---
disqus: faminefoods
---
[**＞＞中文版＜＜** ](https://hackmd.io/@faminefoods/introduction_ch)
:herb: Welcome to the Famine Foods Database! :herb:
This is the annotated and tagged full-text of ***Jiuhuang bencao*** **救荒本草** [Materia Medica for Famine Relief, 1406], containing 414 entries of edible plants with original Ming illustrations and photographs of plants. The database is powered by [DocuSky](https://docusky.org.tw/DocuSky/home/) and supports full-text search, browsing, analyzing and exporting. The markup was done with [MARKUS](https://dh.chinese-empires.eu/markus/).
[＞＞ENTER＜＜](https://docusky.org.tw/DocuSky/webApi/webpage-open-3in1.php?db=%E6%95%91%E8%8D%92%E6%9C%AC%E8%8D%89&corpus=%E6%95%91%E8%8D%92%E6%9C%AC%E8%8D%89&queryBase=.all&spType=postClassification&docMeta=true")
=======================
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:::warning
:warning: Browser Recommendations: **Chrome** or **Firefox**
:::
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[TOC]
## View the Entry
Click on <span style="border-radius:3px;background-color:#bfbfbf;padding:0.2em;width:4.7em"><font color=white>DocMeta</font></span> at the top right corner to view **12 types of metadata** of each entry.
<br>
| Metadata | Meaning | Metadata | Meaning |
| -------- | ---------------------- | -------- | ------------ |
|ORDER|Number of order (contents)|ENTRY|Entry name (Revised)|
|VOLUME|Number of volume|SPECIES_CH|Scientific name (Chinese)|
|DRUG|Medicinal name|CATEGORY|Category in *bencao*|
|EDIBLE_PART|Edible part|RECORD|"Known" or "Newly added"|
|FAMILY|Plant family|GENUS|Plant genus|
|SPECIES_EN|Scientific name (Latin)|CREDIT|Photo credit
:information_source: To **enlarge the image**, click on the image.
:information_source: To **view external references**, click on the URL of the metadata.
:information_source: To view annotation comments, click on <span style="border-radius:3px;background-color:#bfbfbf;padding:0.2em;width:4.7em"><font color=white>Comment</font></span> at the top right corner and **open the comment panel**.
<br>
:::warning
:warning: To **resize the panels**, drag the border between the content panel and comment panel.
:::
<br>
## Browse and Search
### Basics
 Search
Boolean Logic
`.all` All entries
`or` OR
<kbd>Space</kbd> AND
<kbd>-</kbd> (minus sign) NOT
<span style="border:1px black solid;border-radius:3px;background-color:#f0f0f0
;padding:0.2em;width:4.7em;font-size:9pt;">縮小範圍</span> or <kbd>Enter</kbd> filter by keywords
<span style="border:1px black solid;border-radius:3px;background-color:#f0f0f0
;padding:0.2em;width:4.7em;font-size:9pt;">重新查詢</span> new query by keywords
<u><font color=blue>reset</font></u> reset the query
<u><font color=blue>undo</font></u> return to the previous query
**Query：** [the keywords]
**Matches：** [number of entries in query results]
 only show entry title and hide the content  show both title and content
<span style="border:1px black solid;padding:0.2em;font-size:9pt;">下一篇</span> scroll to the next entry <kbd>Shift</kbd>+<span style="border:1px black solid;padding:0.2em;font-size:9pt;">上一篇</span> scroll to the previous entry
<span style="border:1px black solid;padding:0.2em;font-size:9pt;">下個詞</span> scroll to the next phrase，<kbd>Shift</kbd>+<span style="border:1px black solid;padding:0.2em;font-size:9pt;">上個詞</span> scroll to the previous phrase
<br>
:::danger
:no_entry: The query does not support conversion of Traditional/Simplified Chinese. Please input Traditional Chinese except for the simplified and alternative characters used in the original text.
