Zhu Huaiyu

01 · Lineage & Regional School

Zhu Huaiyu, Male, Han, from Jiangbei, Chongqing, is a sixth-batch national representative bearer of TCM Bone-setting Therapy (Ⅸ-6). The tradition is documented in Jiangbei, Chongqing. Within the regional tradition and school record of TCM Bone-setting Therapy in Jiangbei, Chongqing: The Yanqingmen bone-setting school arose in Jiangbei District, Chongqing; Yuzhong District and Jiulongpo District also have its transmission; the tenth-generation disciples already number more than three hundred, and its medical fame has spread far through Sichuan, Guizhou, Hubei, and Hunan. Its academic proposition is the union of sinews and bones - sinews are manipulated before the bone is set, treatment is differentiated by stage rather than viewing fractures and dislocations separately, and the process is closed off with functional exercise; this approach is quite comparable to bone-setting schools outside Bayu. The Yanqingmen bone-setting art comes from the martial school of Bayu (Chongqing), where martial arts and medicine share a common origin; apprentices first practice the strength for palpating bones and setting bones on wooden stakes and sandbags, and only after mastering it are they allowed to work on patients' bodies. Practice unfolds in four stages: bone-setting manipulation, external fixation with small splints, internal and external application of family verified prescriptions, and guided exercise during recovery; only when the four stages are linked together is the treatment complete, and mastery of a single branch alone does not qualify one as a Yanqingmen practitioner.

02 · Mastery & Signature Works

The bearer record for Zhu Huaiyu is anchored in the documented technical standards of TCM Bone-setting Therapy in Jiangbei, Chongqing. Within the documented technical tradition of TCM Bone-setting Therapy in Jiangbei, Chongqing: Influenced by the geographical environment, dampness is heavy in the Chongqing region, and residents living there for long are prone to cold-damp bi syndrome and other osteoarticular diseases; its mountainous character means that in daily life and labor the people often suffer falls and injuries, and the need for bone-injury treatment is pronounced. Chongqing is also an important production area of Chinese medicinal materials in China, and its abundant medicinal materials provide an efficacy guarantee for the clinical application of the Yanqingmen bone-setting therapy. The Yanqingmen bone-setting therapy is composed of manual reduction, fixation with small splints, internal and external application of secret and verified prescriptions, and recovery-stage exercise, and has a complete and systematic theoretical and technical system, with the distinctive advantages of "simple, convenient, effective, and cheap". It takes master-apprentice transmission, talent cultivation, and relieving the world as its modes of practice, has a strong martial character of "martial arts are used for medicine, and medicine contains what martial arts has learned", and fuses the footwork, body method, and qi method of Yanqingmen martial arts with bone-setting manipulation, becoming a famous bone-injury medical art of the Bayu region. Academically, the Yanqingmen bone-setting therapy advocates manipulating sinews before setting bones, stage-based pattern treatment, holistic regulation, and combined treatment, so as to achieve the union of sinews and bones; in applying force in bone-setting manipulation it emphasizes that "force is born in the feet, power issues from the legs, qi begins at the waist, and merit is exercised by the hand", and in applying the manipulations it emphasizes the "internal three unions" - heart united with mind, mind united with qi, qi united with force - and the "external three unions" - hand united with foot, elbow united with knee, shoulder united with hip. With the establishment of the Chongqing TCM Culture Publicity and Education Base, the heritage project has entered communities and campuses. The Yanqingmen bone-setting art blends martial culture with traditional Chinese bone-injury culture; physicians organically fuse the body method, footwork, and qi method used in martial practice with bone-setting manipulation, making the generation of force in bone-injury manipulation more scientific and clinical efficacy more pronounced, remedying and enriching the research results of traditional bone-setting manipulation in treatment, which is of great significance for transmitting and developing Bayu TCM culture and traditional martial-medical culture. The Yanqingmen bone-setting therapy now sees more than 100,000 outpatient visits a year and nearly 5,000 hospitalized patients, efficiently alleviating patients' pain and making bone-injury patients stronger after recovery, with positive social significance. Representative repertoire, works and technical entries recorded for the project include: "Palpation and reduction": The foundational skill drilled first on wooden posts and sandbags: the practitioner reads the displacement by touch and returns the bone, always loosening the surrounding tendons before touching the bone itself. "Small-splint fixation": After reduction the fracture is held with small splints rather than plaster, tightened or loosened as swelling changes, leaving room for the bone to knit without losing alignment. "Household prescriptions, oral and topical": The inherited prescriptions are used both orally and externally, alongside manual reduction and splinting, adjusted as swelling and pain shift in the damp Chongqing climate. "Guiding exercises in recovery": The closing stage after union: martial stepping, body movement and breath are recast into guiding exercises so the patient actively regains function instead of waiting for healing.

03 · Transmission & Safeguarding Status

In 2025, Zhu Huaiyu was announced in the sixth batch of national representative bearers for TCM Bone-setting Therapy, with Jiangbei, Chongqing as the declared area. Within the documented safeguarding record of TCM Bone-setting Therapy in Jiangbei, Chongqing: The project was inscribed in the national inventory in 2021 (batch 5), with Jiangbei, Chongqing as its declared area, and Chongqing Zhenggangzhongyiguke 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. Zhuhuaiyu (Jiangbei, Chongqing) · China ICH Official Project Archive
2. Zhuhuaiyu · China ICH Official Archive