“中国根”即为中药“土茯苓”(俗名冷饭团)，16世纪由葡萄牙商人带入欧洲，被欧洲医生奉为“神木”。《中国根书简》作者为何会选择“中国根”阐述他划时代的颠覆性科学思想，以此分析16世纪以来中医西传对文艺复兴的科学思维转变的影响；从知识权力和学术权威的角度，探讨在欧洲医学从古典向近代过渡、科学初兴时期，医学观念和方法论的变革如何受到隐藏着的政治力量，如帝王意志、学术权威的影响，重点考察此时进入欧洲的“中国根”所担当的角色与产生的影响。

The “Chinese root”, namely, the Chinese herbal “Glabrous Greenbrier Rhizome”, was brought to Europe by Portuguese merchants in the early 16^th century and was regarded as the “holy wood” by European physicians. Exploring why the writer of Radicis Chynae chose the “Chinese root” to illustrate his epochal and subversive scientific ideas, this paper analyses the impact of the Western transmission of traditional Chinese medicine since the 16^th century on the shift in scientific thinking in the Renaissance. It also attempts to explore, from the perspective of knowledge power and academic authority, how the changes in medical concepts and methodology were influenced by hidden political forces, such as imperial will and academic authority, during the transition of European medicine from classical to modern times when science was first emerging, and how the construction of methodology was accomplished through academic language. The role and influence of the “Chinese root” will be examined in such a context.