Although it is difficult to calculate just how many types of animal ingredients are used in Chinese medicine, most of the more commonly accepted ones can be found in the Bible of Chinese pharmacology, the Pen-ts'ao kang-mu, or Compendium of Materia Medica, by Li Shih-chen of the Ming dynasty (1368-1644).
中國人的動物藥材有多少種，雖難以計算，但被中醫師和民間較常使用與肯定的動物藥，在中藥的聖經﹘﹘明朝李時珍編寫的博物書籍「本草綱目」中，大多有案可查。