Tian Xingxiu

01 · Lineage & Regional School

Tian Xingxiu, Male, Miao, from Huayuan, Hunan, is a fifth-batch national representative bearer of Miao Medicine (Ⅸ-15). The tradition is documented in Huayuan, Hunan. Within the regional tradition and school record of Miao Medicine in Huayuan, Hunan: Miao medicine (zuanjiefeng therapy) takes Huayuan County in Hunan Province as its heritage center, lying within the Miao settlement area of Xiangxi and the Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture. Miao medicine is applied mainly among the Miao people; the neighboring Tujia, Zhuang, Dong, Yao, Han, and other ethnic groups also use it in a shared, cross-cultural manner; thus this formula, based mainly on the single ingredient of Campsis grandiflora root and convenient to take, has formed a loose zone of shared use in the mountainous areas at the junction of Hunan, Guizhou, and Guangxi. Tian Xingxiu was demobilized and returned home in 1955; from the following year onward he successively received instruction from sixty-seven senior Miao physicians, integrating their teachings into one formula with Long Yuliu as the principal source and the other sixty-six elders in supporting roles, and then spread it in Huayuan and the surrounding areas through study halls, academic exchange, Miao medical skill training, and the taking of apprentices; because the medicinal source is easy to obtain and the method simple to use, this therapy has been promoted nationwide as an appropriate technique for rural health care. The Miao population of China totals 8.901 million (data from the fifth national population census in 2000), and is mainly distributed in Guizhou and Hunan, including within the Xiangxi Tujia and Miao Autonomous Prefecture.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

Male, Miao ethnicity, born in November 1933 in Huayuan County, Hunan Province. From the year after he was demobilized and returned home in 1955, he received instruction from sixty-seven Miao medical elders in succession; the Miao medicine Zuanjiefeng therapy he commands was transmitted primarily by Long Yuliu, supported by sixty-six other Miao medical elders. Taking the transmission and development of Miao medicine as his own duty, he has summarized his practical experience and published books including Miaozu Yiyaoxue (Miao Medicine), Sanben Lun (On the Three Roots), Zhongguo Miaozu Yixue (Chinese Miao Medicine), and Miaoyiyao Zuanjiefeng Liaofa (Miao Medicine Zuanjiefeng Therapy), while carrying out transmission through teaching institutes, academic exchanges, Miao medical skills training, and the recruitment of apprentices. Within the documented technical tradition of Miao Medicine in Huayuan, Hunan: Miao medicine is a traditional medicine passed down from generation to generation among the Miao people; against the background of the ancient Chongshan and Wuling cultures, it takes the 'three-roots theory' (sanben lun) as its foundation, with the three qi of heaven, earth, and humankind in synchrony. Miao physicians hold that toxins, deficiency, injury, accumulation, germs, and parasites are the six factors that cause illness in the human body, abbreviated as the 'six causes.' Ultimately, all six causes can cause illness only by producing toxic harm, so Miao medicine has long had the saying 'without toxins, no illness.' Toxins commonly encountered include wind toxin, cold toxin, fire toxin, qi toxin, water toxin, and salt toxin. The Miao formula zuanjiefeng ('joint-boring wind') is aimed specifically at bone and muscle pain, lower-back and leg pain, sciatica, zuanjiefeng, wind-toxin bodily itching, injuries from falls, fractures, 'shoulder-winding wind,' and weakness and soreness of the tendons and bones — conditions caused by wind toxin and cold toxin — and is a traditional ethnic medicine in the treasure-house of Miao drugs. The Miao medicine zuanjiefeng therapy is one of the Miao medical therapies; its main medicinal is the root of Campsis grandiflora (Chinese trumpet creeper), a plant of the family Bignoniaceae. Campsis grandiflora is a deciduous woody vine; its stem is yellowish-brown with aerial roots; its leaves are odd-pinnate compound, opposite, with small leaflets; its flowers form a loose, large terminal cymose panicle; the corolla is reddish-yellow; the flowering period is July to September; the outer surface of the root is yellow or yellowish-red, with longitudinal cracks. It has the functions of draining fire, expelling toxins, restoring the constitution, relieving pain, loosening the tendons and setting the bones, and strengthening the tendons and muscles. It is indicated for bone and muscle pain, lower-back and leg pain, numbness of the limbs, injuries from falls, fractures, sciatica, zuanjiefeng, 'shoulder-winding wind,' wind-toxin bodily itching, irregular menstruation in women, and weakness and soreness of the tendons and bones. Miao medicine is applied mainly among the Miao people; the neighboring Tujia, Zhuang, Dong, Yao, Han, and other ethnic groups also use it in a shared, cross-cultural manner. Because the Miao medicine zuanjiefeng therapy is convenient to apply and has good efficacy, it has already been promoted nationwide as an appropriate technique for rural health care. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "The single root of Bignonia": The remedy uses only the root of Bignonia, an airy-stemmed climber flowering from July to September with a longitudinally cracked yellow root. "Cooling fire and reinforcing": The root cools internal fire, defeats toxins, reinforces the body, relieves pain and strengthens tendons and muscles. "Wind-poison and cold-poison complaints": She medicine holds that six factors cause illness, all acting through toxins, and this formula answers wind and cold toxin complaints. "The three-root theory of heaven, earth and man": She medicine rests on the three-root theory that heaven, earth and man stay synchronised, and disease is read against the local landscape.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

National representative bearer of Miao Medicine (Zuanjiefeng Therapy), a fifth-batch national intangible cultural heritage project. He has studied assiduously for more than sixty years, tireless and persistent, and has received numerous awards from the state and from social organizations as well as recognition from society.

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. Tian Xingxiu · National Representative Bearer Archive