The Exploitation of the Works of Nature: A Quick Guide

Understanding Tiangong Kaiwu at a Glance is a popular science classic based on an authoritative ancient text, tailor-made for 300 million small-scale farmers, wellness enthusiasts, and people looking to make money. It transforms Tiangong Kaiwu, hailed as "the encyclopedia of Chinese crafts from the 17th century," from a dusty museum relic into practical knowledge for modern life that anyone can grasp instantly and put to use, bringing the benefits of both better health and greater income.

Guided by Song Yingxing's central idea of "valuing the five grains and disparaging gold and jade," the book focuses on key chapters such as "Naili" and breaks down, line by line, more than 130 practical agricultural and handicraft techniques from the late Ming Dynasty. It covers five core areas: every kind of grain, planting secrets, processing methods, food as medicine, and pitfalls to avoid. From high-yield intercropping of soybeans, mung beans, peas, and broad beans, to using adzuki beans, wild beans, and hyacinth beans as medicine and a source of income, from increasing revenue through understory intercropping without taking up extra land, to avoiding wellness pitfalls by knowing the difference between adzuki beans and red beans, every original passage comes with plain-language explanations, real-world examples, and practical steps. Say goodbye to obscure classical Chinese: ordinary readers can understand it at a glance and put it to use right away.