Wang Feng

01 · Lineage & Regional School

Wang Feng, Male, Han, from Taigu, Shanxi, is a sixth-batch national representative bearer of Traditional TCM Preparation Methods (Ⅸ-4). The tradition is documented in Taigu, Shanxi. Within the regional tradition and school record of Traditional TCM Preparation Methods in Taigu, Shanxi: The name Guangyuyuan dates back to 1541. Within the single city of Taigu, the shop's name rested on two pillars: first, a dense network of branch houses and shops, with footholds from Hankou, Qizhou, and Yuzhou to Guangzhou, Chongqing, Yantai, and Xi'an, and a Hong Kong branch house added in 1916; second, the carriages and horses of the Shanxi merchants carried this preparation method to the southern provinces and cities such as Guangdong and Fujian, and along the trade routes it traveled north to northern Shaanxi and Inner Mongolia. In 1885, the Guangsheng Pharmacy engaged renowned physicians who, following the prescription in "Wenbing Tiaobian" and the principle of the unity of man and nature together with the dialectical method of yin-yang and the five elements, created the Angong Niuhuang Pill preparation method on their own; from then on, this emergency medicine grew together with the Guangyuyuan name. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the various shops, including the Guangsheng Pharmacy, were merged into Guangyuyuan, bringing together the furnaces of Taigu, the sales markets of the south, and the techniques handed down from the ancestors; the products were subsequently exported to Southeast Asia and other countries and regions, becoming one of the key varieties and indispensable emergency patent Chinese medicines for the prevention and treatment of major infectious diseases. Guangyuyuan was founded in 1541, and since then it has created and passed down a variety of formulas for the prevention and treatment of epidemic diseases, together with traditional Chinese medicine preparation methods. It later established branch houses and shops widely in Hankou of Wuhan, Qizhou (present-day Anguo, Hebei), Yuzhou (present-day Yuxian County, Henan), Guangzhou, Chongqing, Yantai of Shandong, and Xi'an of Shaanxi; its business operations spread across the country, and in 1916 it formally established a branch house in Hong Kong. The Angong Niuhuang Pill preparation technique of Guangyuyuan is a preparation method created in 1885, when renowned physicians were engaged, based on the prescription in "Wenbing Tiaobian" (Systematic Differentiation of Warm Diseases) by Wu Jutong, the famous warm-disease scholar of the Qing Dynasty. Following the theory of the "unity of man and nature" and applying the dialectical thinking of yin-yang and the five elements, it combines Guangyuyuan's own traditional processing and preparation practices. After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the various shops that had evolved from the Guangsheng Pharmacy and others were merged into Guangyuyuan.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

The bearer record for Wang Feng is anchored in the documented technical standards of Traditional TCM Preparation Methods in Taigu, Shanxi. Within the documented technical tradition of Traditional TCM Preparation Methods in Taigu, Shanxi: The Angong Niuhuang Pill preparation technique of Guangyuyuan is a traditional Chinese medicine preparation method handed down from generation to generation, and it is mainly transmitted at Guangyuyuan in Taigu County, Shanxi Province. Angong Niuhuang Pills made with Guangyuyuan's unique technique were once bestsellers in the southern provinces and cities such as Guangdong and Fujian. At the same time, along with the rise and prosperity of the Shanxi merchants (Jin merchants), the technique spread to northern Shaanxi and Inner Mongolia. Its prescription is composed of eleven medicinal ingredients: ox gallstone (niuhuang), turmeric (yujin), rhinoceros horn (water buffalo horn concentrated powder), coptis rhizome (huanglian), cinnabar (zhusha), cape jasmine fruit (zhizi), realgar (xionghuang), skullcap (huangqin), pearl (zhenzhu), borneol (bingpian), and musk (shexiang). During preparation, the pearls are first steamed with tofu, then ground in a ball mill and refined with water into an extremely fine powder; the cinnabar and realgar are separately ground in a ball mill and refined with water into extremely fine powders, and subjected to special processing; the coptis rhizome, skullcap, cape jasmine fruit, and turmeric are crushed into fine powders. The ox gallstone, water buffalo horn concentrated powder, musk, and borneol are ground fine, then finely ground together with the above powders, sifted through a sieve, and mixed evenly; the mixture is formed into pills with refined old honey, coated with gold foil, and sealed with wax. The Angong Niuhuang Pill preparation technique of Guangyuyuan is exquisite; among its steps, the hundred hammer blows, the hundred-day circling, pill forming, wax coating, and wrapping in gold foil are secret techniques that have been kept unpassed-on for several hundred years. In its early period, the Angong Niuhuang Pill preparation technique of Guangyuyuan was mainly transmitted through master-apprentice instruction at the Guangsheng Pharmacy of Taigu. The Angong Niuhuang Pill preparation technique of Guangyuyuan is a component of China's medicinal culture and a concentrated expression of the traditional concepts and theories of Chinese medicine, such as the unity of man and nature and yin-yang and the five elements. The Guangyuyuan Angong Niuhuang Pills produced with it are renowned emergency medicines, widely used in clinical practice and broadly recognized by the public, playing a positive role in serving people's health. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "The hundred strokes of pounding": The materials are pounded in the mortar a hundred times and more so that coarse and fine powders interpenetrate; a weak blow leaves the powder uneven and the pills unequal in weight. "The hundred days of rolling": After powder and aged honey are made into a mass, it is kneaded and rolled with the work of a hundred days, so the honey binds without greasiness and the pills round out with measured release. "Rolling the pills": The mass is rolled between palm and board into pills whose size the fingertip gauges at a touch; those not round enough are rejected and redone, by touch alone with no measuring tool. "Wax coating the pills": The pills take a coat of wax to seal out damp and scent, preserving aromatic and precious ingredients such as bezoar, musk and borneol — an old rule of protecting finished remedies.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

In 2025, Wang Feng was announced in the sixth batch of national representative bearers for Traditional TCM Preparation Methods, with Taigu, Shanxi as the declared area. Within the documented safeguarding record of Traditional TCM Preparation Methods in Taigu, Shanxi: The project was inscribed in the national inventory in 2014 (batch 4), with Taigu, Shanxi as its declared area, and Shanxi Guangyuyuanguoyao 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. Wangfeng (Taigu, Shanxi) · China ICH Official Project Archive
2. Wangfeng · China ICH Official Archive