:::
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:information_source: To open **Post Classification** panel, click on <u><font color=blue>Metadata</font></u> at the top right corner
<div style="width:360px;height:28px;background-color:teal;text-align:center;color:white;line-height:25px">postClassification
</div>
<br>
:information_source: To open **Tag Analysis** panel, click on <u><font color=blue>Tag</font></u> at the top right corner
<div style="width:360px;height:28px;background-color:chocolate;text-align:center;color:white;line-height:25px">tagAnalysis
</div>
<br>
:information_source: To **close all panels on the left**, click on <u><font color=blue>Search</font></u> at the top right corner
<br>
<br>
 select
↴ scroll to the next entry by this filter
tf  show the total frequency of this tag
Example: “70 <span style="border-radius:3px;background-color:green;padding:0.1em;width:4em；font-size:9pt;"><font color="#FFFFFF">75</font></span>” 70=total entry of this tag; 75=total frequency of this tag
<br>
<span style="border-radius:3px;background-color:green;padding:0.2em;width:4.7em"><font color="#FFFFFF">清除</font></span> clear selected <span style="border-radius:3px;background-color:green;padding:0.2em;width:4.7em"><font color="#FFFFFF">反向</font></span> invert selected
<span style="border-radius:3px;background-color:darkblue;padding:0.2em;width:4.7em"><font color="#FFFFFF">過濾</font></span> filter by selected conditions
<span style="border-radius:3px;background-color:darkred;padding:0.2em;width:4.7em"><font color="#FFFFFF">新查詢</font></span> new query by selected conditions
 arrange by title (ascendance)
 arrange by frequency (descendance)
<br>
 visualize by Pie Chart
 visualize by Tag Cloud
→ TableView - view the table
→ ChartView - view the graphics
:::success
:bulb: Click on → TableView to view the statistics of current tags/conditions.
:::
:::warning
:warning: click on a new condition after another will filter the results. Use <u><font color=blue>reset</font></u> to reset the query.
:warning: The content panel can disply maximum **20 entries**; scrolling is enabled only within the displayed. To navigate between pages, use  at the top or bottom.
:::
<br>
### Browse by Entry Number
Click on <u><font color=blue>Metadata</font></u> to open Post Classification panel, use  to view the entry number.
To view a specific entry, use  to search by entry number (reference: [**＞＞救荒本草目錄＜＜**](https://hackmd.io/@faminefoods/contents))
<br>
:::success
:bulb: Entry number would enhance searchability. For eample, query "414" will return all entries that mentions "414.山藥", whether the plant is mentioned by "山藥" or its alternative name "薯蕷".
:::
:::warning
:warning: Entry number must be input in **three digits**. Example: entry 1→001; entry 11→011.
:::
<br>
### Browse by Volume
Click on <u><font color=blue>Metadata</font></u> to open Post Classification panel, use  to browse by volume.
Or input the following phrase in  to query a specific volume.
| Phrase | Total |
|-|-|
| `卷上之前` | 122 |
| `卷上之後` | 123 |
| `卷下之前` | 84 |
| `卷下之後` | 85 |
<br>
### Browse by Category
The original book classifies the 414 entries by the Five Categories of *bencao* tradition (Grass, Wood, Cereals, Vegetables, Fruits); within each category, plants are further grouped by the parts edible. Among all the entries, 138 were "known" and compiled with reference to former *bencao* works, and 276 were claimed to be "newly added".
Click on <u><font color=blue>Metadata</font></u> to open Post Classification panel, use  to browse by category.
Or input the following phrase in  to query a specific category.
| Phrase | Total | Phrase | Total |
|-|-|-|-|
| `.all` | 414 | `草部` | 245 |
| `本草原有` | 138 | `木部` | 80 |
| `新增` | 276 | `米穀部` | 20 |
| | | `果部` | 23 |
| | | `菜部` | 46 |
| Phrase | Total | Phrase | Total |
|-|-|-|-|
| `葉可食` | 237 | `花可食` | 5 |
| `實可食` | 61 | `花葉皆可食` | 5 |
| `葉實皆可食` | 43 | `花葉及實皆可食` | 2 |
| `根可食` | 28 | `葉皮及實皆可食` | 2 |
| `根葉皆可食` | 16 | `莖可食` | 3 |
| `根及實皆可食` | 5 | `笋可食` | 1 |
| `根笋皆可食` | 3 | `笋及實皆可食` | 1 |
| `根及花皆可食` | 2 | | |
:::success
:bulb: Combine phrases to query specific results. Example: input "`笋可食 or 根笋皆可食 or 笋及實皆可食`" to view all the entries that contain an edible part of "笋".
:::
:::warning
:warning: Entries grouped by edible parts in **categories** are not identical to that in **tags**. To view detailed information on edible parts, please use <a href="#Browse-by-Tag" title="Browse by Tag" smoothhashscroll="">Browse by Tag</a>.
:::
<br>
### Browse by Family and Genus
Click on <u><font color=blue>Metadata</font></u> to open Post Classification panel, use  to browse by family and genus.
Or input the family/genus in  to query specific results.
