Li Yan

01 · Lineage & Regional School

Li Yan, Female, Han, from Huangshan, Anhui, is a sixth-batch national representative bearer of Traditional Chinese Medicine Diagnostics (Ⅸ-2). The tradition is documented in Huangshan, Anhui. Within the regional tradition and school record of Traditional Chinese Medicine Diagnostics in Huangshan, Anhui: Counting from the time the name "Zhang Yitie" was acquired during the Jiajing reign of the Ming dynasty, the family has practiced medicine from generation to generation, with a transmission history of more than 450 years to the present day. The "Zhang Yitie Internal Medicine" family, with a history of more than 450 years, has been passed down to the present day, demonstrating that the cause of Xin'an medicine is being transmitted and carried forward.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

The bearer record for Li Yan is anchored in the documented technical standards of Traditional Chinese Medicine Diagnostics in Huangshan, Anhui. Within the documented technical tradition of Traditional Chinese Medicine Diagnostics in Huangshan, Anhui: In the lineage of hereditary medical families of Xin'an medicine in Anhui, the "Zhang Yitie" family, focused on internal medicine, is considered one of the families with the longest history and the greatest contemporary influence. The "Zhang Yitie" hereditary medicine was rooted in Dingtan, Shexian County. With its exquisite medical skill, "Zhang Yitie" repeatedly achieved excellent results in treating difficult and complicated internal diseases and acute febrile diseases, earning renown in the provinces of Anhui, Zhejiang, and Jiangxi. The name "Zhang Yitie" derives from the fact that acute and critical conditions were often cured with just one dose (yi tie) of medicine; there are also miraculous folk legends such as "the immortal's crutch". After the chronic illness of the renowned classical scholar Wu Chengshi was cured by Zhang Guanggui, the thirteenth-generation heir of "Zhang Yitie Internal Medicine", Wu sincerely praised him: "Art recorded in the Qihuang classics, a family calling of three generations; heart imbued with rain and dew, spring for ten thousand households." Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Single-dose treatment of acute crisis": Acute crisis is met with a small, forceful dose intended to turn the tide in a single packet. "Reading tongue and pulse together": Tongue and pulse are cross-checked to place the illness among the channels and organs before any drug is chosen. "Timing the treatment": When a drug is given matters as much as which drug, a rule condensed out of family practice. "Transmission along a family line of physicians": Case records and dosing notes accumulated branch by branch into the family's shared store of experience.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

In 2025, Li Yan was announced in the sixth batch of national representative bearers for Traditional Chinese Medicine Diagnostics, with Huangshan, Anhui as the declared area. Within the documented safeguarding record of Traditional Chinese Medicine Diagnostics in Huangshan, Anhui: The project was inscribed in the national inventory in 2011 (batch 3), with Huangshan, Anhui as its declared area, and She County Xinanguoyi Museum 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. Liyan (Huangshan, Anhui) · China ICH Official Project Archive
2. Liyan · China ICH Official Archive