In the middle of the 7th century, after the rulers of the Tang Dynasty won the world, the economy quickly recovered and developed, and academics began to prosper gradually. Before the northwest minorities moved inward, the transportation and trade were developed in the early Tang Dynasty. Medicinal materials from the western regions, India and the south are continuously imported into the mainland, enriching people's understanding of medicinal animals and plants. The Collection of Notes on Materia Medica, which was circulated at that time, was compiled by Tao Hongjing on his own in the south, so it had certain limitations, and there were many medicines in the north that he could not see. In addition, after 100 years of circulation, there are many fallacies and heresies of plagiarism, which are far from meeting the needs of society. Materialism needs to be summarized and improved urgently. After the reunification of the whole country, the conditions for writing a new outline cursive script to meet the needs of society are ripe.

In 659 AD, the Tang government compiled the newly revised Materia Medica. Some scholars in China believe that this is the earliest pharmacopoeia promulgated by the country in the world, reflecting the level of materia medica at that time.

The writing of this book is quite rigorous. At the beginning of the compilation, the government sent a letter asking for drug samples from all over the country. The cited previous documents are also carefully investigated and distinguished. The book has 54 volumes, which are divided into three parts: text, drug atlas and illustrations, and contains 850 kinds of drugs.

In addition to the above-mentioned comprehensive materia medica, there are some distinctive materia medica works in the Tang Dynasty. Dietotherapy Materia Medica, written in the late 7th or early 8th century, is one of them. According to the current edition, the book describes 160 kinds of plant foods, and basically collects four cultivated plants that people used to eat every day at that time. If we compare the types of food contained in this book with Qi Shu, Newly Revised Materia Medica and Four Seasons Compendium, we can see that some crops that originally belonged to food have been transformed into vegetables in the Tang Dynasty. Some southern vegetables recorded in the Book of Qi Yaomin have become the food of Central Plains people, such as water spinach, antlers, basil and sheep's hoof. Herbal dietotherapy also describes the vegetables that people have eaten recently, such as burdock, amaranth and incense. Newly introduced vegetables include borage, spinach, water chestnut and fennel. All these reflect the progress of cultivation, introduction and domestication of cultivated plants in Tang Dynasty.

In the Tang Dynasty, overseas traffic was developed, and commercial exchanges between China and Persia were frequent. Many aromatic drugs were imported by Persian merchants, which increased people's understanding of medicinal plants and animals.

In the Song Dynasty, with the gradual recovery of economy, science developed day by day. After the development of the Tang Dynasty, materia medica gradually reached a new peak in the Song Dynasty, resulting in some important materia medica works, such as Rihuazi Materia Medica, Kaibao Materia Medica, Jiayou Materia Medica, Illustrated Materia Medica and Houzheng Materia Medica. Their appearance marks the great progress of China's traditional biology.

After the establishment of the regime in the Northern Song Dynasty 10 years, the government successively ordered the compilation and revision of herbal works. In 973 and 974 AD, according to the contents of New Materia Medica and other works, people were organized to supplement new drugs, and two books, Kaibao Xinding Materia Medica and Kaibaoding Materia Medica, were compiled. About 140 kinds of drugs were added in these two books, including 95 kinds of plant drugs and 20 kinds of animal drugs. At the same time, there is a private book "Japanese Scholars' Materia Medica". This book has not been handed down, but it is quoted a lot in Zheng Ben Cao. In A.D. 106 1 year, a newly edited official edition of Jia You's Supplementary Notes on Shennong's Materia Medica (referred to as Jia You's Materia Medica) appeared. Volume 2 1 book records 1082 kinds of drugs, of which about 100 kinds of drugs are not available in the first two official Chinese materia medica. Among the 100 species, there are 47 kinds of plant drugs and 7 kinds of animal drugs100. These herbal works have played an important role in preserving medical biological data.

After entering the Southern Song Dynasty, the cursive script worth mentioning in biology is Shaoxing Collating Classics, History and Evidence as an Urgent Herbal Medicine. It is said that the illustrations in this book are extremely accurate. In addition, Yan Lu Materia Medica written by Wang Jie in 1220 is also a book similar to plant illustrations. It has collected 206 kinds of herbs with colorful pictures. Because the author is good at painting and calligraphy, the pictures in this book are vivid and accurate.

In short, the achievements of medical biology in Tang and Song Dynasties were very high, which had a far-reaching impact on the development of ancient natural history in China. These achievements are closely related to the development of culture, science and technology, the advocacy of the ruling class, the influence of social atmosphere and the mutual promotion between official works and folk works.