Guo Yufeng

01 · Lineage & Regional School

Guo Yufeng, Female, Han, from Tianjinzhongxinyaoyejituangufenyouxiangongsidarentangzhiyaochang, is a fifth-batch national representative bearer of Zhongyichuantongzhijifangfa（darentangqinggongshoutaowanchuantongzhi (Ⅸ-4). The tradition is documented in Tianjinzhongxinyaoyejituangufenyouxiangongsidarentangzhiyaochang. Within the regional tradition and school record of Traditional TCM Preparation Methods in Tianjinzhongxinyaoyejituangufenyouxiangongsidarentangzhiyaochang: Although Qinggong Shoutao Wan bears the "palace" in its name, its roots are planted in Tianjin. Darentang opened in 1912, growing out of the Le family's old shop Tongrentang, which had supplied medicine to the court during the Yongzheng era, and the skills and rules of the Tongrentang line were thereby brought into Tianjin; meanwhile the last emperor Puyi continued to buy medicine from the Le family's old shop, allowing the court's secret formula of Pantao Wan and its former process steps to continue within the factory. Tianjin was also a distribution hub for southern medicines moving north, and premium materials such as ginseng, rehmannia, and fenxinmu were warehoused through it, so the pill's material-selection standards were bound to the state of the Tianjin medicine market. The Tongrentang name spread to two cities, Beijing and Tianjin; in 1982 the Qing Palace Medical Records Research Office re-verified its court origins, and Tongrentang Jingwanhong Pharmaceutical has since preserved the technical archives on that basis, keeping this pharmaceutical experience — which flowed from the palace into the marketplace and was carried on from there — within the single city of Tianjin. Qinggong Shoutao Wan (Palace Longevity Peach Pill) is an exclusive product of the Tianjin Darentang Pharmaceutical Factory. Originally called "Pantao Wan" (Coiled Peach Pill), it is composed of ginseng, Chinese angelica, rehmannia, goji berries, fenxinmu (the membrane inside the walnut shell), and other precious medicinal materials. It tonifies the kidney and engenders essence, and boosts the primordial qi and strengthens the body, with a mild medicinal nature. It was the secret imperial prescription of the Qianlong Emperor of the Qing dynasty, the court's "septuagenarian Son of Heaven", and its earliest record is found in the Qianlong-reign medical cases of the Qinggong Yi'an (Medical Records of the Qing Palace). Darentang was founded in 1912, growing out of the "Le family's old shop — Tongrentang", which had supplied medicine to the imperial court since the Yongzheng reign. After the fall of the Qing dynasty, Tongrentang ceased supplying imperial medicine, but Puyi, the last emperor — then serving as the figurehead of the puppet Manchukuo regime — continued to purchase medicine from the "Le family's old shop — Darentang". Through Darentang's development, the court's secret formula for "Pantao Wan" and its traditional preparation craft were thus passed down. To protect this precious cultural heritage, in early 1982 the "Qing Palace Medical Records Research Office", headed by Academician Chen Keji, confirmed through further research that the medicine not only had remarkable therapeutic effects but was indeed a secret imperial prescription of the Qianlong reign of the Qing dynasty. Qinggong Shoutao Wan upholds the material-selection methods and principles of Qing court pharmaceutical production, using premium medicinal materials and following the ancient processing techniques, so that it attains the level of a secret court-compounded medicine.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

Female, Han ethnicity, born in March 1949 in Tianjin. National representative bearer of Traditional TCM Preparation Methods (Traditional Craftsmanship of Darentang Qinggong Shoutao Wan), a fifth-batch national intangible cultural heritage project. She worked for many years on the front line in the raw material processing, pharmaceutical production, and blending workshops of the Darentang Pharmaceutical Factory, and has extensive practical experience. She has an in-depth understanding of the Qinggong Shoutao Wan product, has collated and completed the full technical archive for it, possesses rich practical experience in its traditional craftsmanship, and conducts research on anti-aging and related directions concerning its pharmacological mechanism. She compiled and wrote Qing Qianlong Chao Yuyong Yannian Yishou Zhenpin - Qinggong Shoutao Wan (Precious Imperial Longevity Tonics of the Qianlong Reign: Qinggong Shoutao Wan). Within the documented technical tradition of Traditional TCM Preparation Methods in Tianjinzhongxinyaoyejituangufenyouxiangongsidarentangzhiyaochang: However, production of this medicine was severely affected during the "Cultural Revolution" period, and most of the production and technical materials were lost. Tianjin Darentang enjoys the reputation of the "King of Honey Pills"; its processing techniques and material-selection standards have always followed tradition. Qinggong Shoutao Wan has become a superior tonic for tonifying the kidney and benefiting the primordial qi, supplementing qi and nourishing the blood, and delaying aging. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "The restoration and authentication of Pantaoh Wan": The drug had been renamed Pantaoh Wan and its imperial status had gone unproven, until research in early 1982 by the Palace Medical Records Study Room confirmed it as a Qianlong-era imperial recipe. "Gilding the honey pills of the King of Honey Pills": Tianjin Darentang was known as the king of honey pills: old honey kneaded to a mass, divided, rolled, gilded and wax-sealed, each pill even in action and free of cracks. "Sorting the precious parts of the formula": Ginseng, angelica, rehmannia, goji and the dianthus seed are selected by the old court method; what does not match in nature, thickness or colour is excluded, and a poor batch is discarded whole. "Guo Yufeng's compilation of the technical archive": Working for years on the processing, manufacturing and dispensing floors, the inheritor Guo Yufeng assembled a complete technical archive and pursued research into the drug's action and anti-ageing effects.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

In 1987 she received a third prize for progress in TCM science and technology from the National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, and in 1988 she received the annual Outstanding New Technology Award from the Tianjin Municipal Economic Commission.

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. Guo Yufeng · National Representative Bearer Archive