:::success
:bulb: Combine phrases to query specific results. Example: input "`草部 Apiaceae -Foeniculum`" to view all the entries that belong to the category of "Grass" and the family of "Apiaceae", excluding those from the genus of "Foeniculum".
:::
<br>
### Browse by Tag
Click on <u><font color=blue>Metadata</font></u> to open Tag Analysis panel and browse by tags.
 Plant names recorded in *bencao*, or already mentioned in this book
 Formal drug names recorded in *bencao*.
 Newly recorded plant names
 Places of origin recorded in *bencao*
 Place names recorded in *bencao*
 Newly recorded place names
 Distribution of the plant
 Ecology of growth
 Information on cultivation
 Taste of the plant
 Medicinal nature of the plant
 Toxicity of the plant
 Items of medicinal interaction
 Edible part
 Information on culinary use
 Person names
 Book names
 Information on non-culinary use
<br>
### Advanced Search and Preview
Combine phrases in a query and preview the results.
**Example**
To view all the entries from the family "Apiaceae" that contain an ecology tag of "田野", input "Apiaceae" in the query and view the results:
>**Query：** Apiaceae .all
**Matches：** 14 
Open Tag Analysis panel and use 
田野 4 ↴
Click on the number "4" to preview the post classification information of the selected results
:::success
:bulb: The preview window (BC) can display maximum **100** entries; the post classification panel (BC) can display all entries.
:::
<br>
Use Boolean Logic to query specific results.
**Example**
To view all the entries from the family "Apiaceae" that **do not contain** an ecology tag of "田野", input "Apiaceae -Udef_Ecology/-:田野" in the query:
>**Query：** Apiaceae -Udef_Ecology/-:田野
**Matches：** 10 
<br>
**Example**
To view all the entries from the family "Apiaceae" that **not only contain** an ecology tag of "田野" or **do not contain** an ecology tag, input "Apiaceae" in the query, invert selection <span style="border-radius:3px;background-color:green;padding:0.2em;width:4.7em"><font color="#FFFFFF">反向</font></span> the tag of "田野" in the Tag Analysis panel, and then click on <span style="border-radius:3px;background-color:darkblue;padding:0.2em;width:4.7em"><font color="#FFFFFF">過濾</font></span>
>**Query**: Apiaceae Udef_Ecology/-:山野|川谷|山谷|川澤|荒野|水......
**Matches**: 12 
<br>
**Example**
To view all entries that **do not contain** an ecology tag, select all tags in , click on <span style="border-radius:3px;background-color:darkblue;padding:0.2em;width:4.7em"><font color="#FFFFFF">過濾</font></span> and view the results
>**Query:** .all Udef_Ecology/-:下濕地|下濕陂澤|久廢處|土山|山中|山......
**Matches:** 383 
Open the source file of the page, copy all the values under "Udef_Ecology/-:"
```javascript
Udef_Ecology/-:下濕地|下濕陂澤|久廢處|土山|山中|山谷|山坡|山崗|山野|山澗|山衝|川谷|川澤|水中|水田|水泊|水泊邊|水傍|水澤|水邊|丘陵|平原|平野|平澤|田庄窠（音科）上|田野|田園|石間|石磧上|江湖|池澤|沙堈|沙崗|坡野|坡塘|岸際|林下|肥土石間|城壘|郊野|海濱|荒野|高岸|高阜|高崗|崖坡|崗野|崗嶺|淺水|堤坂|園宅間|園圃|園籬邊|道傍|漸洳處|種蒔|澤中|澤田|澤傍
```
and then use logic "-" to initiate a new query
>**Query:** -Udef_Ecology/-:下濕地|下濕陂澤|久廢處|土山|山中|山谷|山坡......
**Matches:** 31 
<br>
<br>
## Appendix
### *Table of Contents of Jiuhuang Bencao*
:herb: [＞＞救荒本草目錄（查詢碼）＜＜](https://hackmd.io/@faminefoods/contents) (Chinese only)
### *Preface to Jiuhuang Bencao*
:herb: [《救荒本草》永樂四年序文（1406）](https://hackmd.io/@faminefoods/JHBC-preface) (Chinese and English)
### Dictionary
:construction:(Coming soon):construction:
<br>
## Annotation and Copyrights
### Annotation Notes
Annotation was based on the 1525 edition of *Jiuhuang bencao*. In principle, all the alternative characters, simplified characters, vernacular characters and loan characters were kept, except for the characters that could not be displayed in the Unicode system. To enhance searchability, while kept the original scripts of plant names in the body text, we revised those in entry titles and comments to standard traditional Chinese.
