Emperor Shen-Nung was the second of China's mythical emperors (3500-2600 BC). Shen Nong is translated as divine farmer. He ruled during the period of the Three Sovereigns and Five Emperors. Emperor Shen-Nung was also known as the ‘Emperor of the Five Grains’.
The emperor taught his people how to cultivate grains as food, so as to avoid killing animals. Shen Nong is credited with bringing agriculture to ancient China.
By inventing the cart and plow, by taming the ox and yoking the horse, and by teaching his people to clear the land with fire, Shen Nong reputedly established a stable agricultural society in China.
Shen Nong is said to have helped people transition from a diet of meat, clams, and wild fruits, to one based on grains and vegetables, and for developing herbal medicine. In addition to promoting agriculture, he is recognized for tasting hundreds of herbs-on one day, more than 70 herbs that had medicinal value-selecting those that were suitable as remedies, and describing their properties.
He was widely considered the father of Chinese medicine; he has catalogued over 365 species of medicinal plants. He is said to have tasted hundreds of herbs to test their medicinal value, and is assumed to be the author of Shen-nung pen ts'ao ching (Divine Husbandman's Materia Medica), the earliest extant Chinese pharmacopoeia.
Who is Emperor Shen Nong?
