Natural products chemistry -- the chemistry of metabolite products of plants, animals and microorganisms -- is involved in the investigation of biological phenomena ranging from drug mechanisms to gametophytes and receptors and drug metabolism in the human body to protein and enzyme chemistry. Introduction to Natural Products Chemistry has collected the most important research results of natural product chemistry in China. It overviews the basic principles of isolation, structure, and characteristics of natural products and illustrates current research techniques of structure elucidation with real-life examples of wet chemistry and spectroscopic analyses (UV, IR, MS and NMR, especially 2d-NMR, HMBC and HMQC), bioactivity, biosynthesis, and chemical synthesis. Specifically, this book covers: * Extraction and isolation of natural products * Chemistry of fungal products * Alkaloids, sesquiterpenoids, diterpenes and saponins * Amino acids and peptides * Flavonoids, anthraquinones, coumarins and lignansa * Marine natural products * Structural modification of active principles from traditional * Chinese medicine * Chemical synthesis of natural products Although natural products chemistry has produced enormous results and made great contributions to human health, industry, and agriculture, only a fraction of natural resources have been rigorously studied. Chinese natural products are a gold mine for further exploration with modern technology and methods. This book represents the continuing collaboration between the fields of natural products chemistry, medicine, biology, and agriculture which will continue to discover and implement novel chemical products from natural sources.

This anthology presents seventy translated and annotated short essays, or hsiao-p'in, by fourteen well-known sixteenth- and seventeenth-century Chinese writers. Hsiao-p'in, characterized by spontaneity and brevity, were a relatively informal variation on the established classical prose style in which all scholars were trained. Written primarily to amuse and entertain the reader, hsiao-p'in reflect the rise of individualism in the late Ming period and collectively provide a panorama of the colorful life of the age. Critics condemned the genre as escapist because of its focus on life's sensual pleasures and triviality, and over the next two centuries many of these playful and often irreverent works were officially censored. Today, the essays provide valuable and rare accounts of the details over everyday life in Ming China as well as displays of wit and delightful turns of phrase. The open access publication of this book was made possible by a grant from the James P. Geiss and Margaret Y. Hsu Foundation.