The pronunciation denotation in the original text were kept in brackets in lines. They will be occasionally displayed in tags (e.g. **鹻（音减）蓬**、**宕（音蕩）昌**) .
### Species Identification
We tried to identify every entry with a species in the APG system according to the visual and textual description, with reference to modern studies in plant morphology, distribution, and ethnobotany. However, for the purposes of identification and utilization, the pre-modern systems of plant taxonomy were different from that of today; there are cases of unidentifiable entries, single entry with multiple species, and divergence between the illustration and accompanying text. All the discussion of identification were listed in the comment panel <span style="border-radius:3px;background-color:#bfbfbf;padding:0.2em;width:4.7em"><font color=white>Comment</font></span>.
The scientific names (Latin and Chinese) were revised according to the recently updated ICN. Click on <u><font color=blue>SPECIES_CH</font></u> or <u><font color=blue>SPECIES_EN</font></u> in the metadata to visit an external site and view synonyms and other information of the plant.
:::danger
:no_entry::skull: All the information given for plant identification and culinary/medicinal use is for research purposes only. **DO NOT** collect and try unfamiliar species.
:::
<br>
### References
Key references for annotation and species identification:
- 王錦繡，湯彥承：《救荒本草譯注》，上海：上海古籍出版社，2015年。
- 王家葵，張瑞賢，李敏：《救荒本草校釋與研究》，北京：中醫古籍出版社，2007年。
- 倪根金，張翠君：《救荒本草校注》，北京：中國農業出版社，2010年。
External sites：
:link: [Medicinal Plant Image Database, HKBU](https://library.hkbu.edu.hk/electronic/libdbs/mpd/index.html)
:link: [iPlant.cn 植物智 - 中國植物＋物種信息系統](http://www.iplant.cn/)
:link: [Plants of the World Online (POWO)](https://powo.science.kew.org/)
Markup tool:
- Ho, Hou Ieong Brent, and Hilde De Weerdt. MARKUS. Text Analysis and Reading Platform. 2014- http://dh.chinese-empires.eu/beta/ Funded by the European Research Council and the Digging into Data Challenge.
### Image Copyrights
The original illustration of plants were reproduced from a facsimile of the 1525 edition in former Zheng Zhenduo's collection (中國古代版畫叢刊，1959). The facsimile has been published for more than 50 years, thus entering the public domain confirming to the Copyright Law of the People's Republic of China. With confirmation from the former copyright holder Zhonghua Shuju (Beijing), the images were digitized and published in this database.
A part of the plant photo was reproduced from [Medicinal Plant Image Database, HKBU](https://library.hkbu.edu.hk/electronic/libdbs/mpd/index.html) with the consent of the copyright holder. HKBU School of Chinese Medicine reserves all rights on these images, and any conduct of copying, publishing, reproducing, and disseminating of the images, without prior consent from the School, is prohibited.
Other photos were reproduced under Creative Commons licenses.
Key sources:
:link: [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page)
:link: iNaturalist.org
:link: [多識植物百科 (Archived)](https://web.archive.org/web/20201020171820/http://duocet.ibiodiversity.net/index.php?title=%E9%A6%96%E9%A1%B5)
Click on <u><font color=blue>CREDIT</font></u> in the metadata to visit an external site and view the copyright information of the photo. For unidentified entries and species without HD photos, no plant photo is provided.
### Open Access
This database is operated and published under DocuSky [Terms and Conditions](https://hackmd.io/@DocuSky/rJqemuiFQ).
[](http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/)
All the materials of this database and the accompanying *User Manual*, except the materials operated under other copyright terms, could be used under [**CC BY-NC-SA 4.0**](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/) license.
