Zhang Yuankun

01 · Lineage & Regional School

In 1980 she studied the making of shuidie, the pan-coated pill technique, under Yang Desheng, Duan Fengying, Zhang Shikun, Liu Chunzhen and others; Yang Desheng was a veteran pharmaceutical worker at the time-honoured Fulin Tang pharmacy and an expert in shuidie. Nine years after taking up her studies she had mastered the processes of refining honey, selecting moulds, coating surfaces and selecting pills. Within the regional tradition and school record of Traditional TCM Preparation Methods in Kunming, Yunnan: The traditional Chinese medicine preparations of Kunzhongyao are an important component of traditional Chinese medicine culture and Yunnan ethnic medicine culture; they reflect the experience and wisdom of the Yunnan people in using local authentic medicinal materials and are the crystallization of profound TCM theory and medical practice, renowned both at home and abroad, with socioeconomic value. The traditional Chinese medicine preparations of Kunming Chinese Medicine (Kunzhongyao) originated in the fourteenth year of the Hongwu reign of the Ming dynasty (1381); rooted in Lan Mao's 'Diannan Materia Medica' (Diannan Bencao) and other Yunnan pharmacopoeias, as well as Yunnan's rich soil of Chinese medicinal materials, they extensively draw on the strengths of the ethnic medicines of the Yi, Miao, Zhuang, and other peoples on the basis of inheriting tradition.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

Zhang Yuankun was born in January 1948 in Kunming City, Yunnan Province, and is of Han ethnicity. In 1965 she joined the Kunming Traditional Chinese Medicine Factory to work on traditional Chinese medicine preparations; over a career of forty years she became skilled in the shuidie, or pan-coating, technique. She is diligent in investigation, has an accurate grasp of the adhesiveness of medicinal materials and of their moisture content, selects materials carefully and polishes pills with consummate skill. Within the documented technical tradition of Traditional TCM Preparation Methods in Kunming, Yunnan: The traditional Chinese medicine preparations of Kunzhongyao are a typical representative of Yunnan ethnic medicine, mainly transmitted at Kunming Chinese Medicine Factory Co., Ltd. (abbreviated 'Kunzhongyao'), located in Kunming City, Yunnan Province. Medicines such as the Lung-Clearing and Phlegm-Resolving Pill (Qingfei Huatan Wan) are also sold abroad. For example, the Cold-Relief and Anti-inflammatory Tablets produced by Kunzhongyao use choulingdan (Laggera pterodonta), commonly used by the Yi and Miao peoples; the Epilepsy-Calming Tablets use the Zhuang ethnic medicinal qianniuzi (morning glory seed); and the Dizziness-Relieving and Calming Granules use the Yi medicinal luxiancao (pyrola), among other materials. Kunzhongyao also upholds the convictions of 'great medicine, profound virtue,' 'making medicine accumulates virtue,' and 'selecting materials with precision,' along with 'skillfully compounding pills, powders, pastes, and elixirs, and processing raw and prepared decoction pieces according to the methods.' It adheres to the medicinal ethics of 'profound virtue,' 'exquisite craftsmanship,' and 'no reduction'; its distinctive product system, orally transmitted medicine-making techniques, and rigorous, exacting master-apprentice system have produced a large number of traditional Chinese medicines, including the Children's Emergency Elixir, Ruan's Shangqing Pills, Zhai Yuliu's Cough-Stopping Pills, Zheng's Female Golden Elixir, Mulberry Leaf and Chrysanthemum with Lonicera and Forsythia Powder, and the Lung-Clearing and Phlegm-Resolving Pill, with special formulas and remarkable efficacy. These embody the TCM health-preservation concepts and disease-treatment methods of 'soothing, clearing, and nourishing' — soothing the liver and regulating qi, clearing the lung and resolving phlegm, and clearing heat and strengthening the stomach — aimed at preventing disease before it occurs, and are deeply loved by the general public. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Pill-panning by the water method": She is best at the water-panning method, judging the stickiness and moisture of the material by touch so the pills come out round and even. "Careful compounding of pills, powders and pastes": The workshop keeps to careful compounding of pills, powders, pastes and pills proper, inheriting named recipes from old Kunming drug shops. "Yi, Miao and Zhuang herbs in the formulas": Some preparations are built on local minority herbs, combining several ethnic traditions in one prescription. "Consolidation of the old drug shops": After the 1956 joint public-private operation, eighty-two trading houses and nineteen itinerant traders in Kunming were folded into the state workshop.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

She is a representative bearer of Traditional TCM Preparation Methods (the traditional Chinese medicine preparations of the Kunming Traditional Chinese Medicine Factory), a fifth-batch national intangible cultural heritage project. She actively carries out transmission activities and cultivates successors; she has guided several enterprises in establishing shuidie production and is representative and influential in the traditional Chinese medicine circles of Yunnan Province.

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. Zhang Yuankun · National Representative Bearer Archive