TCM Diagnostic and Therapeutic Methods

Ⅸ-2Traditional MedicineYangzhou, JiangsuBatch 4 (2014)Extension Item

01 · Historical Records

Yangzhou pedicure has a long history; it flourished in the Ming and Qing dynasties and has been rooted in the lives of the common people for centuries.

02 · Core Techniques & Process

The Yangzhou traditional pedicure art is a traditional Chinese medical therapy in which a pedicurist, through inspection, inquiry, touching and palpation, uses special knives and pedicure techniques, assisted by suitable Chinese medicinal materials, to treat the feet. Its core area of circulation is the urban district of Yangzhou City, Yizheng City, Gaoyou City and Baoying County in Jiangsu Province, along with Taizhou, Nantong and Zhenjiang, with its influence radiating across the whole country. The Yangzhou traditional pedicure art is also called foot medicine and commonly known as qianjiao (foot paring); it can treat gray toenails, corns, calluses and diseases of the skin of the feet and the toenails, as well as athlete's foot, jiaodan, flesh spines and warts. In a broad sense it also includes foot scraping and foot kneading. Its functions are varied: it treats illness in the sick and provides health care or relaxation for the healthy. It stresses a light hand in cutting, shaving flat, scooping round and cutting clean — neither under- nor over-paring — with clear blade paths, a balance of firmness and gentleness, and steadiness, accuracy, lightness and speed. Yangzhou pedicure makes skillful use of finger and wrist strength; every cut has its technique, forming set routines. There are three ways of holding the knife — pinching the knife, forcing the knife and locking the knife; eight ways of holding the foot — supporting, pinching, digging out, locking, gathering, gripping, twisting and pushing; and eight knife techniques — fen (using the knife to shave away diseased thickened nail), duan (cutting the diseased nail crosswise along the blue line), pian (slicing a callus away thin, layer by layer), pi (splitting the nail vertically from tip to root), zheng (trimming remaining stubble and old skin), wa (digging out the root of the lesion), qi (making an incision at the affected part and cutting through the overlapping tissue), and si (cutting an opening and tearing out the diseased tissue). The sequence flows like drifting clouds and flowing water, proceeding step by step, varying from person to person, smooth and deft. In addition, Yangzhou foot scraping employs varied scraping methods, applying force according to the foot and choosing techniques according to the condition. Yangzhou foot kneading works through a towel, applying force between the toes and on the sole, and uses such manipulations as flicking, pinching, dragging, squeezing and kneading. Foot scraping and foot kneading remove old and dead skin between the toes, relax the sinews and invigorate the blood, and relieve itching. Treating foot ailments by the Yangzhou traditional pedicure art belongs to the external treatment of Chinese medicine; it is safe, effective and free of side effects. Successive generations of Yangzhou pedicurists have regularly gone to the homes of the widowed, orphaned, solitary and childless elderly and of the old, weak, sick and disabled to provide services, regarding this as a professional ethic they must uphold, and have won the praise of the people of Yangzhou. The Yangzhou traditional pedicure art also preserves the folk-cultural memory of the “three knives of Yangzhou”, serves the lives of the people, advocates civilized and healthy lifestyles, and enriches traditional Chinese medical culture.

The three ways of holding the knife

Three ways of holding the blade, governing depth and direction of each cut.

The eight blade techniques

The full repertoire of blade work — shaving, severing, paring, splitting, tidying, gouging, undercutting and drawing out tissue.

The eight ways of holding the foot

Eight grips that steady the foot so the blade can travel accurately, practised together with the knife work.

Yangzhou foot scraping

Old skin between the toes is scraped away with varying strokes adapted to each foot, easing itching.

Yangzhou foot kneading

A towel is worked over the toes and sole in lifting, pinching, dragging, squeezing and rolling motions to relax the foot.

03 · Regional Records & Related Items

The core area of Yangzhou pedicure lies in the urban district of Yangzhou and the area of Yizheng, Gaoyou and Baoying; extending eastward it connects with Taizhou, Nantong and Zhenjiang, making it the distribution center for pedicure in central Jiangsu. The bathhouse industry, which flourished in the Ming and Qing dynasties, produced large numbers of pedicurists who made this their trade; bathhouses became places where the craft was taught and customers were attracted, and also made it a local rule of life that anyone entering a bathhouse must first have his feet pared and his head shaved. The rule of house calls likewise took shape: regular visits to the homes of the widowed, orphaned, solitary and childless elderly and of the old, weak, sick and disabled came to be regarded as a professional ethic that practitioners had to observe.

04 · Cultural Value & Contemporary Safeguarding

Over the past hundred years, Yangzhou pedicure has been transmitted mainly through the master-apprentice route, passing down from generation to generation without interruption. Lu Qin (as recorded in the official file of the associated inheritor): female, of the Han ethnic group, born in May 1971, from Yangzhou City, Jiangsu Province. In 1988, standing firm against the gossip of the world, she became one of the first female pedicurists working in the bathhouses of Yangzhou. Through hard practice she mastered the various pedicure skills of paring, scraping and kneading. She has elevated the traditional trimming of feet to the level of foot care and treatment, pioneering foot maintenance; her pedicure is marked by steadiness, accuracy, decisiveness, lightness, speed and gentleness. She has published monographs such as Pedicure Health-Care Techniques and Lu Qin's Foot Art. In 2002 she founded the Lu Qin Foot Art Vocational Training School; to date it has trained eighty-four classes of students, sending nearly ten thousand outstanding professional talents into society each year, and she is committed to the transmission and development of the Yangzhou traditional pedicure art. She is a representative inheritor of the item Traditional Chinese Medical Therapies (Yangzhou Traditional Pedicure Art) in the fifth national-level batch of intangible cultural heritage.

05 · Associated Representative Bearers

Representative bearers recorded under this item, organized by national nomination batch:

06 · Authoritative Sources & Bibliography

Sources

China Intangible Cultural Heritage Network (ihchina.cn)

Read the official ihchina.cn record ↗

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