Study On "Xiang Si Wei (Resembling Thought)" Of Compendium Of Materia Medica

"Xiang si wei (Resembling thought)" is a term first put forward by WANG Shu-ren and be broadly used in TCM in explaining things. "Xiang si wei" as a part of traditional Chinese culture had played important roles in the development of traditional Chinese medicine. This article selected a famous TCM classics Compendium of Materia Medica as an object, through studying the content of this works to give a though analysis on the distribution, pass, functions, classification, and limitation of "Xiang si wei". The whole article can be concluded into five parts.The first part gave an overview of the distribution of "Xiang si wei" in Compendium of Materia Medica. There were eight major items in Compendium of Materia Medica, we detailed the how many Xiang si wei" in each of these items and what are they.The second part studied the inherit of "Xiang si wei" in Compendium of Materia Medica. From historical view, we discussed from where and why the thoughts of Xiang si wei" in Compendium of Materia Medica were inherited. We believed Neijing, YaoLeiFaXiang by ZHANG Yuan-su, and the hilosophic idea "LI (the reason)" were seemingly to be the most possible origins.The third part discussed the functions of "Xiang si wei" in Compendium of Materia Medica. Limited by the underdevelopment of technology and science, ancient people can not know the inner parts of things and how they worked like our modern people. So many of them take "Xiang si wei" as a way to give an explanation. This part gave some examples to explain how did "Xiang si wei" explain things in Compendium of Materia Medica.The fourth part introduced the classification of "Xiang si wei" used in Compendium of Materia Medica. "Xiang si wei" can be further divided into "Wuxiang" and "Yixiang". Wuxiang is the resembling thoughts from the appearance of thing; Yixiang is the resembling thought from the though of thing. "Xiang si wei" in Compendium of Materia Medica can be further classified into this two kinds.The fifth part introduced the limitation and superiority of "Xiang si wei" in Compendium of Materia Medica."Xiang si wei" is the essence of traditional Chinese culture, the basis for the formation and development of traditional Chinese medicine theory. "Xiang si wei" has gave a great push for the development of both TCM theory and the finish of Compendium of Materia Medica. But limited by its own shortcomings, "Xiang si wei" also held back the development of TCM on some extent. We should treat Xiang si wei" dialectically, abandon its negative parts, and adopt its positive parts for the construction of TCM theory.