 print current query results
<br>
## Release Notes
<br>
<span style="font-size:14pt">**Famine Foods Database**</span> powered by [DocuSky 數位人文學術研究平台](https://docusky.org.tw/DocuSky/home/)
<span style="border-radius:3px;text-align:center;background-color:CornflowerBlue;font-size:9pt;padding:5px"><font color="#FFFFFF">Author</font></span> 黃梣 HUANG Chen (Sarah) <span style="border-radius:3px;text-align:center;background-color:CornflowerBlue;font-size:9pt;padding:5px"><font color="#FFFFFF">Version</font></span> beta <span style="border-radius:3px;text-align:center;background-color:CornflowerBlue;font-size:9pt;padding:5px"><font color="#FFFFFF">Date</font></span> 2021.12.30
How to cite:
http://doi.airiti.com/LandingPage/NTURCDH/10.6681/NTURCDH.DB_DocuSkyJiuhuangBencao/Text
DOI: http://doi.org/10.6681/NTURCDH.DB_DocuSkyJiuhuangBencao/Text
<br>
<span style="font-size:14pt">**Famine Foods Database User Manual (English ver.)**</span>
<span style="border-radius:3px;text-align:center;background-color:CornflowerBlue;font-size:9pt;padding:5px"><font color="#FFFFFF">Author</font></span> 黃梣 HUANG Chen (Sarah) <span style="border-radius:3px;text-align:center;background-color:CornflowerBlue;font-size:9pt;padding:5px"><font color="#FFFFFF">Version</font></span> 1.0 <span style="border-radius:3px;text-align:center;background-color:CornflowerBlue;font-size:9pt;padding:5px"><font color="#FFFFFF">Date</font></span> 2021.12.30
Permanent link: https://hackmd.io/@faminefoods/introduction_en
<br>
:construction: **Upcoming features** :construction:
【Database】
- Authority Phrase of tags
- Layers of plant and place names
- Reference ID of person, place, and book names
【User Manual】
- Dictionary of plant morphology and culinary information
<br>
## Resources
### Famine and Food Security
:link: [The Famine Foods Website (PURDUE)](https://www.purdue.edu/hla/sites/famine-foods/)
:link: [上杉鷹山公の知恵から生まれた食べられる草木｜かてもの (Archived)](http://web.archive.org/web/20180821002507/http://katemono.com/katemonotowa.html)
:link: [Famine and Dearth database (Exeter)](https://famineanddearth.exeter.ac.uk/index.html)
:link: [Irish Famine Archive (Archived)](https://web.archive.org/web/20210602001214/http://faminearchive.nuigalway.ie/)
:link: [中國災荒史論壇 - 中國人民大學清史研究所](http://iqh.ruc.edu.cn/zgzhslt/index.htm)
:link: [Alliance Biodiversity International CIAT](https://alliancebioversityciat.org/)
### *Bencao* and Botany
:link: [本草經集注](https://doi.org/10.6681/NTURCDH.DB_DocuSkyBencaojing/Text)
:link: [Medicinal Plant Image Database, HKBU](https://library.hkbu.edu.hk/electronic/libdbs/mpd/index.html)
:link: [iPlant.cn 植物智 - 中國植物＋物種信息系統](http://www.iplant.cn/)
:link: [Flora of China - eFlora.org](http://www.efloras.org/flora_page.aspx?flora_id=2)
:link: [Plants of the World Online (POWO)](https://powo.science.kew.org/)
:link: iNaturalist.org
:link: [多識植物百科 (Archived)](https://web.archive.org/web/20201020171820/http://duocet.ibiodiversity.net/index.php?title=%E9%A6%96%E9%A1%B5)
:link: [Plants For A Future](https://pfaf.org/user/Default.aspx)
:link: [The Biodiversity Heritage Library](https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/)
### Other Resources
:link: [epocamoderna.org](https://epocamodernaorg.wordpress.com/)
:link: [HKBU History in Data: Tribute Data Curation](https://digital.lib.hkbu.edu.hk/history/tribute.php?lang=en)
:link: [Northeast China Non-Han Name Lexicon (NCNHNL)](https://www.regionalstudiesofchina.net/dataset)
:link: [ChinaKnowledge.de](http://www.chinaknowledge.de/index.html)
### Digital Humanities
:link: [DocuSky 數位人文學術研究平台](https://docusky.org.tw/DocuSky/home/)
:link: [MARKUS](http://dh.chinese-empires.eu/beta/)
:link: [LoGaRT: Local Gazetteers Research Tools](https://www.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/research/projects/logart-local-gazetteers-research-tools)
:link: [Chinese Text Project](https://ctext.org)
:link: [漢リポ Kanseki Repository](http://www.kanripo.org/)
:link: [CrossAsia ITR Explorer
](https://crossasia.org/service/crossasia-lab/crossasia-itr-explorer/)
<br>
<br>
## Contact
For any inquiry and suggestion, please email us at faminefoodscommons@gmail.com
Or
Leave your comments at the bottom of this page. First-time comment requires signing-up on **Disqus** (email verification). You may also comment as a guest; guest comments will only show up after approval. We will reply to emails and comments as soon as possible.
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