Huaxue Fenyuan, the earliest book of analytic chemistry translated in China, was first published in 1871. Since that time, many have assumed that the original version for this book was taken from John Eddowes Bowman' An Introduction to Practical Chemistry, Including Analysis (Fourth Version) - published in Philadelphia in 1866. However, as our research has discovered, Bowman's Fifth Version had already been published in London as early as 1864.

There are eight volumes in Huaxue Fenyuan, including qualitative and quantitative analysis. As an introductory book on analytic chemistry Huaxue Fenyuan provides information on a range of rudimentary basics, including such things as conducting analytic experiments, classifying chemical agents in the laboratory, and even how maintain the cleanliness of lab equipment. Moreover, it also encourages the reader to be bold in their attempts at experimentation, providing chapters on how to assemble glass-making equipment, how to maintain the purity of diagnostic agents, and the required agents needed for laboratory experiments. For the Chinese of the time, who were largely ignorant of such chemical experimentation, this book, and the foundational teaching material it contained, no doubt provided them with a most fundamental and comprehensive survey on the subject analytic chemistry. It was just the beginning.