Zhào Xuémǐn 趙學敏 (zì Shùxuān 恕軒, hào Yīsì 義斯, c. 1719 – c. 1805), native of Qiántáng 錢唐 (Hángzhōu). Layman scholar of pharmacology and folk medicine; never held office. He accumulated an extraordinary private library at his Yīsìzhāi 義斯齋 study and devoted his life to pharmacological research.
His principal works:
- Běncǎo gāngmù shíyí 本草綱目拾遺 (KR3ec049) — the major supplement to Lǐ Shízhēn’s Gāngmù, compiled 1765–1803, printed posthumously 1864 by Zhāng Yīngchāng. Adds 716 substances including many late-Qīng foreign drugs.
- Chuán yǎ nèi biān / wài biān 串雅內編 / 外編 (1759) — on the medical practice of itinerant healers (chuán yī / zǒu fāng yī), the principal Qīng record of folk medicine.
- Yīlín jí yào 醫林集要 — collected medical writings.
- Huā jìng xiǎo bù 花鏡小補 — supplement to the gardening manual Huā jìng 花鏡.
No CBDB id located. Lifedates 1719–1805 are derived from internal evidence in his prefaces and dated colophons. His Shíyí is the principal Qīng pharmacological reference for substances post-dating the Gāngmù.
Principal English-language source: Bian, He. 2020. Know Your Remedies: Pharmacy and Culture in Early Modern China. PUP.