, but is insignificant in China except among Inner Asian minority peoples. Among them, especially among the Tibetans, it is a staple food and can be a necessity of life, providing not only a rich calorie source but also a vitamin A source, an ointment for the terribly cold and dry air, a cooking oil, a lubricant and grease for equipment, a preservative, once turned to ghee by boiling the water out, after which it is an excellent seal for other foods, etc. The various types of butter discussed here represent stages in its progressive refinement and/or processing. The Su-yu called for here is the crudest kind of butter, little more than thick congealed fat found floating on raw milk and subsequently rendered into a butter oil by boiling and most likely containing many impurities. A higher quality, churned butter is mäskä, while ghee is basically a butter oil with congealed fat carefully removed. In this case it is made from only the very best butter. Note that in some places in the YSCY su-yu may actually mean cream. This is in part due to the fact that Mongolian uses tos[un] in reference to either [boiled] butter, e.g., shar tos[un] or cream, tsötsgiyntos[un].

²⁴See the discussion of this word in Lao, 1969: 407, Franke, 1970: 12. It is almost certainly related to Mongolian tsuur (MM: boro chu’ur, “gray tsuur?” or better noqo’a chu’ur, “green/leaf chu’ur?”), referring to Dasiphora fructicosa, a recent tea substitute, see Rinchen, 1979: 124.

²⁵For a recipe see Rinjing Dorje, 1985: 53.

²⁶Note that, as in the introduction to the YSCY, each mention of the emperor or empress, or of an imperial order, begins a new paragraph.

²⁷Possibly Kun-rgya rdo-rje. The name is clearly Tibetan as was, most likely, Chin-chieh-nü himself. Note that his name is given in its full form here, and not in a Sinicized manner, as in the introduction. Ch’ang Buralgi, on the other hand, is here called by what was clearly his Mongolian name. This passage is clear indication that both Chin-chieh-nü and Ch’ang Buralgi had more than a passing role in the composition of the YSCY. This entire section of teas and drinks may be due to their influence.

²⁸This from the Hung-shih chi yen-fang 洪氏集驗方 See Li in Hu Szu-hui, 1988: 141.

²⁹This is Li’s emendation from the original text.

³⁰For an introduction to Ko Hung 葛洪 his life and work, See James R. Ware, Alchemy, Medicine and Religion in China of A.D. 320, the Nei P’ien of Ko Hung (New York, 1981).

³¹On this work. also called the Lieh-hsien-chuan 列仙傅, see the discussion by Li in Hu Szu-hui, 1988: 144. The work is supposed to date from Eastern Han times but was apparently at least partially reworked during the Chin 晉 period.

³²On this work see Hu Szu-hui, loc. cit. It is attributed to Ko Hung.

³³See the discussion by Li (Hu Szu-hui, 1988: 145) on tsangshu and its relatives in early times.

³⁴This is Sun Szu-mo 孫思邈 of the T’ang period. See Li in Hu Szu-hui, 1988: 146.

³⁵On this book see Hu Szu-hui, loc. cit.

³⁶This lost work, which now survives only as quotations, was written by Meng Shen 孟詵 of T’ang, and later revised by Chang Ting 張鼎. See Li in Hu Szu-hui, 1988: 148.

³⁷These are (Ou, 1982): “1. diseases caused by asthenia of the viscera; 2. consumptive disease.”

³⁸A fen is one one-hundredth of liang or .312 grams.

³⁹See the discussion in Hu Szu-hui, 1988: 151.

⁴⁰A ch’ih is 14.1 inches and is comprised of 10 ts’un 寸.

⁴¹This fen is a unit of measure. There are 10 fen per ts’un. A fen is thus. 141 in.

⁴²This may be a variety of Forbes’ wild ginger.

⁴³This name is normally used as a synonym for shu-chiao 蜀椒, Chinese flower pepper. Here it may refer to the bark of the plant rather than the fruit, or perhaps one of several other Zanthoxylum spp. Here again Hu may simply be copying out his source.

⁴⁴This is a lost work by Yin Kuei 殷晷 of the T’ang. See Hu Szu-hui, 1988:154.

⁴⁵This work is by T’ang writer Ta Ming 六眀. See Hu Szu-hui, 1988: 155.

⁴⁶Shih-lien is currently used to designate a number of similar flowers, including the begonia. The identification here is uncertain.

