ABSTRACT
Materia medica have been imported into China from foreign regions as far back as the third century CE, and extending well into the second millennium, with one of the most significant routes of entry coming through Persia (modern-day Iran). The influence of Persian materia medica on Chinese medicine was widespread, from the early Buddhist monks who showed evidence of training in Persian medicine, to geographic treatises and travel records which attest to many plant and animal drugs from the region. These foreign drugs can be found in major Tang dynasty recipe collections, dietary manuals, Mongol medical manuals and Daoist alchemical treatises, and over 500 items appear in Song dynasty materia medica texts, making up a sizeable portion thereof. While the Tang dynasty is acknowledged as the height of Syrian trade, their appearance in foods and medicine across much later, diverse genres indicates that these materia media permeated Chinese medical culture widely.
