Who we are
Bencaodian Editorial (本草典编辑部) is the named, accountable author of every entry on this site. We work under a collective byline because Bencao Dian is not any one person's project — it is a long-term public reference that requires maintenance, multi-reviewer cross-checking, and continuity across years.
The collective byline is not an attempt to hide responsibility — quite the opposite. Any single individual eventually steps away, and Bencao Dian aspires to be a citable, trustworthy reference on the timescale of decades, not careers. The collective byline makes the entries themselves the carrier of the commitment: every line of content you read is published under the editorial responsibility of the team as a whole.
The editorial team includes bilingual authors with undergraduate or graduate training in Traditional Chinese Medicine, classically-literate reviewers who audit the textual citations, and engineers responsible for the data architecture and the front end. We do not publish individual names, but the level of credentialed work behind each kind of contribution is described below.
What we are accountable for
- The accuracy of entry content — nature, flavor, channel tropism, actions, indications, sovereign-minister-assistant-envoy assignments, and pattern-differentiation criteria are all drawn from the standard People's Medical Publishing House college textbooks and WHO standards, then cross-checked by a second reviewer.
- Verbatim accuracy of classical citations — every passage from the Shanghan Lun, Shennong Bencao Jing, Pi Wei Lun, Wenbing Tiao Bian, and other classical sources is checked character-by-character against the received editions and tagged with chapter and section.
- Bilingual terminological consistency — the entire site holds to the Wiseman / Practical Dictionary of Chinese Medicine standard. See Terminology Standard.
- Permalink stability — once published, an entry's URL never changes. Entries may be deprecated or redirected but they are never silently moved.
- Visible errata — content corrections are recorded in a public changelog rather than being silently rewritten.
How to flag an error
We take every correction request seriously. The territory of Chinese medicine is too vast for any editorial team to be more knowledgeable than every reader at every point — clinicians, philologists, botanists, and bilingual translators may all see something more accurately than we can. If you find an error, please tell us.
The best way to submit a correction is to open an issue on the GitHub repository (link to be added once the repo is public). You can also email errata@bencaodian.org (address will be activated when the domain is live).
Please include, where possible: (1) the URL of the specific page; (2) the exact text you believe is incorrect; (3) what you believe the correct text should be; and (4) your source — a specific textbook, classical citation, or peer-reviewed reference. We respond to every submission and record adopted corrections in the public errata log.
What we do not do
Bencaodian Editorial does not provide diagnosis, remote consultation, or prescription services. We do not sell Chinese herbs, patent medicines, or acupuncture supplies. We have no commercial relationship with any herb supplier, supplement company, or clinic.
The dosages, combinations, and contraindications recorded on this platform are reference ranges from traditional sources and modern textbooks. They are not personalized prescription advice. Any clinical application must be undertaken by a qualified TCM practitioner working from an actual diagnosis.