A Japanese version of the Compendium of Materia Medica, an ancient Chinese medicine masterpiece, has been found in Northeast China's Jilin Province.

The Japanese version was translated in 1927 and published in 1929 by a Japanese publishing house, which produced specialist reference publications, said Pi Fusheng, a collector of and expert on ancient documents in the province.

The book was spotted at a flea market in Jilin city by another collector, Pi said.

"It is a rare book even in Japan," Pi said.

The book was probably brought into China by Japanese medical experts during the 1931-1945 Japanese aggression of China.

The Compendium Of Materia Medica was written by the pharmacologist and physician Li Shizhen (1518-1592) and published in 1596, four years after his death.

The book was known to be the most comprehensive pharmacopoeia in the world, containing specifications of 1,892 medicinal herbs and 11,000 prescriptions -- all identified by Li himself.

The Compendium of Materia Medica, or Bencao Gangmu in Chinese, is considered one of the key achievements of China's ancient civilization for its wealth of information on medicine, mineralogy, botany, zoology, and natural sciences.

The book was introduced to Japan in the later Ming Dynasty (1368-1644) and had a huge influence on herbal medicine research there.

It has also been translated into English.

Source: Xinhua