Li Tao

01 · Lineage & Regional School

Li Tao, Male, Han, from Huhehaote, Inner Mongolia, is a sixth-batch national representative bearer of TCM Bone-setting Therapy (Ⅸ-6). The tradition is documented in Huhehaote, Inner Mongolia. Within the regional tradition and school record of TCM Bone-setting Therapy in Huhehaote, Inner Mongolia: In former times, falls, knocks, and injuries were common local diseases, and the local people had a considerable need for bone-injury treatment. Local medicinal materials such as cangzhu, suoyang, licorice, and bupleurum also provided the material basis for the Li inheritors to draw on local resources in treating patients with bone setting. Over the years, the Li family has widely practiced this bone-setting therapy in Inner Mongolia; its medical skill and ethics are widely known locally, and today the recognition and scope of practice of Sankong Li's bone setting have extended throughout the country. From the middle of the Ming dynasty onward, large numbers of people from Shanxi, Shaanxi, and Hebei came to Inner Mongolia, promoting the development of traditional medicine.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

The bearer record for Li Tao is anchored in the documented technical standards of TCM Bone-setting Therapy in Huhehaote, Inner Mongolia. Within the documented technical tradition of TCM Bone-setting Therapy in Huhehaote, Inner Mongolia: Sankong Li's bone setting is a traditional TCM bone-setting therapy that treats orthopedic diseases by combining internal and external treatment. Hohhot is the main area of circulation of Sankong Li's bone setting. Sankong Li's bone setting is traditional Chinese bone setting, treating orthopedic diseases through internal and external therapy; for all kinds of fractures and joint dislocations, TCM bone-setting manipulation is combined with medication from family secret prescriptions, and especially for trimalleolar fractures combined with tibiotalar dislocation, comminuted fractures of the distal radius, and surgical neck fractures of the humerus, the Li inheritors, through "the hand perceives and the mind comprehends, and the method issues from the hand", accurately judge the condition of the fracture and, with manipulations such as traction, rotation, and bending-back reduction, achieve functional reduction of the broken ends, then strengthen external fixation with splints, supplemented by staged medication with the family secret prescriptions of bone-joining powder, bone-joining elixir, and early-stage decoction, sparing patients the pain of surgical treatment; it has the effects of joining bone and mending sinews and of relaxing sinews and activating blood, and the advantages of rapid healing, low infection rate, low cost, and ideal results. From the selection of raw drug materials to their processing, many steps still use traditional methods to ensure the efficacy of the medicaments. In order to treat more patients, the Li inheritors donated the family secret prescriptions to the state without compensation, and at the same time broke the rule that family skills should not be transmitted to outsiders, taking on apprentices widely; year after year they receive intern doctors from medical colleges, teach the medical art without reservation, and their apprentices are spread throughout the country, putting the bone-setting skill at the service of the people and relieving the pain of more patients. Sankong Li's bone setting treats bone-injury diseases with traditional TCM manipulation combined with family Chinese herbal medicine, combines advanced learning with the family medical art, injects fresh blood into the development of Chinese medicine, has made contributions to medical research, and has promoted ethnic unity. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Feeling first, method from the hand": Palpation decides the route: traction, rotation or angulation is chosen by what the hands can feel. "Traction, rotation and angulation": Functional alignment is restored by these three manipulations and held with splints and staged formulas, avoiding operation. "Staged bone-joining prescriptions": A working list of formulas still in use, from early decoctions to powders, pills, plasters, sprays and medicinal wine. "Breaking the rule of secrecy": The secret formulas were donated to the state and apprentices taken openly, which spread the method far beyond the region.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

In 2025, Li Tao was announced in the sixth batch of national representative bearers for TCM Bone-setting Therapy, with Huhehaote, Inner Mongolia as the declared area. Within the documented safeguarding record of TCM Bone-setting Therapy in Huhehaote, Inner Mongolia: The project was inscribed in the national inventory in 2021 (batch 5), with Huhehaote, Inner Mongolia as its declared area, and Huhehaote Sankonglishizhenggu Hospital 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. Litao (Huhehaote, Inner Mongolia) · China ICH Official Project Archive
2. Litao · China ICH Official Archive