Chinese medical scientist likened to Hippocrates

Li Shizhen was an outstanding Chinese medical scientist during the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644). He compiled the Ben Cao Gang Mu (Compendium of Materia Medica), the most complete and comprehensive medical book ever written in the history of traditional Chinese medicine. British biologist Charles Darwin praised it as the "encyclopedia of the East".

The Chinese scholar has earned the respect of the Russian people, and his statue can be seen beside other world-famous scientists at Moscow State University.

P. Chulilov, associate professor of pathology at St Petersburg State University, said that in the history of medicine, Li is of equal importance with Hippocrates of Kos, the father of modern medicine.

Liu Caiqun contributed to this story.