Immunostimulants in traditional Chinese medicine

Chinese materia medica (Chinese traditional drugs or Chinese drugs), Zhongya in Chinese, is an integral part of traditional Chinese medicine and Chinese civilization. Historically, Chinese traditional medicine rose from mythical medicine to a system of Chinese drugs and herbal medicine. The first book on materia medica, Shen-nong Bencao Jing , known as “the canon of materia medica”, was compiled in the second century BC by the folklore under the pseudonym of Shennong, the Holy Farmer. It is well-known that China was and is one of the leading nations when the use of medicinal plants is considered. This has further developed so that medicinal plants are today playing an outstanding role within the framework of official health services in China. China is endowed with an abundant resource of medicinal plants, more than five thousand plants have been identified as medicinal. The latest edition of The Chinese Pharmacopoeia (the 1995 edition) records more than 700 items of Chinese drugs origining from medicinal plants.