Ma Xianghai

01 · Lineage & Regional School

Ma Xianghai, Male, Han, from Hongqiao, Tianjin, is a sixth-batch national representative bearer of Traditional TCM Preparation Methods (Ⅸ-4). The tradition is documented in Hongqiao, Tianjin. Within the regional tradition and school record of Traditional TCM Preparation Methods in Hongqiao, Tianjin: Counting seventeen generations, the transmission chain of Zixue San (Purple Snow Powder), this emergency prepared medicine, can be traced back to the mid-nineteenth century, an era when the modern pharmaceutical industry had not yet appeared in the city of Tianjin; a specification of sixteen ingredients compounded together and 240 days of preparation could only be completed in a workshop capable of organizing long-cycle production and supplies of genuine regional medicinal materials. Reasoning the category back from its use, it was designed specifically for epidemics, unremitting high fever, bodily rigidity and convulsions, and epilepsy; it is a medicine for acute conditions rather than chronic illness, its therapeutic force acting as soon as it reaches the site of disease, so the timing of the stages of fire control, nitrate addition, shade-drying, and sealed mellowing cannot be delayed.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

The bearer record for Ma Xianghai is anchored in the documented technical standards of Traditional TCM Preparation Methods in Hongqiao, Tianjin. Within the documented technical tradition of Traditional TCM Preparation Methods in Hongqiao, Tianjin: Zixue San is composed of sixteen medicinal materials in an ingenious combination, and undergoes 240 days of meticulous preparation. The core area of circulation of this technique is Tianjin. As a standing emergency medicine of remarkable efficacy for treating epidemics, unremitting high fever, bodily rigidity and convulsions, and for preventing epilepsy, Zixue San has been highly valued by physicians in Tianjin across successive generations and was repeatedly included in medical classics. The preparation technique of Zixue San is extremely complex; Tianjin Hongrentang strictly follows the ancient method in making it, from selecting genuine regional materials, through water-grinding (shuifei) processing, decocting with gold, collecting the ointment and adding nitrate, natural shade-drying, and sealing and mellowing in a ring, to grinding, blending, and final packaging - a technique that has now been transmitted for seventeen generations. First, genuine regional medicinal materials are selected; then the cinnabar is water-ground a hundred times to remove its toxicity. When adding the nitrate, the fire must be precisely controlled; it is then shade-dried for several months, and when Zixue San takes on a frost-like, snow-like appearance, it is placed in a ceramic vat, covered with a willow-wood lid, and buried in the ground for several months according to the method of harmonizing yin and yang - which both moderates the drying nature of the medicine and enhances its therapeutic force. The key secret methods in this production process can only be comprehended through oral transmission between master and apprentice, hands-on instruction by the inheritor, and repeated practice by apprentices; they cannot be conveyed in words alone. In former times it excelled not only at treating high fever and convulsions induced by external contraction - stopping convulsions within four hours and bringing body temperature fully back to normal within twenty-four hours - but could also effectively prevent the development of epileptic lesions. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Selecting genuine materials and repeated levigation": Genuine materials come first, and cinnabar is detoxified by repeated levigation, the longest single step of the whole recipe. "Pre-decocting the minerals with gold": Talc, magnetite, mirabilite and gypsum are decocted first together with gold, and only then are the other drugs decocted. "Adding mirabilite after concentrating": Mirabilite is added once the decoction has been concentrated, its timing depending on the consistency of the paste. "Shade drying until it looks like frost": The drug is shade-dried for months until it looks like frost, then sealed under a willow lid in an earthen jar and buried underground.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

In 2025, Ma Xianghai was announced in the sixth batch of national representative bearers for Traditional TCM Preparation Methods, with Hongqiao, Tianjin as the declared area. Within the documented safeguarding record of Traditional TCM Preparation Methods in Hongqiao, Tianjin: The project was inscribed in the national inventory in 2021 (batch 5), with Hongqiao, Tianjin as its declared area, and Tianjin Hongrentangyaoye Co., Ltd. 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. Maxianghai (Hongqiao, Tianjin) · China ICH Official Project Archive
2. Maxianghai · China ICH Official Archive