In different papers the classification of materia medica by Li Shizhen (1518-1593) is considered as analogous to a modern taxonomy, even more accurate than the one by Linnaeus. In anyway, it is considered as representing the highest level of the classification of natural objects in ancient China.

I propose to appreciate the consistency of these statements through the analysis of the arguments of modern authors in favor of the previous point of view on one hand, and by presenting Li Shizhen’s own point of view in his Bencao gangmu (Classification of materia medica) (1596), on the other hand.

On this basis, several examples of different way of filing natural objects in Chinese texts (pharmacopeias, agricultural or horticultural treatises, literati’s notes…) will be taken into consideration.

In conclusion, I would like to insist on the danger of a teleological vision in the history of ancient scientific knowledge.