⁴⁷The bulk of this section, except for the summary at the end of each paragraph on the four seasons by Hu Szu-hui, is taken from the Yellow Emperor’s Inner Canon (Huang-ti nei-ching, su-wen, chüan 2). Compare the translation in Paul Unschuld, Introductory Readings in Classical Chinese Medicine (Dordrecht, Boston, London, 1988), 106–7.

⁴⁸Today this is “watery diarrhea with indigested food.” See Ou, 1982: 214.

⁴⁹This and the passages following are woven together from various quotations from the Yellow Emperor’s Inner Canon. See the discussion by Li in Hu Szu-hui, 1988: 165.

⁵⁰See Hu Szu-hui, loc. cit.

⁵¹See Hu Szu-hui, 1988: 166.

⁵²See Hu Szu-hui, loc. cit.

⁵³See Hu Szu-hui, 1988: 167.

⁵⁴See Hu Szu-hui, loc. cit.

⁵⁵Foods that Cure the Various Illnesses: most of these dishes are simpler forms of the dishes in the first section, adapted to the specific medical ingredients indicated. They are clearly attempts to make things like fox and otter palatable (and more medically effective), rather than being gourmet fare. The fish and chicken recipes are all still perfectly familiar, in almost identical forms, in Chinese medical cuisine. They are excellent eating. Being simpler and less spicy than the recipes in chüan 1, they require first-rate ingredients.

Note that this section is much more Chinese than the first two recipe sections in the YSCY (see discussion in Chapter 2). The first section is overwhelmingly Near Eastern and Central Asian. The second is primarily Chinese, but with a long section of Near Eastern jams and preserves, and other exotic delicacies. This final section is almost entirely Chinese in execution and medical indications, except for the inevitable sheep recipes, and even they have primarily Chinese flavorings. A very few others could be from anywhere, such as the wheat gruel, originally Near Eastern, but only because wheat itself came from there to China.

Honey, which features largely in these recipes, is used in Chinese medicine as a cooling, soothing, harmonizing ingredient.

⁵⁶For the following medicinal recipes, compare the translation by Gwinner in Gwinner, 1988: 81–108.

⁵⁷Long pepper: a rare medical food in China.

⁵⁸This word also occurs in Turkic as the name of a sour batter drink. See Appendix II.

⁵⁹Combine the pepper dough and fermented black beans?

⁶⁰The text of this recipe is defective.

⁶¹Adzuki Bean (Vigna angularis): here ch’ih Hsiao-tou, modern hung-tou 紅豆, “red bean.” This name, is modern south China at least, includes the rice bean, Phaseolus calcaratus Roxb., but the YSCY surely means the Adzuki.

The adzuki bean is the original bean of China, the original tou 豆. It has probably been known since far back in the Neolithic. With the coming of the soybean, the smaller adzuki became the hsiao-tou 小豆, “small bean.” Then came other small beans such as the mung, and the adzuki’s red color became more distinctive. Now several species of beans with red forms are known, and terminological confusion has not been sorted out. Contrary to the YSCY, modern folk belief holds adzukis to be heating, apparently solely because of their red color (see under mung bean). They are often made into a porridge sweetened with suagar and used to heat the body on cold days. Warming it certainly is, in the physical sense at least, whatever may be true of the effect on ch’i.

Other color forms of adzuki are known, which can result in such confusing names as pai hung-tou白紅豆, “white red bean.” The English name is from the Japanese.

Sources: G. W Herklots, Vegetables in Southeast Asia (London, 1977); (for V. calcarata) Frank M Sachs “A Literature Review of Phaseolus angularis-The Adsuki Bean,” Economic Botany 31 (1977): 1:9–15.

⁶²This is probably Mylopharyngodon pictus.

⁶³This is a kind of cabbage, probably Brassica chinensis.

⁶⁴The conventional translation of huo-luan, which Ou, 1982 calls “diseases characterized by acute diarrhea and vomiting” (246), is cholera.

⁶⁵Huang-yü, “yellow fish,” here may be maigre or more likely sturgeon. It could also be a “yellow” carp.

⁶⁶In Chinese usage this is a liquor containing various medicinals.

⁶⁷See the discussion by Li in Hu Szu-hui, 1988: 208. This is a clay filtered water.

⁶⁸On this parasitic infestation of the stomach see Li in Hu Szu-hui, 1988: 208.

⁶⁹See the discussion in Hu Szu-hui, 1988: 210.