In China, our ancient human civilization has long used plants and other natural products, and their extracts for both healing and poisoning. The understanding of interactions between drugs and living systems was acquired via generations of knowledge accumulation based on empirical observations. This form of healing, also well documented to exist in many other cultural civilizations via a long historical experimentation, has eventually evolved itself from an art form into a scientific modality, now known as pharmacology. This recognition of a formal discipline of medicine oc- In China, our ancient human civilization has long used plants and other natural products, and their extracts for both healing and poisoning. The understanding of interactions between drugs and living systems was acquired via generations of knowledge accumulation based on advanced observations. This form of healing , also well documented to exist in many other cultural civilizations via a long historical experimentation, has finally evolved itself from an art form into a Scientific modality, now known as pharmacology. This recognition of a formal discipline of medicine oc-