Yang Jukui

01 · Lineage & Regional School

Born into a family of traditional Chinese medicine practitioners, he entered Tiquantang, a long-established Chinese medicine pharmacy in Taiyuan, as an apprentice at the age of thirteen, and successively studied under Han Yuhui and Zhang Tao, two renowned masters of pharmacology, to acquire his grounding in Chinese medicine. Within the regional tradition and school record of Traditional TCM Preparation Methods in Taigu, Shanxi: Guilingji is the signboard of the pharmaceutical trade of central Shanxi (Jinzhong), whose foundations were laid in the network of trading houses around Taigu. After the Guangsheng Pharmacy took over the ascending-refinement formula drafted by Shao Yuanjie and Tao Zhongwen, this medicine never left Taigu: materials were selected through the medicine shops and veteran farmers of the Jinzhong area, the honey pills relied on the pill-hanging furnace fires of several large pharmacies within the city, and the workforce was passed down in a single line from master to apprentice. Beyond Taigu, the branch houses and sub-offices of firms such as Guangsheng and Guangsheng (guangSheng) carried this line of production into the other provinces, and from the Republican period onward it traveled with the carts and horses of Shanxi merchants as far as Guangzhou, Fuzhou, northern Shaanxi, and Inner Mongolia. Within the same city, Taigu's other famous gynecological medicine, Dingkun Dan, emerged from the same lineage of masters; the processing and pill-making skills of the two medicines supported one another, and they thus converged at Guangyu Yuan into a single set of house rules for pharmaceutical production. In the first year of the Jiajing reign of the Ming dynasty (1522), the Daoist adepts Shao Yuanjie and Tao Zhongwen drew on the strengths of the 'Laojun Yishou San' (Old Lord's Longevity Powder) from the Yunji Qiqian, supplementing and cutting from it, and applied the technique of ascending refinement in the furnace and tripod to produce an 'immortal medicine' claimed to confer immortality, which they presented to the emperor. Later, this formula passed through several hands to the Guangsheng Pharmacy (the predecessor of Shanxi Guangyu Yuan Chinese Medicine Co., Ltd.), and Guilingji was preserved as a traditional famous-brand remedy of Taigu County, Shanxi Province.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

He is male, of the Han ethnic group, born in October 1933 in Taigu County, Shanxi Province. He is a national representative bearer of Traditional Chinese Medicine Traditional Preparation Methods (the traditional crafting technique of Guilingji), a third-batch national intangible cultural heritage project. In 1953 he returned to Taigu to take charge of the planning and establishment of the Shanxi Traditional Chinese Medicine Factory. During more than forty years of work there he devoted himself, on the one hand, to research on the famous Chinese medicines Guilingji and Dingkundan and to the active expansion of production, and, on the other hand, took part in scientific and technological research and development, boldly reforming the sublimation and refining process of Guilingji, applying the theory of the optimal-seeking method to guarantee its efficacy to the greatest possible extent, and verifying its pharmacological and anti-ageing effects with modern scientific theories and methods. After years of unremitting effort, he finalised the formulation and the process specifications, which were collected by the National Archives of China. Over the years he has led his disciples in continuously collecting and collating famous formulas and folk remedies from various regions and in developing new medicines. Within the documented technical tradition of Traditional TCM Preparation Methods in Taigu, Shanxi: Traditional Chinese medicine preparation refers mainly to pills, powders, ointments, and elixirs (dan); in addition, there are wine preparations, lozenges (dingji), gelatins (jiaoji), and so on. Each dosage form has its own set of traditional preparation techniques, and in combination with certain products there are also some special methods of production. With the development of the times, the production of ready-made Chinese medicines (patent medicines) has undergone many reforms and innovations, greatly raising production efficiency; yet traditional preparation methods have not all been eliminated, and some of them remain the best choice in the production of patent medicines — especially famous-brand patent medicines, patent medicines with secret formulas, and patent medicines containing precious and rare medicinal ingredients, which are often still produced by traditional preparation methods in time-honored brand enterprises. Traditional Chinese medicine preparation methods retain certain features of ancient workshop production: materials are selected with precision, ingredients are fed in an orderly sequence, and the techniques are distinctive; the packaging and instruction slips are imbued with a traditional cultural atmosphere, and are deeply trusted by physicians and patients. It is refined with a unique traditional technique of ascending refinement, with remarkable efficacy, and is praised as 'Guilingji, the King of Tonics.' After the Jiajing Emperor took it, he was greatly delighted and personally bestowed the name 'Guilingji' (Collection of the Tortoise's Age), signifying that taking this medicine could grant a longevity like that of the thousand-year-old divine tortoise. In ancient times, the tortoise (gui) was ranked among the 'four numinous creatures' (dragon, phoenix, tortoise, and qilin), symbolizing longevity and auspiciousness. Shao Yuanjie and Tao Zhongwen thereby won the emperor's favor and rose to the rank of the Three Ducal Ministers; from then on, Guilingji became the 'imperial sacred medicine' of the inner palace. Guilingji is composed mainly of such ingredients as ginseng, deer antler (lurong), cistanche (roucongrong), sea horse, and epimedium (yinyanghuo), which strongly tonify qi and blood and warm yang to benefit essence. It is commonly used for impotence, premature ejaculation, and seminal emission, and has long enjoyed the reputation of a 'sacred medicine' for andrology, with effects such as strengthening the heart and improving immunity; it can be used in the treatment of many male disorders caused by deficiency and detriment of kidney yang. It has the functions of promoting metabolism, strengthening blood circulation, and enhancing the body's immunity and myocardial contractility; it is used mainly for strengthening the body, benefiting the brain, nourishing the marrow, promoting potency, enriching the kidney, tonifying qi, improving appetite, regulating the nerves, adjusting endocrine function, and eliminating myocardial fatigue. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Ascending refinement in the furnace": Heating the materials in a closed furnace to sublime them is the step that distinguishes Guiling Ji from ordinary pills, powders and pastes, and the point where the formula's power gathers. "The sovereign-minister-assistant scheme": Ginseng, deer antler, cistanche, seahorse and epimedium lead as sovereign drugs, with kidney-warming agents as ministers and spleen-regulating and channel-opening herbs as assistants, all aimed at kidney yang deficiency. "Kneading the large honey-pill mass": Powder and boiled honey are kneaded to ratio, divided, rolled, gilded and wax-sealed; every step depends on a judgement of touch and heat built up over decades. "Fixing the written standard": Over more than forty years at Shanxi TCM Factory, Yang Jukui set the formulas and process rules of Guiling Ji and Dingkun Dan down in writing; the record is now held by the National Archives.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

In 2009, Yang Jukui was announced in the third batch of national representative bearers for Traditional TCM Preparation Methods, with Taigu, Shanxi as the declared area. Within the documented safeguarding record of Traditional TCM Preparation Methods in Taigu, Shanxi: The project was inscribed in the national inventory in 2008 (batch 2), with Taigu, Shanxi as its declared area, and Shanxi Guangyuyuanguoyao Co., Ltd. as its safeguarding unit. Since the project was inscribed in the national inventory, its declared area and safeguarding unit have carried out documentation, transmission and presentation within the national safeguarding framework. Together, the inventory record and the project archive form the public documentary basis for the bearer’s transmission practice.

04 · Associated Heritage Item Dossier

05 · Fellow National Bearers Lineage

National representative bearers recorded under the same item code, ordered from the first to the sixth batch. Batch order is not a teacher–student relationship.

06 · Archival Sources & Bibliography

1. Yang Jukui · National Representative Bearer Archive