Kang Mingxuan

01 · Lineage & Regional School

Kang Mingxuan, Male, Han, from Jiaozuo, Henan, is a sixth-batch national representative bearer of Traditional Herbal Processing Techniques (Ⅸ-3). The tradition is documented in Jiaozuo, Henan. Within the regional tradition and school record of Traditional Herbal Processing Techniques in Jiaozuo, Henan: From ancient times to the present, the Chinese medicine profession has accumulated extensive experience in medicinal processing, summarized complete sets of theory, invented numerous techniques, formed many schools, and compiled a large body of works; Chinese medicinal processing technique has become one of the important components of Chinese materia medica. In Liuwei Dihuang Wan (Six-Ingredient Rehmannia Pill), Huai rehmannia root and Huai yam account for 48 percent of the formula, and the cultural customs arising from the Huai medicinals also widely influence the production and daily life of local people. Chinese medicinals derive from plants, animals, and minerals of the natural world. During the Ming and Qing dynasties, Huai-medicinal merchants rose to prominence, greatly promoting the standardization of Huai-medicinal processing and the formation of the Huai-medicinal cultural brand, and making the Four Great Huai Medicinals the leading genuine regional medicinal materials of Henan.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

The bearer record for Kang Mingxuan is anchored in the documented technical standards of Traditional Herbal Processing Techniques in Jiaozuo, Henan. Within the documented technical tradition of Traditional Herbal Processing Techniques in Jiaozuo, Henan: China's traditional medicinal-material resources reach 12,807 kinds, but in the clinical application of Chinese medicine and the manufacture of prepared medicines, raw drugs are generally not used; instead, the processed and prepared products - prepared slices (yinpian) - are used. Chinese medicinal processing is a special technique of processing raw drugs according to the theory of Chinese medicine and the different requirements of medical treatment, compounding, and storage, as well as the properties of the materials themselves, using methods such as trimming and purifying, water processing, fire processing, and the addition of auxiliary materials. Its origins can be traced back to the cultivation, collection, or rearing of the medicinal materials, among which stir-frying, dry-frying with liquid adjuvant, scalding, calcining, and roasting, along with fire-based methods, are the most commonly used - hence the name "processing" (paozhi). The purpose of Chinese medicinal processing is to reduce or eliminate the toxicity and side effects of drugs and to moderate or change their nature, thereby improving efficacy and facilitating compounding, storage, and administration; its core is reducing toxicity and enhancing effect. The Jiaozuo region of Henan Province has cultivated Huai yam, Huai rehmannia root, Huai chrysanthemum, and Huai achyranthes root for nearly three thousand years; because what is now Jiaozuo City, Henan Province, was in ancient times under the jurisdiction of Huaiqing Prefecture, Huai yam, Huai rehmannia root, Huai chrysanthemum, and Huai achyranthes root are collectively called the "Four Great Huai Medicinals." The cultivation of the Four Great Huai Medicinals, including seed breeding, site selection, soil preparation, seedling raising, fertilization, and pest control, is subject to strict requirements, and the processing of the medicinal materials also follows strict traditional craft standards; processes such as the nine-steaming-and-nine-sun-drying of Huai rehmannia root and the repeated soaking, steaming, sun-drying, and rubbing of Huai yam give the materials their superior quality. In recent years, because some farming households have one-sidedly pursued yields of Huai medicinals and lowered unit costs to strengthen price competitiveness, abandoning traditional cultivation and processing techniques and arbitrarily introducing seeds and seedlings from other regions, the original quality of the Four Great Huai Medicinals has been distorted. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Nine steamings and nine sun-dryings of Huai rehmannia": Fresh rehmannia is steamed and dried again and again until moisture equalises inside and out, the cross-section turning black and oily with heavier gel. "Soaking, steaming and rubbing of Huai yam": Repeated soaking and steaming followed by drying and rubbing strip the skin and the woody core, leaving the starchy flesh for slicing. "High-yield trials on loess clay": Li Chengjie ran nearly three decades of trials on loess clay, reaching 2226.5 kg per mu, close to three times the ordinary field yield, and used crop antagonisms to break the rotation problem of yam and rehmannia. "Domestication of Huaqing cliff chrysanthemum": The cliff chrysanthemum of the Taihang Mountains was moved down and domesticated as Huaqing cliff chrysanthemum; a selected yam strain from the same trials yields two to three kilograms per plant.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

In 2025, Kang Mingxuan was announced in the sixth batch of national representative bearers for Traditional Herbal Processing Techniques, with Jiaozuo, Henan as the declared area. Within the documented safeguarding record of Traditional Herbal Processing Techniques in Jiaozuo, Henan: The project was inscribed in the national inventory in 2008 (batch 2), with Jiaozuo, Henan as its declared area, and Jiaozuo Cultural Center (Jiaozuo Intangible Cultural Heritage Safeguarding Center) 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. Kangmingxuan (Jiaozuo, Henan) · China ICH Official Project Archive
2. Kangmingxuan · China ICH Official Archive