Shennong
Shennong (Traditional Chinese: 神農; Simplified Chinese: 神农; pinyin: Shén Nóng), sometimes known as the Yan Emperor (炎帝&#), is a legendary emperor and culture hero of Chinese mythology who is believed to have lived some 5,000 years ago and who taught the ancients the practices of agriculture. Appropriately, his name means "the Divine Farmer". He is credited with identifying hundreds of medicinal (and poisonous) herbs by personally testing their properties, which was crucial towards the development of Traditional Chinese medicine. Tea, which acts as an antidote after being poisoned by some seventy herbs, is also said to be his discovery. The most well-known work attributed to Shennong is the 神农本草经 (The Shennong Herb-Root Classic) -- first compiled some time during the end of the Western Han Dynasty -- which lists the various medicinal herbs discovered by Shennong by grade and rarity. A close kin of the Yellow Emperor, he is said to be a patriarch of the Chinese. The Chinese regarded them both as their joint ancestors. He was deified as one of the San Huang for his contributions to mankind.
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