Recognition of flavor in non-medical literatures of pre-Qin dynasty / 中国中药杂志

ABSTRACT

By systemically sorting of non-medical literatures of pre-Qin dynasty such as the Thirteen Confucian Classics, etc, this article made an analysis on the meaning and content of flavor in that period with the Genesis and Epistemology, and pointed out that there were two meanings of the flavor the first is the flavor or taste obtained by tasting, and the other is the five-elements flavor, a abstract flavor. The former flavor should be originated early than the later one. Besides, the article made a brief view on the functions of flavors in the health keeping and medicine.