ETHNOCULTURAL ASPECTS OF CHINESE FOLK HERBAL MEDICINE

In the cultural history of China for many millennia, plants have played a significant role in fine and applied arts, landscape architecture, cooking and healing. At the dawn of civilization, plants were used by people to survive in difficult conditions, mainly for food and medical purposes. With the spiritual development of society, the emergence of philosophical and religious teachings, the expansion of botanical knowledge, they became increasingly integrated into the daily life of ethnic groups, becoming objects of worship and hoped for symbolism and imagery. Often the same plants of local flora can be found in gardens, in pharmacopoeias, and in culinary recipes. Considering the most popular plants of Chinese gardens, the authors analyze the general patterns of the use of local plants in the cultural field of various regions of China and their impact on certain branches of knowledge in other countries. The example given in the article of the spread of folk herbal medicine from one country around the world makes it possible to assess the processes of globalization taking place in the field of culture.