the remote borderlands in the southwest or elsewhere. There 
seems to be no such ethnobotanical study or survey ever hav- 
ing been made. We do come across, however, some records 
indicating that Cannabis was being used by the Uigurs along 
the Sinkiang (Chinese Turkestan) border in the remote north- 
west as late as the early twentieth century (Li 1974b). 
Li Shih-chén’s encyclopedic work, the Pén-ts’ao kang-mu, 
upon its publication, became the standard treatise on materia 
medica in China. Later authors, dealing with medicinal plants, 
nearly all derive their information from his work. This paper is 
also largely based on it as a primary source. In this work, he 
gave the details of an event in connection with a note on the 
general use of hallucinogens. This episode occurred in the year 
1561 A.D. Apparently it was a news event of great nation-wide 
interest, as afterwards, because of this, the Emperor especially 
proclaimed an edict of warning throughout the whole country. 
His account is translated below. 
‘‘Lang-tang (Hyoscyamus niger), Ytn-shih (Caesalpinia 
sepiaria), Fang-k’uei(Peucedanum japonica) and Red Shang- 
lu(Phytolacca acinosa) all can cause hallucination in peoples. 
In the past, this significance has not been fully divulged. Plants 
of this kind are all toxic, which can obscure the mind, alter 
one’s consciousness, and confuse one’s perception of sight and 
sound. In the T’ang times, An Lu-shan [a foreign warlord in the 
Chinese army service] once enticed the Kitan [tribesmen sur- 
rendered to his command] to drink Lang-tang wine and buried 
them alive while they were unconscious. Again in the second 
month of the 43rd year of the Chia-ch’in period (1561 A.D.), a 
wandering monk, Wu Ju-hsiang of Shensi province, who pos- 
sessed wizardry, arrived at Ch’ang-li and stopped over at the 
house of a resident, Chang Shu. Upon finding the latter’s wife 
being very beautiful, he asked that the entire family sit together 
at the table with him when he was being offered a meal. He put 
some reddish potion in the rice and after a while the whole 
family became unconscious and submitted to his assault. He 
then blew a magic spell into the ears of Chang Shu and the latter 
turned crazy and violent. Chang visualized his entire family as 
all devils and thereby killed them all, sixteen altogether, with- 
out any blood shed. The local authorities captured Chang Shu 
162 
